Running head: THE FUTURE OF HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERY
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The Future of Health Service Delivery
Institution Affiliation
Date
THE FUTURE OF HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERY
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Introduction
The health care system in the United States has, over the years, integrated a couple of
external initiatives with the aim of improving clinical outcomes (Shi & Singh, 2019). The most
recent initiative embraced within the country’s health care system is the Health People 2020. It is
not the first time the United States used such an approach, considering the country previously
adopted similar initiatives between 2000 and 2010. Some of these initiatives have been
successful, while others did little to change health care outcomes within the country.
How can external initiatives assist health care delivery and improve clinical outcomes
One of the contributions of Healthy People initiatives is increasing accessibility to
physical and psychological care (Shi & Singh, 2019). Healthy People 2020 seeks to eliminate
some of the barriers that make it harder for people in the United States to access health care
services. Getting medical attention in the United States is very expensive, which means that
affording such care without insurance coverage will become quite challenging for most
Americans. The Affordable Care Act came into existence to address such challenges by making
health care insurance accessible to many Americans (Shi & Singh, 2019).
The Act made it easier for the previously ignored groups to gain coverage under
Medicaid and required health care insurance providers to refrain from denying insurance
coverage or increasing premiums paid by people with pre-existing medical conditions. To some
extent, the law seemed to operationalize some of the themes espoused under Healthy People
2020 (Shi & Singh, 2019). One of these themes revolves around the promotion of population-
based prevention strategies. The environments people live in are the greatest determinants of
their health care outcomes. Therefore greater emphasis must be put on ensuring that people live
in healthy environments, which in turn will guarantee better health care outcomes for them.
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Previous Healthy People Initiatives from 2000 to 2010
Healthy People initiatives have been part and parcel of the United States Health care
system for over three decades, ever since they came into existence courtesy of Surgeon General
Julius Richmond in 1979 (Fielding et al., 2012). Healthy People 2000 came into operation in
1990 courtesy of the Department of Health and Human Services. The initiative contains three
hundred and seventy-six goals that should get attained by the year 2000. Some of the objectives
espoused under this initiative are; health promotion, development of preventative services within
the country's health care system, and an infrastructure that would allow for tracking and
evaluating various public health issues (Fielding et al., 2012). Healthy People 2010 came into
existence in 2000 and laid out a couple of goals that should get attained by the end of 2010. The
initiative comprises of over four hundred objectives designed to improve clinical outcomes
within the United States. All these goals stem from the need to enhance Americans' quality of
life and get rid of the health care disparities that might have impeded access to health care
(Fielding et al., 2012).
SWOT analysis of Healthy People 2010
Strengths
The primary objective of Healthy People 2010 was to improve the quality of life for
numerous Americans. An analysis of Healthy People 2010 indicates that one of the initiative's
strengths revolves around its insistence on a data-driven collaborative framework (Sondik et al.,
2009). The initiative recognizes that raising the quality of life within the United States is not the
sole mandate of the state and federal government. As such, all other stakeholders within the
health care system should come together and work towards fulfilling the objectives set out under
Healthy People 2010. When all stakeholders come together and work towards a common goal,
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attaining such a goal becomes easier. Another strength associated with this initiative is its
reliance on the development of measurable goals (Sondik et al., 2009). All the goals espoused
under this initiative are quantifiable, which means that once the ten-year operational period
lapses, they can easily get reviewed to determine their effectiveness.
Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses of this initiative is its failure to adequately address the issue of
health disparities plaguing the United States healthcare system (Sondik et al., 2009). The
mechanisms adopted to get rid of such variations were not adequate, considering the fact that the
review conducted in 2010 indicated that these disparities are still in existence within the country.
Over the ten years, the initiative was operational, the number of people of color living in
unhealthy environments increased compared to the number of white people in similar
environments.
Opportunities
Opportunities within a SWOT analysis are the elements that an initiative should exploit
to improve its outcomes. Getting rid of health care disparities is not an easy process. It is a step
by step process that would require an overhaul of the country’s health care sector. Healthy
People 2010 failed to take cognizance of this, and rather than seek to reduce it, the drafters of the
initiative sought to get rid of it entirely (Sondik et al., 2009). By doing this, they failed to take
advantage of this opportunity, which ultimately made it harder for them to gain any significant
mileage in the push towards the elimination of health care disparities.
Threats
The biggest threat to Health People 2010 was the lack of sufficient resources to fund the
operationalization of some of the objectives enunciated under the initiative (Sondik et al., 2009).
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The best way to guarantee the success of any health care initiative is the allocation of resources
to fund the initiative. Failure to do this results in partial fulfillment of the goals contained within
the initiative. The federal and the various state governments tried to allocate the resources to
fund this venture, but ultimately the money set aside was not sufficient to cover all the costs
associated with the implementation of all the objectives espoused under Healthy People 2010
(Sondik et al., 2009).
SWOT Analysis Table
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
Insistence on a
collaborative
and data-driven
framework.
Failure to
effectively
address the
issue of health
disparities.
Failure to take
cognizance of the
importance of
reducing health care
disparities rather than
eliminating it at a go.
Lack of sufficient
funding.
Adoption of
measurable
goals
Conclusion
Healthy People 2020 is one of the numerous external initiatives adopted by the United
States. The initiative seeks to ensure the country develops a robust healthcare system that
advocates for healthy behavioral patterns, which contribute to Americans' overall wellness. Even
though most of the objectives and focus areas changed over the years, the core themes of all the
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Healthy People initiatives remained the same. All these initiatives seek to ensure health
promotion and prevention of diseases. One a Healthy People initiative becomes operational; they
last for ten years before a review gets done to determine the effectiveness of the initiative. The
conclusion of this analysis occasions the development of a new Healthy People initiative that
subsists for the next decade, after which another review ensues, and the process repeats itself.
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References
Fielding, J.E., Teutsch, S., & Koh, H. (2012). Health Reform and Healthy People Initiative.
American Journal of Public Health, 102(1), 30-33.
Shi, L., & Singh, D.A. (2019). Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System (5th ed.). Jones &
Bartlett Learning.
Sondik, E.J., Huang, D.T., Klein, R.J., & Satcher, D. (2009). Progress toward the healthy people
2010 goals and objectives. Annual Review of Public Health, 31, 271-281.
