Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices
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AnalysisOfAPertinentHealthcareIssue1.docCOST OF HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED STATES 2
Cost of Healthcare in The United States
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Introduction
In the contemporary world, the United States healthcare systems continue to experience remarkable development of recurrent themes of significant services delivery issues within the entire industry. The healthcare issues in the United States are impacting not only the patients but also the healthcare practitioners. Most of the healthcare issues are too demanding hence becoming difficult solving them. The healthcare issue discussed in this paper is the cost of healthcare in the United States.
A summary of the cost of healthcare
The highest healthcare globally is in the United States. Due to the high state of living in America, most individuals suffer a lot from the economic cost burden; hence, very few people can balance their needs. The economic burden is highly influenced by the high number of American citizens who cannot afford their entire health indemnification (Rovner, 2019). Individuals who cannot afford their medical cover are left susceptible when an emergency occurs related to their health.
Healthcare costs pose a significant challenge to various organizations because when patients need health care intervention, they find it challenging to cater to the relevant services needed. Some healthcare facilities in the United States offer free services, but because it is difficult to do it to everyone, they choose people, special groups, and vulnerable populations. It is not easy to offer free services to every individual; hence, the American government has various policies to help prevent people in need. Based on research done by Rovner (2019), there are families in the United States who end up selling their belonging so that they can settle their medical bills over time.
According to (Dresden et al., 2016), the United States government has called upon the Affordable Care Act, whose main aim was to reduce healthcare costs and the emergency department's visits. Instead, the Affordable Care Act in the United States led to increased emergency department visits by 5.7%. The Affordable Care Act's introduction boosts the Patient's coverage but, on the other hand, minimized access to quality healthcare services by the patients under the free services.
According to Rovner (2019), the healthcare system in the United States is trying to develop strategies to help solve healthcare costs by lowering the cost of insurance covers to citizens. Lowering the medical cover cost helps the poor, people with special needs, and the Vulnerable to acquire quality healthcare services at a low cost. Based on the research done by (Dresden et al., 2016), the United States government has also helped fight the healthcare issue by increasing the number of funds disbanded to the healthcare facilities hence reducing the cost of services.
Our healthcare organization has also taken part in solving the healthcare issue by retaining the required number of healthcare workers in the facility to avoid additional costs. Our healthcare facility also advises medical professionals to attend to patients even without funds.
How cost of healthcare is addressed in other organizations
Most of the healthcare organizations in the United States are focused on reducing the cost of healthcare services. At the same time, they increase the effectiveness and efficiency of delivering quality services to their patients. One of the strategies applied by other organizations in solving the healthcare issue is cost analytics, whose primary focus is to reduce costs and increase efficiency while maintaining high-quality delivery levels. The cost analytics system works by finding the average and the aggregate financial data of the organization. When an organization uses cost analytics, it can measure the actual operational cost concerning various individuals with different illnesses, making all the medical professionals accountable for all the services they offer.
Another strategy used by other healthcare organizations to minimize healthcare costs in the United States is moving care closer to the patients. Due to technological advancement, it is becoming irrelevant for the Patient to visit the doctor anytime they become ill due to the electronic health record's emergence. EHR helps the medical professionals diagnose the Patient at the comfort of their homes, hence reducing healthcare costs.
There are other healthcare organizations with totally different strategies of minimizing the cost of healthcare services by educating the Patient on financial management where they are advised funds for their medical services, which is usually used during an emergency. Some medical facilities advise their patients to join the emerging medical insurance covers for their monthly pay is relatively low hence will be affordable for all individuals regardless of their backgrounds.
Strategies used to address the organizational impact of the cost of healthcare.
According to (Dresden et al., 2016), the United States government has brought about the emergency department, which helps in cases an alternative for patients without medical covers. The use of other agencies such as the Affordable Care Act and the Patient Protection has helped the vulnerable populations get healthcare services for free in the United States. The federal programs in the United States are used to solve the cost issue in healthcare organizations. Medicaid helps cover some of the medical costs for patients who come from low-income families and people living with disabilities. The American government is also introducing assistive technology to healthcare organizations to minimize the number of healthcare professionals working in a single healthcare facility, hence reducing healthcare costs.
How the strategies impact our organization both positively and negatively
The strategies of reducing the cost of healthcare have both negative and positive impacts on our organization. One of the positive impacts of the strategies is that Medicaid reduces the burden of too many unpaid services in our organization. The emergency department also helps in funding our organization to respond to all emergency issues without failure. One of the negative impacts of solving healthcare strategies is that the introduction of assistive technology leaves most healthcare professionals jobless. When technology is put in place, it replaces the work done by individuals.
Conclusion
The high cost of healthcare in the United States is a significant issue. The American government should come up with more strategies to minimize the cost of the healthcare issue. The United States government should also focus on retaining the quality of healthcare services while still finding strategies to solve the healthcare issue's cost. With good planning and government intervention strategies, it is possible to curb healthcare costs in the United States.
References
Dresden, S., Powell, E., Kang, R., Mchugh, M… & Feinglass, J. (2016). Increased emergency department use in Illinois after implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2(69), 172-189.
Rovner, J. (2019). The complicated, political, expensive, seemingly eternal US healthcare debate explained. BMJ, 367.
