...elective deliveries. These are births scheduled without a medical reason between 37 and 39 completed weeks of pregnancy. The prevalence of these unsafe deliveries perfectly embodies the five biggest problems in our health system. Below I explain how — but keep reading, because I do have some words of optimism in the end. Problem 1: Too Much Unnecessary Care Overuse and unnecessary care accounts for anywhere from one-third to one-half of all health care costs, which equal hundreds of billions of dollars, in addition to the half-a-trillion per year experts attribute to lost productivity and disability. Early elective deliveries are unnecessary, according to advice by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, that has been repeated for more than 30 years (that’s not a typo – 30 years), a point reinforced today at a press conference. This is a message carried by several other highly respected organizations like Childbirth Connection, the March of Dimes and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). All national health plans concur. Nonetheless, we saw a dramatic escalation in the rates of these deliveries from the 1990s to the first decade of the new century. Problem 2: Avoidable Harm to Patients This is one of health care’s most common problems. The statistics are staggering. Here’s an example: one in four Medicare beneficiaries that are admitted to a hospital suffers some form of harm during their stay. Would you get in your car if...
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...Health Care Issue There are many major problems in our Health Care system today. The major problem that I see is that too many people never have health care coverage and they are using all resources of tax dollars. There is also a bunch of money being wasted. Some doctors an companies are sly and they try to talk you into wasting your money (forbes.com). Also, doctors order a labs and tests that are very wasteful and also expensive at the same time. Also, insurance companies play a big role in health care. People pay a lot of money for health insurance, and sometimes it does not even cover the damage. For example, if you have a big operation or test, it will probably pay eighty percent of it or less (healthcare problems.com). And then, you are left with that extra twenty percent that can add up to be a lot. Another big company that plays a big role is the pharmaceutical companies. They make a lot of money off of medicine and other drugs that people need. New drugs can be very expensive for the patients. This can cause another financial problem (forbes.com). Another flaw In the health care system is how the doctors and physicians are being treated. They are working more than ever, and they are not getting paid as much. That why some doctors try to trick you into spending money these days. The health care today is also effecting the elderly. They are living on fixed incomes, and when you grow old you tend to get sick. It's the nature of beast. So When they get sick or...
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...Economic Terms and Health Care History HCS 440 December 19, 2011 Lori Geddes Economic Terms and Health Care History This summary will show the history and evolution of health care economics. The readers will also get a timeline of health care funding. Once you have read everything the summary shows you then you will have an insight to economical terms can help to understand the history and the timeline the terms are going to be: Economics, supply and demand, microeconomics, macroeconomics, elasticity, inelasticity, and gross domestic product. With these words this will show you about economics in the health care history. Once the American Medical Association (AMA) was founded healthcare was just getting off the ground with hospitals and doctors (American Medical Association, 2011). During this time doctors would see patients on a bartering system. The doctors at this time would make house calls and for the services they gave to the patients the patient at this time would give the doctor goods. The supply and demand at that time would be food, and anything that the people would not have. During this time they would pay with cooked meals, animals, things that they made, and their time such as working for the doctor however he wanted them to. During the time frame of 1901 to 1940’s healthcare and medicine took made great improvement. Medicine and hospitals became very important at this time. President Truman proposed a national health care plan, but it was shot out of...
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...Who is the biggest loser? Today, about 240 families lost a loved one to a tobacco-related illness. That’s an estimated 87,600 deaths in a year. In 2011, the country earned around Php26 billion worth of taxes from the tobacco industry, while revenue from cigarette manufacturers amounted to approximately Php31 billion. How much does life cost? For each life lost to tobacco use, the tobacco industry earned Php353,881.28. Is it worth it? This does not even account for the annual health costs and productivity losses from tobacco-related deaths and diseases that range from Php148 billion to Php314 billion. No monetary equivalent can also be juxtaposed to the hours of painful treatment just to manage the diseases, nor the time and energy a family member spends to care for the loved one. More so, these numbers do not even reflect the pain of losing someone you love. But for decision-makers, these exact figures and immeasurable realities are not compelling enough to pass the necessary measures to reduce tobacco use. Instead, the most marginalized and the poorest sectors are pitted against each other to rationalize inaction - tobacco victims versus farmers, workers against children and youth. Life versus livelihood. The battle of the sectors has been the easiest tactic to muddle the discourse on amendments to excise taxation. What we fail to remember is that all of these sectors - farmers, urban poor, youth, children, and workers are the tobacco victims. They are the...
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...Consider a research problem that is related to your experience. Describe the knowledge gap that research could fill. Identify the PICO(T) elements that might be found in a research question related to the problem and the research design best suited to address the problem. Would your problem lend itself to research using a qualitative design, a quantitative design, or a mixed design (uses both)? Why? Explain your answer. A trend in patients admitted to the hospital that I saw was the large amount of issues surrounding “back pain.” So a research problem in healthcare that I feel would fill a gap would be, “What are the comparative benefits and harms of self-care advice, education, or other self-care interventions, over a period of one year?” I feel this is a good PICO(T) question with P being the population, disease, or health status “back pain.” I, being the intervention, specific tests, or therapies and medications, “self-care advice, education” C, being the comparisons, no treatment, or different types of treatments, “other self-care interventions.” O, being what outcome I will see, less symptoms, more, return to full health, “benefits and harms.” T, being the time frame for the study, “one year.” I feel this would use a qualitative approach to the question, as it would aim to collect an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior, and what conditions people may contribute and attribute to having such back pain. I don’t feel that this...
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...for, this can be a problem when we look at how children in the foster care system will grow up. When looking at the present time, there is major flaws in the current foster care system. The children today are not being properly taken care of. There are many reasons including: Poor funding, lack of homes, and settling issues. Overall, the flaws are making an unstable households and the issue must be fixed. The foster system of today is broken, the child inside are struggling mentally and physically; the system needs to be improved, the opposing view would be that foster care is successful...
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... she was accompanied by her daughter, who was 6 –years –old, Anna Jackson. The receptionist asked her, “How can I help you today?” She replied, “I am here to re-apply for healthcare.” She received the forms, filled them out and was told to wait for a phone call in a couple of days. A few days went by and Marcy was away at work and missed the call from the Healthcare organization, but they left her a message on the answering machine. The message said, “Hi, sorry that you missed our call. I am a representative from the healthcare organization that you applied to a few days ago. I am so sorry that because of your weight, you have been denied access for affordable healthcare. If you have any questions you can contact us at your local healthcare location. Have a nice day.” Marcy fell to her knees she could not believe what she had just heard. She tried so hard to lose the weight and just when she thought it was enough, she failed again. Marcy worked two jobs just to keep things in order and being able to afford healthcare for her and her daughter, just was not enough. And this should not be the case, it should not matter about you weight, height, or any of that but it should be about what you can afford. Almost fifty million Americans are uninsured while the rest, who are covered, are often victims of insurance company fraud. Healthcare in the world today is very corrupt and unaffordable. As you can see, you can be denied from healthcare for the simplest things....
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...Future Trends in Health Care Your Name HCS/533 10 February 2014 Professor Here Future Trends in Health Care Electronic health records have become more prevalent in the current health care system than it was 10 years ago. Electronic health records were not used to the extent it is today for patient documentation. Without the advancement in electronic medical records, most of the information that is transferred so easily to other providers would not be able to happen. Electronic Health Records (EHR) is the quintessence of a trend changing the health care system. Because more medical facilities are adopting the use of electronic health records, members are receiving faster more efficient care whereas the medical facility is saving money. EHRs are “digital repositories of patient data accessible to multiple stakeholders” that include “patient’s health history, medical conditions, test and treatments, medication, demographics” and other pertinent information about the patient (Otto & Nevo, 2013. p. 165). Electronic health records eliminate misplacement of documents, destruction of the documents via handling, and to retrieve documents for continuity of care providers needed to seek information from multiple places. EHRs streamline processes; place the information in...
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...Foods today are beginning to cause significant problems such as obesity and diseases. This is beginning to escalate past health problems and is beginning to affect certain costs. Also, it doesn’t seem like the government or anyone is doing much about this problem. Many people argue that it’s not the food industry’s fault and that it’s the people’s fault for eating the way they do, but I think I will make some valid points as to why it is the food industry’s fault. Throughout my life I always thought that eating food that was purchased at a grocery store was the safest and healthiest way to eat. From what I have learned now, eating certain foods from a grocery store or supermarket can sometimes be almost as bad as eating fast food. This is due to the food industry doing strange modifications and putting strange ingredients into our foods. According to an article titled “Is the Food Industry killing us“ . . . “Due to the rise of mass production and consumerism in the 20th century which accelerated after World War II more and more food is now manufactured using increasingly efficient processes to make it quicker to prepare, better tasting, higher in energy content and cheaper.”(Lavelle) This also makes the food much more unhealthy than it should be. The food industry only cares about its monetary gains, and couldn’t care less about how their ingredients affect people. One food additive that has caused a high percentage of the health problems people face today is MSG...
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...numerous economic tools and concepts that relate to the health care field. When discussing the current nursing shortage, and the nursing shortage that will continue through the future, scarcity, supply, and demand are just a few of the important concepts to address. According to Explorehealthcareers.org (2012), “The United States has a serious shortage of practicing nurses” and “demand for frontline workers is expected to increase 50% over the next five years.” This paper will explore scarcity, supply, and demand and how these relate to the current and future nursing shortage. Scarcity Scarcity exists when the infinite human wants outweighs the limited amount of resources available ("The Problems of Health Care", n.d.). Scarcity exists within the health care field when discussing the nurses, the need for nurses, and the amount of nurses that are available to fill the number of positions available. There are many reasons that have led to the scarcity of the nursing resource. The amount of nursing schools and nursing instructors are not able to keep up with the amount of potential students, nor the need for more nurses; there are greater opportunities for nurses to expand their careers and move out of hands on nursing; there are more people entering the health care arena who will need health care and nurses to provide that care (American Nurses Association, 2014). The nursing shortage can lead to a decline in quality of care as well. According to American Nurses Association...
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...Dylan Cregar LA 111 3/3/16 Dr. Callon Over the past few weeks we have been talking about the role of the US in the world and how happy other countries are with us and our decision making. A couple of the implications that the US has been dealing with lately are The U.S. health system, that national debt, and the separation among the social classes. The health system suffers from a large uninsured population, financial barriers to care, a shortage of primary care providers, and potentially important gaps in the quality of care. Our health care system is literally losing “patients,” killing more than 500 per day from errors, accidents and infections in hospitals alone, not to mention the mortality and suffering from millions of procedures that never needed to be done in the first place. A report by the Institute of Medicine Health suggests a third or more of health costs are wasted. The cost of these unnecessary, harmful early elective deliveries was estimated in a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to be nearly $1 billion per year (Forbes). If we cannot get the healthcare situation under control, we will just keep piling up the debt here in the US. Now I will elaborate more on the national debt here in the US. As of February 29, 2016, the official debt of the United States government is $19.1 trillion. This amounts to $59,196 for every person living in the U.S. and $153,511 for every household in the U.S. If the U.S. does not get this under control...
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...Ethics Case Study Brenda Gary HCS/335 Ethics: Health Care and Social Responsibility February 21, 2012 Ken Parker Ethics Case Study The health care system of today is different from that of the past. Incidents of patient injuries that would have gone ignored by the family or patient in the past are now the basis for malpractice lawsuits. The issue today for most health care facilities is liability. The law on torte and negligence (2012) sees liability as a major risk not only for the physician but also for allied healthcare professionals working under the direct supervision of a medical supervisor, such as a medical assistant. When a medical assistant takes it upon himself to perform tasks outside the scope of his training or skills, the physician may be liable for any injuries or damages caused by the employee. Jerry McCall In this scenario, Jerry McCall, is an office assistant who has training as a medical assistant and Licensed Practical Nurse. He receives a phone call from a patient requesting a Valium refill before a plane ride. The patient stresses that he is leaving for the airport within thirty minutes and that Dr. Williams (whom Jerry work for) is a friend who gives him a small supply of the antidepressant Valium when he has to fly. Jerry is the only person in the office at the time of the call and has to decide what to do. Though Jerry may want to help the patient, he cannot. Jerry is a trained professional but he does not have the authority to...
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...privacy is in vital in today society. One of the largest problems in the health care industry is patient privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules are the main Federal laws that protect your health information. The Privacy Rule gives you rights with respect to your health information. The Privacy Rule also sets limits on how your health information can be used and shared with others. The Security Rule sets rules for how your health information must be kept secure with administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. ( ) Many different and potentially serious issues can arise from violating a patient’s privacy. The recent outbreak of Ebola has the country on edge. As health care officials struggle to contain the world’s biggest-ever Ebola outbreak, their efforts are being complicated by another problem protecting patient rights. The issue and its impact on the population is protecting the patient’s information, giving the patient that sense of peace. The third American affected with Ebola was only know as “mystery patient” he elected to stay private for the safety of his family. December 8, 2014 the mystery patient came forward and explains to the NY times why he kept his name confidential. The day he arrived at the hospital Dr. Ian Crozier told his mother that he didn’t want his name to be release until after his death. Dr. Ian Crozier biggest fear was that the media...
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...Are sugary drinks really that dangerous? I believe sugary drinks are quite dangerous. In fact, sugary drinks are extremely dangerous, and should be banned. Today sugary drinks are one of the leading causes of obesity and other illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. This has been an increasingly important issue amongst kids 6-12 years of age. There have been various laws/bans put in place such as the New York City ban of soft drinks that are larger than 16 oz. In the article “Your Favorite Drinks Can Wreck Your Body” by Russ Lloyd, he talks about how more and more states are putting restrictions/bans on sugary drinks do to the dangerous effects they have on people. Although some say sugary drinks aren’t so bad, in “Let us enjoy our sweet drinks in piece” by Evan Cook, he describes just that, however, sugary drinks are extremely dangerous because they can lead to deadly illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, and are also extremely addictive, and are the leading cause of obesity and diabetes in America today....
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...Drugs Javier A. Dominguez COMM/215 Professor Kenneth Frawley Drugs One of our most important worldwide issues today is the elimination of illegal drugs. However, getting rid of said drugs is extremely tough and complicated. Despite the constant fight to get rid of the illegal drugs, they remain and continue being used in our culture. So why is there little success in taking care of the problem? It obviously is not a lack of effort. A strong attraction to drugs still exists, but it is the prevention of this thirst for drugs that we need to put our efforts and attention in order to eliminate illegal drugs from society. The biggest mistake is that we are focusing on correcting drug abusers instead of getting rid of the desire to use them. However, applying more laws and more severe punishments against the drug abuse problem has yet to prove to be an effective method. Every day, drugs continue to be produced, distributed, and used around the globe. We have attempted to find locations of drug users and a drug producer to “punish them”, but this method does not stop anything. In one recent study from the National Health Service (NHS) information centre of “6,519 school pupils, about 12% of children in England and Wales are likely to have used drugs in the last year” (Guardian 2012). We manage to track down places where the drugs are, and close them down to prevent any further distribution and/or producing of drugs. But again, this method is not effective because it...
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