Week 7

Operational Challenges, Trends, and Issues for U.S. Healthcare Executives

Maria Duplantier

DHA-7007- Trends and Issues in Executive-Level Management for Healthcare Administrators

8/25/19

Dr. Dale Gooden

Operational Challenges, Trends, and Issues for U.S. Healthcare Executives

A healthcare system is an organization of funds, individuals, and institutions which provide healthcare to satisfy the health requirements of a society. Globally, healthcare systems vary depending on the specific healthcare needs of particular states. Nevertheless, the common aspects of public and private care are often similar (Drummond, Sculpher, Claxton, Stoddart & Torrance, 2015). Over the years, we have witnessed the systems evolving, and with this constant change, it is vital to analyze operational challenges, trends, and issues for the U.S. healthcare executives. In this paper, the main areas that will be discussed are operational challenges, trends, and problems experienced in the United States health care executives.

Various problems have been experienced in the healthcare workplace relating to healthcare provision in the United States. Financial difficulties are one of the main challenges being experienced in the healthcare workplace in the United States. The vital financial problems arise due to lack of enough finances for implementation of new technologies to improve healthcare delivery process (Mayes, 2017). Most healthcare facilities lack adequate funds to implement advanced technologies that can be used to increase the quality of healthcare delivery. As a result, this has reduced healthcare quality improvement plans in the United States. Therefore, there is a need for federal governments to meek proper arrangements to fund all healthcare activities to improve services delivery in the health sector.

Besides, healthcare professionals to comply with federal requirements for electronic health records is another challenge that has been experienced in the United States healthcare workplace. For the past year, some healthcare professionals have failed to comply with federal government guidelines regarding health care delivery (Mayes, 2017). Furthermore, the increasing number of patients who cannot pay for health care services is a significant challenge that has been experienced in the United States healthcare delivery systems. These finance challenges adversely affect healthcare delivery system in the United States.

Work overload is another major challenge that has been experienced in the United States health sectors (Mayes, 2017). Observations for past years reveal that work overload at the workplace affects the performance of health care professionals in the United States. Most healthcare professionals are assigned many responsibilities at workplaces, which reduces their efficiency.

Another cause of the rising cost of healthcare is the introduction of government programs. For example, Medicare assists those without insurance, which led to an increase in demand for services, thus increasing the cost of healthcare (Levy, 2016). Additionally, the rise in healthcare costs can be attributed to the rise in illnesses such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, and diabetes amongst Americans and lack of a rising market. This means that patients cannot pre-empt, calculate, and compare the exact cost of healthcare. The cost of services may also end up differing with the provider (Kim et al., 2015).

The healthcare industry has witnessed an increase in demand over the years as a result of a rise in client base, chronic diseases, and an aged populace. However, there is still a deficiency of healthcare providers (Kim, Tanner, Foster & Kim, 2015). This fact has inevitably led to increased healthcare costs. To offset this imbalance, various recommendations have been put forward, for example, incorporation of telehealth and employment of more healthcare providers to improve on the supply.

With the development of medical technology and increase in the regulations of the healthcare industry, compliance has become a significant issue for most healthcare providers. A good example is when it comes to telehealth, which may involve different geographical locations (Drummond et al., 2015). Therefore, it becomes difficult to know which regulations apply.

Even though various financial challenges affect healthcare delivery systems in the United States, all other activities have been running smoothly. First, patients' information management is done appropriately with care (Drummond et al., 2015). For instance, patients' information is collected using the best approach and adequately managed by healthcare professionals. Besides, their various changes that have occurred in patients' information management. Currently, health information about patients is collected electronically and adequately documented to enhance easy access by authorized persons only. Patients' information collected is then critically analyzed to understand the healthcare conditions of the patient to arrange for appropriate medication. Besides, the patients' personal information is kept confidential and not shared with unauthorized persons without a patient's consent (Drummond et al., 2015). In doing so, the level of accountability and confidentiality in healthcare facilities has increased, thus leading to good coordination of all activities.

On the other hand, patients' information is electronically documented and stored safely for future references. The use of technology in the documentation of patients' information has happened to ensure that all confidential personal information is well managed (Drummond et al., 2015). As such, there is a need for the record department to ensure proper management of patients' information to avoid unauthorized access to sensitive information.

The use of technology in different sectors of the economy has been increasing rapidly over the past decade. Similarly, in the health sector, the use of technology is expanding to improve the quality of healthcare delivery (Burwell, 2015). Currently, Qualcommm Tricorder is one of the most critical technologies used in the United States in the health department. Typically, it is very challenging to perform a diagnosis for patients without in-depth testing. As a result, this contributed to the invention of this device to help thorough testing of patients before diagnosis. The device helps in identifying all health problems a patient is suffering to help healthcare professionals to know the type of diagnosis to perform. This technology will help to improve services delivery in the health sector, which will improve the quality of life (Burwell, 2015) eventually. As such, there is a need for health officials to encourage the use of this technology in the health sector. The latter will help to improve service delivery to patients regardless of their backgrounds.

On the other hand, Bioelectronics is another technology that is currently used in the health sector. The technique involves the use of advanced scientific approaches to collect personal information of all employees and patients (Burwell, 2015). It helps in the time-saving and functional management of data at healthcare facilities. The technology uses signal and commands to give direction on how activities are performed to increase the efficiency of all personnel.

Currently, there are various new technologies used in the health sector that should be handled by an experienced health professional. Intrinsically, there is a need for additional training for health care professionals (Burwell, 2015). Additional training will equip health professionals to learn how to use the newly invented technology to improve the quality of services offered to patients. Besides, additional training is required to help healthcare professional know how to implement the new technology that is currently being used in healthcare facilities.

Healthcare sector is one of the most sensitive departments in the economy. Statistically, the number of healthcare professionals has been low in different departments, which reduces the efficiency of delivering healthcare services (Burwell, 2015). In most facilities, there are shortages of doctors and clinical officers, which has led to a delay in services delivery.

Typically, shortages of a healthcare professional at workplaces have adverse effects on workflow. First, it leads to the work overload of employees who perform various activities. When there are few workers at healthcare facilities, more tasks are assigned to available employees, which leads to work overload (Burwell, 2015). As a result, this reduces employees' efficiency, thus, lowering the quality of services offered to patients. Since shortages of healthcare personnel directly affect services delivery, patients will suffer a lot because services offered to them will not meet their healthcare needs.

Conclusively, there are various challenges experienced in the healthcare sector that affect services delivery. Some of these challenges include supply and demand of healthcare equipment, non-compliance with professional requirements, and inadequacy of finances. Besides, there are various technologies used in the health sector to improve the efficiency of services delivery.

Priority	Issue or Trend	Organizational area of impact	Rational for priority level
1.	Financial issues	Accounting office and operational offices	Inadequacy of services delivery.
	Medical services reimbursement Services-based payment program	Patients’ services, Procurement and Human resources	Limits services delivery to patients due to inadequacy of services.
2.	Professional challenges	Human resources and Operational offices	Lack of healthcare personnel.
	Provision of quality healthcare services to patients	Patients’ services and Human resources	Reduces efficiency in services delivery

References

Burwell, S. M. (2015). Setting value-based payment goals—HHS efforts to improve US health care. N Engl J Med, 372(10), 897-899.

Drummond, M. F., Sculpher, M. J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G. L., & Torrance, G. W. (2015). Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes. Oxford university press.

Kim, S. H., Tanner, A. H., Foster, C. B., & Kim, S. Y. (2015). Talking about health care: News framing of who is responsible for rising health care costs in the United States. Journal of health communication, 20(2), 123-133.

Levy, A. D. A. M. (2016). Healthcare And Technology Today: A guide for providers and practice managers. Place of publication not identified: LULU COM.

Mayes, B. R. (2017). Christy Ford Chapin, Ensuring America’s Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System.