U.S health Disc 5

2

Alfred

The world population has been increasing at alarming rates and here in the United States, children born per day is uncontrollable as compared to mortality rate. Adolescents' growth rate has risen every year, with life expectancy rate increasing as compared to morbidity and mortality rate per year. Meanwhile, demand for the healthcare workforce is inadequate due to the alarming rate of the population. For instance, the population of elderly is twice that of physicians, creating unexpected pressures on physician's consultations (Eldridge, et al. 2018). The fear is that the trend is going to continue in the next decade. The question is; what are the factors leading to the surge trend? Shortage of physicians, nurses, allied healthcare professionals, economic instability, inability to compete with the global market (competitive advantage), problem with adoption and implementation of technology innovations, and increasing life expectancy among the aged (Britnell, 2019). 

To leverage the global job market through the services of physicians, nurses, and other clinical professionals, certain measures need to be put in place such as eliminating excessive risk insurance liability against general surgeons, especially the states that do not support financial incentives of malpractice lawsuits, and the fear of being sued in the cause of duty. This will pave the way for more physicians to develop their maximum output for better patient outcomes (White, 2016). Also reducing the years of education and training for both physicians and clinical practitioners, nurses and other allied health professionals will create an expansion of graduate medical and other health education programs for competitive advantage in the global markets. Besides, analysts and IT professionals are in high demand among the healthcare industry globally, with high paid salaries. Recruitment and retention of this skilled workforce will bring an innovation in the healthcare industry to best leverage a global job market for their services (Hodek, 2022). For instance, the use of smartphones, tablets, and other wearable devices have created jobs in the healthcare industry such as telemedicine creating jobs for both pharmacists and physicians in providing patient care, Artificial intelligence has brought success to impact non-clinical business processes worldwide such as inventory management and revenue management in healthcare industries (Yadav, & Mamilla, 2021). 

With number of patients with chronic diseases increasing, the cost of medication and medical treatment such as cardiovascular, stroke, and other diseases will increase, care models with emerging technologies for patient care will rise, with growing population uninsured, while providers will be paid less irrespective of the amount of dollars invested in by Medicare and Medicaid, will cause the economy to be stagnant. 

The overall concept about the future of healthcare industries in 10 years to come for both workforce and patient outcomes are to reform the healthcare systems through adoption and implementation of improved technology sustainability such as genome editing that uses DNA of persons for treatment like cancer, leukemia, HIV; virtual reality technology for treating soldiers on PTSD’s; precision medicine for diagnostics and treatment of chronic diseases for elderly, robotic exoskeletons and artificial intelligence are booming in the global markets (Kumar, 2020). It is therefore estimated that within the period between 2025-2030, billions of jobs would be created worldwide in healthcare industries to reduce pressure and burnout from healthcare workforce. 

                                                      References

Britnell, M. (2019). Introduction. Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198836520.003.0001

Eldridge, L. P., Sparks, C., & Stewart, J. (2018). The US Bureau of Labor Statistics productivity program. The Oxford Handbook of Productivity Analysis, 120-152. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190226718.013.3

Hodek, J. (2022). Digitalization of nursing to overcome staffing shortages? Categorization and market access of digital applications. Contributions to Economics, 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94025-6_6

Kumar, A. A. (2020). Healthcare reform. Evaluating Challenges and Opportunities for Healthcare Reform, 144-166. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2949-2.ch007

White, J. (2016). Staffing levels law will bolster the front line. Nursing Standard, 31(5), 27-27. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.31.5.27.s24

Yadav, A. K., & Mamilla, R. (2021). Artificial intelligence in healthcare. Artificial Intelligence and Global Society, 95-101. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003006602-9

Diamond.

This week I will be discussing the potential future of the US job market, factors that could contribute to this potential future and how these factors/ changes will most likely impact the healthcare industry. The US healthcare system represents around $3.5 trillion in annual spending and is the largest single sector of the overall economy. The US healthcare system also sits inside larger "macro trends" that help define the overall landscape of jobs. There are many factors that can be considered when thinking about the future of the US job market and what It means for healthcare. Factors such as the general state of the economy (Inflation), globalization, the rapid pace of innovation, technological advancements, cultural values, beliefs etc. These factors will for sure bring along many improvements and challenges.

According to (Forum. 2009,) the U.S. population is continually growing by about 25 million people per decade. This increase in the population amount has been boosting the demand for critical healthcare services as well as the lack if healthcare professionals. According to (Forum. 2009,) it was/ is expected that between 2000 and 2030, the number of people in the U.S. over the age of 65 was/ is expected to double. The elderly population makes twice as many physician visits as those under 65 and the number of average visits to physicians by people over the age of 45 has risen significantly over the past 15 years. While this high demand for healthcare services for the elderly can potentially open more jobs in the healthcare industry, it also can create higher expectations for healthcare providers and a higher demand for health care services.  With the higher demand for healthcare services comes the need for more job opportunities and qualified workers. As times change and technological advancements begin to be globally utilized, I believe the skills/ requirements needed to hold some of these new healthcare positions will need to be tech based. According to (Forum. 2009,) there is to be an expected shortage of physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals due to a variety of reasons such as lack in proper training, retirement, economic situations, feelings of burnout, pandemic, language barriers, underpaid, etc. This is very unfortunate to hear because without these valued and necessary positions filled, the access to quality care is extremely limited in areas where there are significant staffing vacancies. The high demand for the older population will cause a bigger job pool for positions in critical care. Positions such as gastroenterology, surgery, dermatology, radiology, urology, gynecology, just to name a few. Currently laboratories nationwide are experiencing shortages of qualified technologists for clinical positions and gaps are foreseen for the future. The demand for technical skills will be on the up and up and as many healthcare fields will involve some sort of Health Information Technology within a few years.

According to (Levesque et al., 2022,) there will be an increased interaction between primary care and public health which will be rooted in epidemiology, the economy, and technological advancements/ changes. The need for preventive and early detection treatment/ management will be on the rise while also ultimately increasing costs for services, informational technologies, data software’s, research, jobs, etc. According to (Levesque et al., 2022,) the collaboration between public health and primary care could aid in fixing some of the social determinates of health currently seen and the ones that are expected to be seen in the next few years. As we know populations that are considered vulnerable rely heavily on primary care and public health to achieve equality in their health outcomes.  

As a healthcare administrator, I would make it a goal of mine to be collaborating with community and state/ federal stakeholders along with internal team members to make sure we are planning and coordinating to appropriately set the organization up for success. All of these anticipated changes mean that healthcare administrators will need to be looking into ways to increase the overall efficiency, quality, value and affordability of the services offered by utilizing partnerships with different community taskforces, health care policy programs, research, data, incentives, and etc. According to (Healthaffairs.org. 2022,) in 2009 congress attempted to modernize the Health Information Exchange (HIE) processes by passing the HITECH Act by offering different grants and incentives to healthcare organizations who began utilizing these processes. Congress also provided HSS to use health information in the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) (Healthit.gov, 2018.) According to (Healthaffairs.org. 2022,) it is time for a more assertive, national, and global approach so that everyone is on the same page. Utilizing international perspectives will be helpful as well.  I would personally advocate for working on ways to improve the overall functioning of healthcare systems and the way funds are spent. According to (Levesque et al., 2022,) freeing up resources and funds that can be spent on public health and social determinates of health can help mitigate some of the challenges and barriers experienced by vulnerable populations in the community. As healthcare providers it is important to understand that at the end of the day, the community matters. Everyone should be able to access quality, valuable, efficient, care that will not put them in dept or mental turmoil.  

References:

Forum, I., (2009). Supply and Demand in the Health Care Workforce.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215247/

Levesque, J., Breton, M., Senn, N., Levesque, P., Bergeron, P. and Roy, D., 2022. The Interaction of Public Health and Primary Care: Functional Roles and Organizational Models that Bridge Individual and Population Perspectives.

            http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03391699

Healthit.gov. (2018) The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: 2018 Report to Congress

https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/page/2018-12/2018-HITECH-report-to-congress.pdf

Healthaffairs.org. (2022) Health Information Exchange After 10 Years: Time for A More Assertive, National Approach | Health Affairs Forefront. [online]

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20190807.475758/full/