Quick Quality Healthcare
Why quality improvement matter
Poor Healthcare Drives Poverty
A Vicious Cycle with Serious Consequences
Delivering poor-quality healthcare can have severe financial repercussions for patients, often leading to significant financial hardship or catastrophic health expenditures. This impact is especially pronounced in settings without universal healthcare or effective insurance systems.
"Poor Healthcare Quality Costs More Than Health—It Costs Lives and Livelihoods."
Healthcare quality isn’t just about medical outcomes — it directly impacts the financial well-being of patients and their families, even leading to health-induced poverty due to poor healthcare systems.
Unnecessary Expenses:
Patients may incur costs for unnecessary treatments, tests, or repeat procedures due to misdiagnoses, errors, or ineffective care.
2. Extended Hospital Stays:
Complications or adverse events resulting from poor care can lead to longer hospital stays, increasing medical bills.
3. Readmissions:
Poor initial treatment often results in readmissions, further escalating healthcare expenses for patients.
4. Out-of-Pocket Costs:
In systems without robust financial protections, patients bear the burden of healthcare costs directly, leading to debt or depletion of savings.
5. Loss of Income:
Inadequate or delayed care can prolong illness, reduce productivity, or lead to long-term disability, affecting earning capacity.
6. Travel and Ancillary Costs:
Patients may need to seek care from multiple providers or travel long distances to rectify poor-quality care, adding indirect financial burdens.
7. Health-Induced Poverty:
Families may sell assets, take loans, or redirect funds from other essentials (e.g., education or food) to afford medical care.
Addressing these financial outcomes requires healthcare systems to focus on delivering value-based care, improving accessibility, and ensuring financial protection mechanisms like universal health coverage or subsidized care. Recognizing the financial toll on patients as a systemic outcome underscores the importance of quality improvement in healthcare.