...Assignment #3 Health Care Costs Patricia Kalendowicz HSA 500 02/15/2014 Dr. Russell Healthcare in the United States has evolved over the past several decades. The challenges faced by government and individuals have evolved from public health issues, government regulation, private health insurance and government health insurance. The U.S. has enjoyed the benefits of advancing medical technology, new drug developments and a growing older population but with that has come an increasing cost for healthcare and no clear cut plan to pay for it. In 2003 healthcare spending in the U.S. rose at five times that of inflation, the fastest rate in U.S, history (NCHC-Costs, 2004). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure used to gauge the health of the country’s economy. The GDP is the overall worth of goods and services produced in a country within a specific period of time. Total health expenditures are expressed as the percentage of the GDP. The U.S. spends a greater percentage of its GDP on healthcare than any other major industrialized nation. In 2001 this amounted to 14.1%, compared to Germany’s 10.7%, Canada’s 9.7%, Frances 9.5% and Sweden’s 8.7%. It is predicted that if medical spending continues to rise by just 2% more than personal income by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid will hit 18.5% of the GDP leading the overall federal deficit to be 20.7% of GDP. New healthcare cost projections by Medicare and Medicaid indicate that health spending will reach 20% of the GDP by 2021...
Words: 557 - Pages: 3
...would be high healthcare worker turnover, potential co-pays and reimbursement rates. As the baby boomers reach an age where they are in need of assisted living, many are choosing to stay home versus going to an assisted living facility. The demand for home health aides is growing more each year according to First Research, but there’s a downside to this profession. It’s not a very rewarding job. It’s very strenuous and duties include, but are not limited to personal care, cleaning, cooking and laundry duty. The pay for this type of work is minimal and hours sometimes are long. The turnover rate varies from state to state, but high however…60%-100%. Most of these positions pay only minimum wage, which is the main reason for high turnover. Most of these jobs do not offer overtime nor do they offer benefits. The average salary for this position is $16,000 (Kelly Kennedy, USA Today, 2012) per year if your fortunate enough to have full time hours, which more often than not, it’s only part time work. If you’re a single parent, the only living your able to afford would be way below the poverty level. Last, but certainly the most important part of this high turnover is that it also has a negative impact on the client’s health. Because our seniors are fragile at this age consistency and familiar helps with day to day care. If a client has to endure a new care giver every 90 days is not consistent with quality care. Ways to overcome high turnover in healthcare is to offer...
Words: 746 - Pages: 3
...How Not to Cut Health Care Costs Some relevant mistakes stated in article: 1. Mistake 1: Cutting Back on support staff. Productivity as a means of determining staff load. A lot of times when higher management looks at areas and ways to cost costs it looks at productivity in each department and compares productivity to hours worked and number of employees. This could be a realistic way of determining where costs need to be cut if productivity was a true basis of how a department works and its output. There are a lot of factors that productivity reports do not take into account. Things like answering phone calls, filing, paperwork, and other administrative work. Ex. Working as a senior tech at city hospital if I generated a work load report from our laboratory computer system it would indicate on a lot of days my productivity or testing work load is very low. What it isn’t taking into account is the daily meeting I attend, the daily issues I need to address, administrative work that must be done, that I may be creating or revising policies and procedures... 2. Mistake 3: Focusing Narrowly on procurement prices. The best way to cut cost in this area in the long run is to invest in a reliable supply chain throughout the whole health care system. This means that all departments within the healthcare system would work with some select employees in the supply chain to make sure they are getting the best affordable quality inventory and that its standard...
Words: 373 - Pages: 2
...Rising Cost of Health Care April Scoles Instructor LeJarnaro Barnes March 9, 2014 The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world. It dates all the way back to World War II. The United States and Canada do not even compare to each other, in health care, like they once did. The problem lies within the major stakeholders of the health care system, and what they are willing to change to make it less expensive for patients. This paper will discuss the history, compare and contrast United States health care system to Canada, how the stake holders’ role affect these rising costs and it will discuss recommendations suggested by the authors of “Redefining Health Care.” First, we should discuss the major problem of our health care system. This happens to be the price. According to an article written in 2010, 17% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was spent on health care. It is supposed to increase by 18% by the year 2018 (Crissy, Larimer, Furnas, Spencer, 2010). What is Gross Domestic Product, you ask? Well, it is defined as “the total market values of goods and services produced by workers and capital within a nation’s border during a given period of time” (English Dictionary online). This more or less means that the cost of health care is rising, and the coverage is declining. The out-of-pocket expenses are too much for patients to pay. This in turn makes patients choose to drop their coverage, because it is too expensive, in the first place. If the...
Words: 1823 - Pages: 8
...INTRODUCTION The United States has a profound problem with health care spending. Rising health care costs are stifling economic growth, consuming increasing portions of the nation’s gross domestic product, and putting added burdens on businesses, the public sector, individuals, and families. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT Health care accounts for about one-sixth of the entire economy — more than any other industry. Spending on health care totals about $2.5 trillion, 17.5% of our gross domestic product a measure of the value of all goods and services produced in the United States. That's up from 13.8% of Gross Domestic Product in 2000 and 5.2% in 1960, when health spending totaled just $27.5 billion — barely 1% of today’s level, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy group. (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-19-health-economy) A variety of factors that has contributed to the growth in health care spending relative to the GDP. These factors include the following: • rapid development and dissemination of medical technology that expanded the treatment of disease • rising expectations about the value of health care services • government financing of health services • the nature of third-party reimbursement • the growth in the proportion of elderly • the lack of competitive forces in the health care system to increase efficiency and productivity in delivery of services , and • the misdistribution of physicians and other providers...
Words: 1922 - Pages: 8
...The Cost of Heath HCA 305 MRS. John July 1, 2013 One of the most controversial topics now days is health care and that is because it affects the person who seeks it directly. Health care can be an issue when is not handle appropriate and not make wise choices when it comes to it. One way that this topic would go smoothly is when there is communication among those who are in charge and those who use this method. When health care becomes too much the best way to handle it is to find solutions that will benefit not only the patient but the community. Health care is any activity that is intended to improve the state of physical, mental, or social function of people it comprises a wide spectrum of activities including for health promotion, disease prevention, creative care rehabitation, long term and palliative care. It is also to maintain and restore of health by treatment or prevention of disease. Another definition of health care is any field or enterprise concerned with supplying services, equipment information, for the maintenance or restoration of health. This health care can be provide by trained and licensed professionals in which could be in medicine, dentistry, clinical psychology, and public health. Also by a health provider which is the one that provides health care in which is an individual or an institution that provides preventive, curative, promotional, or rehabitative health care services in a systematic way to individual, families or communities. Health care...
Words: 1404 - Pages: 6
...should be able to have access to healthcare at an affordable price with quality service which are three aspects that are the most important in healthcare access, quality, and cost. Healthcare access is simply being able to have it when you need it although many don’t have it due to cost or because they don’t have the knowledge to access it. Access to healthcare effects the consumer’s quality of life which can lead to fatally. Cost which is being able to afford the healthcare is one of the biggest issues according to www.cdc.gov.com the percent...
Words: 997 - Pages: 4
...The Rising of Healthcare Costs Over the past 30 years, the American healthcare system has been afflicted by the continuous rise of healthcare cost. One of the reasons for the increase in healthcare cost is that in today’s society people are living longer lives than they did in the past and the prevalence rates of contracting chronic diseases and developing life threatening injuries are causing the United States healthcare system to suffer a financial crisis. Another reason for the rise in healthcare cost includes but is not limited to expensive hospital visits, complex procedures, and cost of prescriptions. Consumers find several ways to reduce healthcare cost for the insured and uninsured individuals. Some patients questioned where most of the money goes when they pay premiums for health treatments. There are some occurring solutions to the ever-rising cost of healthcare. Decisions you make can determine how much you pay for healthcare. Review your health insurance plan, you can do this by getting involved in your open enrollment, there you may find better or more affordable options available that may fit your needs. If there is no need or emergency in going to see your doctor other than for an annual checkup, getting a different health plan will be beneficial. If your employer subsidizes your care versus that of your dependents, it might make sense to have the dependents get their coverage on the open market, if they only subsidize the employee’s coverage. Other opportunities...
Words: 766 - Pages: 4
...Healthcare cost have been a very popular topic to elaborate on within society lately. Some individuals may complain because the healthcare cost are outrageous at times and not affordable. Healthcare cost rise due to the demand for hospitals goods and services rising, living unhealthy lifestyles, there is an aging population living longer, and new technology has enhanced medical goods and services. Are the increases year by year in health care cost justified? Physicians may play a role in the rising healthcare cost as well. A physician is the only one that can diagnose the problem and say how much medical attention is needed. At times fee for service physicians may over diagnose a patient due to them being able to receive a payment for each...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...Biosimilars – Does it reduce healthcare cost or not? As the US healthcare costs are skyrocketing, the legislators are making intensive efforts to find new ways to reduce them. One approach is to reduce the high cost of biologic drug products. Having the intention to reduce healthcare costs, the Congress established an abbreviated approval pathway for biosimilars as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law in March 23, 2010. The Affordable Care Act authorized the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop regulations for the approval of biosimilars. As a matter of fact, the benefits of biosimilars to all its stakeholders seem modest due to the complexity of biological molecules, challenging manufacturing processes, expensive clinical studies and the barriers to market access. Unlike chemical-based prescription drugs, biologic drugs are derived from living cells. They are used to treat cancers, immunological diseases and other chronic illnesses. Biosimilars are generic versions of biological drugs that are similar to innovative biological drugs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) became law in 2010. Section XII of the law allows an abbreviated approval pathway for biosimilars. FDA is currently developing a specific regulatory route to govern the abbreviated approval process for biosimilars. There are no biosimilars approved in the US under the law yet, but more than 17 Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications for biosimilar development...
Words: 1491 - Pages: 6
...University of Phoenix Material Effects of Mass Media Worksheet Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following: Questions | Answers | What were the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the 20th century? | The evolution of mass media during the 20th century has had major developments such as the telephone, television, radio, newspaper, and Morse code. Morse code was the fastest way for people to communicate by telegram before the telephone. Once the telephone came about it made communication between people much more convenient vs. waiting on a telegram. This then led to the invention of cell phone that made communication even better because now people were able to talk to one another while on the go. Radio was the way people listen to the news, music, storytelling and talk shows. This at the time was the main source of entertainment before the creation of the television. Television changed the way people received information as a whole because before the way to reach the people was through newspapers. Television went from black and white to colored and affordable for everyone to have in their homes, which became a large source for people to see and listen to the news. Next was the making of the computer that allowed individuals to communicate across the world, share pictures with friend and family through social sites, and search the web for any and almost anything one may want to look up. But, before it reached business and homes it was...
Words: 432 - Pages: 2
...Obesity and Health Care Costs Renee Gordon HRM 599 – Benefits Keller Graduate School of Management Review The article “Moderate and Severe Obesity Have Differences in Health Care Costs” was published in the journal Obesity Research. The article analyzes the health care usage and costs associated with varying degrees of obesity of a 2002 study of a focus group of individuals 54 to 69 years old. Health care costs have been steadily increasing over the last few years. Not coincidentally, obesity has also been on the rise, and has helped contribute to the rising costs of health care. Obesity levels are based on a person’s BMI rating. The ratings are: “Normal weight: 18.5 < BMI < 25 Overweight: 25 < BMI < 30 Moderate Obesity: 30 < BMI < 35 Severe Obesity: 35 < BMI < 40 Extreme Obesity: BMI > 40” (Tatiana Andreyeva, 2004) The article provided some interesting statistics on the rate of increase of health care costs compared with the different levels of obesity. The study was broken down between men and women, and provided different statistics for each group. It was found that in men, health care costs increased the most between moderate and severe obesity, with costs coming in at $4738 for moderately obese men and $6179 for severely obese men. That is a $1441 increase between the two classifications. For women, the largest increase in cost came between severe and extreme obesity. The cost associated with the two classes was $5723 for...
Words: 680 - Pages: 3
...There are a number of factors that can influence pricing within Healthcare. They can include the facilities desired net income, competitive position and its current or desired market share (Cleverley & Cleverley, 2007). All facilities need to have a strategic short and long term plan to maintain a healthy financial future. The price charged does not always align with the payments received from payers. Therefore it is critical that the facility have solid data to support their charge descriptive master (Cleverley & Cleverly, 2007). The type of payment structure greatly influences this stage. The providers can be paid based on three types of payments: cost, fee schedule and price related. The cost is pasted on the actual marginal or variable cost of providing the service, but the fee scheduled can be based on participation in specific payer programs...
Words: 464 - Pages: 2
...Memorandum To: Dr. Robert I. Grossman, CEO NYU Langone Date: November 7, 2012 Re: Restructuring Health Care Payment and Improving Quality The U.S. devotes a much larger share of its national income to health care than any other country in the world. However, the gross over-spending has not yielded the healthiest population (OECD Health data, 2009). Our economy is continually growing at a lesser rate than healthcare spending. The need to restrain this unsustainable growth in health care costs is often overlooked in favor of reform focused on expanding access to care. Attention must be focused on restructuring the payment process with the goal of reducing costs without sacrificing quality. With an aging population comes chronic conditions that require efficiently coordinated care. About 10 million Americans require long term care, 42% of which are under 65 with disabilities or chronic illness (Rowland, 2009). It is also not uncommon for chronic patients to receive duplicate testing, conflicting treatment advice, and expensive prescriptions from multiple practitioners. The Medicare system was a fee-for service payment plan, until a prospective payment was introduced. A contributing factor to the problem has been the trending of hospitals and insurers to better cover acute episodes rather than preventative or ongoing care. For example, the average length of stay is down from less than 8 days in the 1970s to 4.6 days in late 2000’s. In a similar trend, gross outpatient...
Words: 1335 - Pages: 6
...Another main issue in the economics field is the rising cost of healthcare. A large amount of government spending is on health care services such as Medicaid and Medicare. A major component of the large amount of government spending is to try to make healthcare affordable to individuals. However, with a rise in the price of the services, medical technologies, and the structure of the medical system makes this task difficult. Rising costs of healthcare can also hurt the economy by decreasing the funding available to local or state governments to support other programs. Also this issue hurts businesses by making it more expensive to hire labor. Economists utilize a method to conduct their research similar to other sciences. They state a main...
Words: 299 - Pages: 2
