Week 8 Discussion Response- Delivery of Healthcare

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Week 8 Discussion- Delivery of Healthcare

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Week 8 Discussion- Delivery of Healthcare

The health community in this scenario of continuum care is that of adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Los Angeles, California, and compares with the Netherlands as a geography of care country that has a healthcare delivery model that is highly similar to that of the value-based care concept. The care delivery of patients with Type 2 diabetes in Los Angeles is commonly divided between primary care clinics, specialty endocrinology, and geographically distant hospital systems, which present continuity and coordination challenges. A geography of care enhancement that would be consistent with the value-based care aspect would involve the creation of more integrated regional care networks that deliberately design services around the locations of where patients are not confined to institutional boundaries. The Harvard Business School Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness states that the optimal geography of care is providing routine and chronic care nearer to the homes of patients and concentrating highly specialized care in centralized locations, which will result in saving unnecessary travel, repetitions of services, and total expenses and better results (Harvard Business School Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness, n.d.). The access and coordination along the continuum of care could be enhanced by strengthening community-based diabetes clinics that are attached to larger health systems.

When it comes to the goal of the Institute of Medicine being timely, one of the major improvements would entail a decrease in the time interval between access to follow-up care, a specialty referral, or a patient education service. Late diagnosis and treatment of diabetes are risk factors for the development of the disease and complications that can be avoided. The Institute of Medicine points out that timely care not only minimizes negative delays by patients and providers but is also imperative to enhancing the performance and patient outcomes of the system (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Standardized referral pathways and similar shared electronic health records implemented in all care settings would help to accelerate communication and make clinical decisions more quickly.

Comparing the Netherlands to the United States, it has a more regionally structured and primary-care-based model that is highly manifestative of the principle of geography of care. The Dutch healthcare system motivates high primary care gatekeeping and regional coordination, whereby patients get the majority of chronic disease management near their homes, where there is seamless upward referral when higher care is required (Shi and Singh, 2022). The main learning of the Los Angeles community is that it is significant to invest in the integration of primary care and regional planning to enhance access, timeliness, and coordination. Nonetheless, the U.S. system might be more flexible and innovative, which could imply that the continuum of care results would be better as the regional organization is balanced by the local adaptability.

References

Harvard Business School Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness. (n.d.). Geography of care.

Institute of Medicine. (2001). Improving the 21st-century health care system. In Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century (pp. 39–60). National Academy Press.

Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2022). Delivering health care in America: A systems approach (8th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.