...There are many factors affecting the outcome of the treatment administered to an individual. One factor that could affect the outcome of a treatment is if the individual is the treatment at home. For an individual that suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, they are required to inject themselves with an insulin pen everyday. Not following instructions that are presented on the label of the medication can lead to the individual to under dose, overdose or not taking the medication at all. Insulin is required to be taken 2-4 times a day either shortly before or after a meal. Family members or friends must have training on how to inject the insulin pen as incase the patient with the illness going into a severe "hypo" attack the nearest available person must inject insulin or seek help for the patient. However if this is not provided or the other individuals around the patient are unaware what to do the patient can become seriously ill. This may...
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...strong beliefs about taking care of its citizens and delivering health care to all. Factors over time have molded our health care system into what it is today. Forces that have affected the development of the U.S. health care system are changing demographics, availability of services and service providers, and policy changes. Since before the 1900s, public health was the dominant target of the health care system. Epidemics of acute infections spread quickly through large populations. Citizens were living in poor conditions in which food, water, and housing were compromised. As these conditions became under control, life expectancy increased. The population grew as a result of infectious disease control and prevention. The number of persons 65 years of age or older has increased over the past years. The focus of the health care system has turned from infectious disease control and public health to the treatment of chronic conditions. Treatment for functional limitation and chronic conditions are more likely. Chronic conditions include diabetes, hypertension, and rheumatoid arthritis. The elderly tend to use more hospital services and prescription medicines (Bernstein et al.2003, p.8). More medical procedures are required by the elderly. The aging population has greatly affected the development of the U.S. healthcare system by driving up cost due to the requirement of more care and providers being needed. There is a growing shortage of health care workers...
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...HMGT 6320.501 – The American Healthcare System, Briefing Paper- 2 Name: Dilpreet Singh What is Medicare? What are the components and how are they financed? What are the problems facing Medicare? What are your solutions? Medicare: Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant). Administered by the US government since 1966, Medicare is currently using 30 private insurance companies across United States. In 2010, Medicare provided health insurance to 48 million Americans—40 million people age 65 and older and 8 million younger people with disabilities. On average, Medicare covers about half (48 %) of the health care charges for those enrolled in Medicare. The enrollees must then cover the remaining approved charges either with supplemental insurance or with another form of out-of-pocket coverage. Components of Medicare: Medicare has four parts. These different parts help cover specific services. Medicare PART A (Hospital/Hospice Insurance): Part A covers inpatient hospital stays including semiprivate room, food, tests, care in a skilled nursing facility, and hospice care. (Hospice care focuses on palliation of seriously ill patient's pain and symptoms, and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs) Medicare PART B (Medical Insurance): Part B medical insurance covers certain doctors' services, outpatient...
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...Entry (CPOE): How are physicians affecting implementation? Anita Marban University of Maryland The Benefits and Challenges of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE): How are physicians affecting implementation? Executive Summary: Physicians have always been the driving force behind the success of new technologies and their effects on healthcare. They are interested in new ways of providing care by utilizing medications or trying new procedures and medical devices. Through research they seek to understand the human body and find cures for the diseases that attack it. They spend years in school and incur debt in upwards of $200,000 dollars before they graduate and have the opportunity to practice independently. Confronted with technology that can improve patient safety by up to 95% and save billions of dollars, they resist change. In the U.S. less than 10% of hospitals and less that 25% of physician offices have fully functioning CPOE systems. Cedars Mt Sinai pulled the plug on their multi-million dollar CPOE system, as did 6 other hospitals because physicians refused to use them. A review of the literature shows that approximately 68% of physicians surveyed identify CPOE as the solution to preventing many medical errors, adopting best-clinical-practices and reducing healthcare costs by billions of dollars annually. It also shows that physicians have issues and concerns with adopting CPOE and until hospitals and government regulatory bodies...
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...advancements in consideration, President Bush attempted to enact a significant affordable program for prescription drug coverage. Predictions of this healthcare agenda in partnership with the Medicare Modernization Act supported assistance that would cover a widespread of qualified beneficiaries in the U.S. However, as a result of the legislation, controversies arose affecting the decisions of patients as well as providers. The following document illustrates provisions of the health bill policy and formulated opinions by researchers. In a 2003 CNN web article, shortly after Congress began proposals for the new Medicare reform, writers introduced stipulations of the form including its successes and failings. Supporters of the policy made predictions claiming that $400 billion provided by the Medicare Modernization Act would accommodate the nation’s 40 million citizens to purchase medication. In this aspect, the policy leaked an advantage for older Americans having capabilities for better coverage options through Medicare and also more control over services provided to them. In detail, 75% of costs would be paid up to $2,250. Recipients of the program would be required to pay $35 monthly with a $250 deductible for prescriptions. Subsidies would be provided to private insurers to compete with traditional Medicare to cut down the costs of prescription drugs. Additionally discovered, the new legislation would allow for the importation of...
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...It is more so about being ethical than it is about the law. A doctor must establish a good relationship with their patient and gain their trust so they can assume that their patient is being honest with them about things. So where does the doctor draw the line? A doctor will call CPS services if a mother fails to pass a drug test. A mother who is a known drug addict will get drug tested regularly while being pregnant. What happens to the mothers that are known alcoholics? Obviously there is not a drug test for alcohol. Most of the time you can’t even tell a woman is drinking during her pregnancy until the baby is born and the damage is already done. Even though there is no proof that a mother is consuming excessive amounts of alcohol (unless she comes to the doctors plastered) should a doctor do the ethical thing and report her if he suspects she is drinking? Doctors can break confidentiality if they know harm is to come to an identifiable individual. Does a fetus fall under that category even though some can argue a fetus is not yet a person until they are born? What happens once the baby is born? Does the mother who endangered and hurt her child keep her child? Does she go to jail? Rehab? It is said that no more than 20% of mothers who are reported for substance abuse during pregnancy actually go to rehab. There are no federal law that says you can not consume alcohol if you are pregnant. By the time a child is...
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...Health matters in a globalising world Transnational corporations A transnational corporation (TNC) is a company that operates in at least two countries. It is common for TNCs to have a hierarchical structure, with the headquarters and R&D department in the country of origin, and manufacturing plants overseas. As the organisation becomes more global, regional headquarters and R&D departments may develop in the manufacturing areas. TNCs take on many different forms and cover a wide range of companies involved in the following primary, secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (service) activities: * Resource extraction, particularly in the mining sector, for materials such as oil and gas * Manufacturing in three main sectors: 1. High-tech industries such as computers, scientific instruments, microelectronics, pharmaceuticals 2. Large-volume consumer goods such as motor vehicles, tyres, televisions and other electrical goods 3. Mass-produced consumer goods such as cigarettes, drinks, breakfast cereals, cosmetics, branded goods * Services such as banking/finance, advertising, freight transport, hotels and fast-food operations TNCs are the driving force behind economic globalisation. As the rules regulating the movement of goods and investment have been relaxed and the sources and destinations of investment have become more diverse, such companies have extended their reach. There are now few parts of the world where the influence of TNCs is not...
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...exist, it can cost billions of dollars each year increasing health costs. There are many examples of medical errors that take place within hospitals, but the most common and frequent error is due to medications. Many people believe medication errors are the result of abbreviations handwritten by physicians. Medical errors are a global issue and although, it is the most common, it can be the most preventable (Null et al. 2009, 56) As stated in “Death by medicine”, it found that 18-28% of people who were recently ill had suffered from a medical or drug error in the previous two years (Null et al.2009, 48). The affects of these errors lead to lost wages or productivity cost of employees. A medication error can easily take place if correct measures are not followed. For example, administering the incorrect medication or dosage amount to the wrong patient can be of great concern, which can result in long term injuries based on the depth of which the error resulted from. According to the American Association for Justice, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) preventable medical errors study estimated that at least 98,000 people die yearly totaling 29 billion dollars, which could have been prevented (www.Justice.org). In the past, errors were revealed primarily through a morbidity and mortality committee and malpractice claims data. In 1992, a yearlong survey was conducted by a national pharmacy database and found a total of 429,827 medication errors in over 1,081 hospitals (Null et...
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...most abused drug in the United States of America. People believe that by making marijuana legal it can reduce crime and costs of using law enforcement, but the reality is that making marijuana legal can affect many Americans. The cost will just be unbearable due to many addictions, overdose, and juveniles/adults committing delinquency acts because they are under the influence of drugs. Addiction will be the major cause of the United States spending money on overdosed people being admitted to the hospital. Many will not be able to afford visits to the hospital because of their addiction they have nothing left. Car accidents will be immense because being under the influence of any substance can and will impair driving. The cost of making marijuana legal would be ten times more than what the United States is spending on keeping it illegal. Drugs are stimulants that affect the body in many ways. There are many drugs that are legal and many that are illegal. Drugs are used in many ways doctors use it to help people. Then there’s abuse of drugs and addiction of getting drugs illegally to stimulate the body. Marijuana an illegal drug that stimulates the body. Has been the center of attention for a few years now because some Americans believe marijuana should be legal. They believe it can reduce crime and that it can save Americans money as well as making money by selling the illegal drug legally to Americans. Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in the U.S....
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...The implications of the Garling Report In order to provide quality of patient care, delivering efficient care is important but also recognising the factors affecting patient care is also significantly important. By identifying the implications of the Garling Report (2008), it enables to recognise problems related with health care system and to have better understandings and abilities to effectively deal with the problems. Accordingly, there are also significant issues affecting mental health, which should be investigated. The major findings and recommendations of the Garling Report will be overviewed and also the nursing and workforce issues will be explored. Furthermore, drug and alcohol abuse and lack of resources will be explored and recommendation for a new Registered Nurse will be drawn. Garling Report (2008) indicates that New South Wales (NSW) public hospitals have one of the better health care systems in the developed world, because they have well-trained, skilled and dedicated doctors, nurses and clinical staffs. On the other hand, NSW health care systems are too often unable to cope with the increasing cost of treatment, sudden increase in patients, and the pressures on a skilled workforce (Garling Report, 2008). Notably, there is a serious shortage of workforce including medical, nursing, and allied health professionals (Garling Report, 2008). Furthermore, there are insufficient experienced clinical staffs who can supervise and guide inexperienced...
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...next two decades (Baker, & Baker, 2013). Coupled with this growth is the pressing need to control costs. This is especially so in government funded reimbursement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare (Gapenski, (2008). As the American population ages, the demand for increasingly efficient health care organizations is essential to a positive outcome for the industry. Health care is one of the world’s most complex undertakings, there are innumerable processes at every level. For-profit Financial Environment For-profit organizations must make a return on investments and services rendered. They must meet their obligations and must satisfy private investors and shareholders (Finkler, & Ward, 2006). With a return on investment being one of the top priorities, motivation can be fostered to provide high efficiency with a superior product. In this case, a superior service. Mountain Star Healthcare Mountain Star facilities are owned and operated by the larger parent company Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). This private company began trading shares in the stock exchange in 2011 (Hospital Corporation of America, 2013). Their goal is to approach service expansions with the patient put first. Mountain Star is placing conveniently located outpatient clinics in the surrounding communities. These individual clinics might include imaging, surgery, and physician clinics (Mountain View Hospital, 2013). Unique Financial Policies For-profit organizations are treated as private corporations...
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...YOU DECIDE As a CEO of Middlefield Hospital, I have learned recently that the financial performance of the Hospital has been deteriorating past six months. As I investigated the situation, I found out that there are many problems which are affecting the budget of the hospital. First I need to assess the problems and find out what are the revenue generating things and what are the expenses. The first dimension of financial health is that revenues and expenses be in balance. The fact that our Hospital offers multitude of services from in-patient and out-patient services, there are multiple sources of revenues. 1) Mix of Payers As I observed that the payer mix of this hospital is comprised of more uninsured patients, I understand the problem. One of the largest financial burdens that hospitals face is uncompensated care that is provided to uninsured individuals, especially in the emergency room department. This is causing more expenses for our Hospital. Other important factor is that the reimbursement rate from Medicare, Medicaid patients is also affecting the budget. While our hospital cannot control the underpayments from Medicare, Medicaid and other governmental payers, if we had more patients with commercialized insurance we could have been able to negotiate the rate of reimbursement. We have to find the ways to attract people with commercialized insurance, one way is to invest in new technology, infrastructure and to open a wellness center. 2) Managed Care Contracts...
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...1. What makes a good health care system? A health care system is an organization consisting of individuals and associations delivering health requirements and services towards the society. These health care systems differ in a large variety around the world as certain nation meets a different necessity. In a good health care system, factors such as financial, technological and policies are important and greatly affect the structure of the system. An important role of financial in the health care system is the funds provided by authorities. Funds supported by the government for public hospitals benefits the system where patients are provided with sufficient sickbeds, nurses, emergency wards, ambulance vehicles and food. These subsidies allow hospitals to prevent over flowing of patients left unattended during emergency and casual consultation times. In most general hospitals, subsidised funds allow hospital authorities to hire more nurses which increase the efficiency of patients being tended and decrease the workload on the doctors (Palmer and Short, 2010). Furthermore, the funds are greatly beneficial towards the practices of specialised doctors in certain types of patients such as cancer and other complicated diseases. In a health care system, technological factors are required to improve the quality of resources provided to patients and assist greatly in medical research departments. In most countries, health practitioners increased the adoption of Health Information...
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...insurance plans to make sure they are non-profit and providing the appropriate services (Duckett, 2012, p 12). The key issue with this principle is that only the insurer is written to be public, meaning that health care professionals can run their businesses privately forcing Canadians to pay extensive out of pocket expenses (Duckett, 2012, p. 12). The second principle of the Canada Health Act is Comprehensiveness and the main element of it is that health care insurance plans “must insure all insured health services provided by hospitals, medical practitioners or dentists” (Duckett, 2012, p. 12). Unfortunately a key issue with this principle is that it states “necessary services” is covered but this is a broad term so other aspects of health care such as prescription drugs or long term care are up in the air for coverage (Duckett, 2012, p. 13). This in turn constrains provincial governments as now each of them has to make their own choices as to what is covered under an insurance plan (Duckett, 2012, p. 13). This once again leaves Canadians possibly paying high out of pocket expenses for health care needs (Duckett, 2012, p. 13). The third...
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...Change: * Constantly adapting (Obama Care) * Healthcare changes constantly (vascular lab yrs ago never had duplex. Nvr MRI…) * Cost change is the MOST CHANGE (motivated by cost) COST: * Medicare * Senor Citizens (over age of 65) * Dylysis * Medicaid * State funded * Pays 30 cents on the dollar to hospitals. (So hospital practically giving free help) * Insurance has change * Increase in specialties * Changes in doctor fees * Most hospitals can’t afford all things needed for patients (MRI, UT, nuclear labs…) * Increase in Pay for workers in Hospital * We don’t want to lower care to patients also saving money. Control costs) * (HMO- need referrals to see specialist) * Hospitals lowered # of patients beds. A lot more outpatient surgeries * Most concerns relate to costs and access Capitated Payment= business deals with insurance company for their employees. We have x number of employees and we will pay you a 1,000 dollars for you to take care of our employees. Insurance wants the most money for the time. (will make people come and talk abt how to be healthy so the employees don’t go to hospital which in turns makes more money for them. Payment based on performance: Doctors keep number of referrals down and keep a certain number of patients a day. If they keep this up they get a bonus. Implementation of clinical practice guidelines: Strict guidelines to get patient...
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