...Current Issues in Health Care University of Phoenix Health Law and Ethics HCS 545 Professor: Dr. Michael Grossman February 14, 2015 Current Issues in Health Care Medical errors persist despite modern technology. Although, this is not a new issue it remains in the forefront of the health care community. Health care is a decade or more behind many other high-risk industries in its attention to ensuring basic safety (Institute of Medicine, 1999). Medical errors have been in the spotlight since the 1990's when government studied the sudden increase in the number of hospital deaths. According to Lester and Tritter (2001) "Medical error is an actual or potentially serious lapse in the standard of care provided to a patient or harm caused to a patient through the performance of a health service or health care professional". A study in the Journal of Health Care Finance from Wolters Kluwer finds medical errors in the U.S. may cost up to $1 trillion per year (Goedert, 2012). Medical errors can occur in many ways including but not limited to wrong site surgery, surgical errors, medication errors, adverse drug reactions, medical equipment failure, diagnostic error and communication errors. The Journal of Patient Safety estimates that the numbers of deaths in 2014 that are directly related to medical errors top 210,00 and may reach 440,00 (Allen, 2013). The statistics indicate that to ensure patient safety the reduction of medical errors must become a priority of...
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...Current and Future Economic Issues Impacting Healthcare Sector S. Ruff Dr. Merle Point-Johnson HAS 510 June 15, 2015 Abstract Not unpredictably, the increases in health care spending and the share of GDP dedicated to health care have raised up concerns about the negative influence of health care cost inflation on the U.S. economy. In an era of global economic markets, these concerns are reinforced by the status of the U.S. as a spending outlier among competing nations. The major concern is that rapid increases in health care spending can affect major economic indicators such per capita GDP, employment and inflation. The effects are likely to occur across all sectors of the economy, governments, businesses and households as all these interrelated sectors play an important role in the delivery, financing and consumption of health care in the US. Yet, the view that rapidly rising health care costs harms the U.S. economy is not without nonconformists, and some projecting economists opinion increases in health spending as having a neutral, or perhaps even a positive, economic effect. Pauly (2003) has contended that increasing health care expenditure naturally consequences in rapid growth in the health care and associated sectors, and in employment and incomes for workers in those sectors. Particularly, health care firms are largely U.S. owned. A related argument is that as total per capita GDP rises, consumers may choose...
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...of Deficit Reduction Date: 04/16/2014 Webliography Contribution Entry / Reference 1: Urban Institute (2013). Can Medicare Be Preserved While Reducing the Deficit? Timely Analysis of Immediate Health Policy Issues. Retrieved from: http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2013/rwjf404766/subassets/rwjf404766_1 This reference help the current healthcare insurance and managed healthcare issues to reach the right set of policy to make changes that could correct long-standing gaps in financial protections that Medicare beneficiaries face, promote greater efficiency within payment systems, and generate the additional revenues necessary to pay for the impending surge in the number of beneficiaries. Entry / Reference 2: Steckenride, Janie, Parrott, Tonya (1998). New Directions in Old-Age Policies. The Health Care Policies and Older Americans. Retrieved from: http://books.google.ae/books?id=rwR4rpIrvW0C&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=Reforming+Medicare+in+the+age+of+Deficit+Reduction&source=bl&ots=ZtGKc36-o3&sig=00b8wDb48nxaR4uqWAHTms1slBU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SKgJU77mK8eb0QW-44C4AQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=Reforming%20Med&f=false This reference help the current healthcare insurance and managed healthcare issues to explores the changed political environment in the United States and what it means for the policies and programs benefiting the elderly and their families. It includes chapters written by distinguished contributors...
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...as how healthcare is provided in different regions of the world. Do you believe there is a difference in healthcare in different parts of the world? Well there is quit a complex difference. For example, I’ll explain the healthcare provided in India is quite different from the healthcare provided in Germany. The differences can be viewed or evaluated in different means. For the purpose of this discussion three main factors will be identified and compared. The quality of life in contrast to healthcare provided, the foreseen future impact of the aging population, and the economic impact on the individual society. I will exam and compare the current of future of health care in the India and German societies. Healthcare is important to all in every corner of the world. In some societies healthcare is better than others. Germany has been known for years as a strong society and have always been on the tip of the spear when it comes to technology. To contrast, Germany has make social mistakes in the fast and has not always been in the best light of the world for how they treat the human race as a whole. On the other hand India has been viewed as a very rich cultural society, strong in religious faith. India, does not come to mind when thinking of an economical efficient country. To compare one facet of each society does not represent they society as a whole, but will show the difference in one major portion of each society. India has been experiencing problems with the current healthcare...
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...Activity 6.3: Staying Current on Healthcare Policy Genaro H. Estores MBA 729 – HCM 552 Indiana Wesleyan University Workshop Six, Activity 6.3: Staying Current on Healthcare Policy Staying current with health care legislation is an overwhelming task. Rules and regulations vary from state to state and family to family, depending on individual circumstances. The push to overhaul health care in the United States has resulted in more confusion than ever. When it comes to laws that affect your health and wellbeing, leave no stone unturned. Never assume that what you’ve heard is all there is. If you have questions about health care policy or reform, check with multiple reliable sources. Keeping up with changes in health care is a daunting task. Some may say it is impossible to do so. It seems as though we are constantly bombarded with the “new” - new medical discoveries, new treatments, new technology, new rules and regulations, new equipment, new policies and procedures, new expectations, new forms, and a lot more. These can require some sort of change on our part. So how do we stay on top of it all? Let me offer an approach: 1. What Do You Really Need to Know? - While it might sound radical, I believe a nurse does not need to be on top of it all. Identify the areas of the health care sector that are relevant and of interest to you. You would want to be on top of changes in your particular specialty as well as policy, technology and regulatory issues. 2. Who Are the...
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...The U.S. Healthcare System HSA500 Health Services Organization Instructor: Denise Pica-Branco December 15, 2014 The U.S. Healthcare System Health care system is failing due to the lifestyle in which people live, how people are treated and how people treat others. Emmett Miller, a physician, psychotherapist, teach, musician, a highly respected innovator and clinician, is often acknowledged as a father of Mind/body Medicine. Miller believes that if health issues are approached from a more efficient or complete perspective, some of the underlying health issues that people have may not exist or continue. He also believes that emotional, mental, spiritual, behavioral, and social factors play a pertinent role in one’s health as well as in diseases. If these types of issues are addresses accordingly within the health care system, it would allow faster and/or complete healing while a larger portion of illnesses would be prevented as a whole. Some people’s perspective on health has been changed by Dr. Miller’s views as they have transitioned to the use of self-healing tools that he has developed. More and more people are beginning to realize that most illness and dysfunctions are not primarily caused by the external factors in which we believe, but are caused by our attitude, reactions, and emotions, as well as by out stresses and expectations. He believes that our health care system will continue to be in trouble if people fail to realize that patient participation is a crucial...
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...represents the people of West Virginia and she is an asset to the West Virginia legislature on issues concerning healthcare in the Mountain State. As an emergency room physician, she is well aware of the problems within the healthcare industry and how these problems affect healthcare professionals and their patients. Her medical career and her political career were greatly influenced by her father, the late former United States congressman Harley Staggers. He advised her that helping others is doing God’s work. During her shift at Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital emergency department, Dr. Staggers was interviewed on the topic of healthcare legislation. Delegate Staggers was first asked about current healthcare issues on the agenda. She states that the number one problem is dealing with drug abuse (M. Staggers, personal communication, June 10, 2012). She advised that she supported the new West Virginia substance abuse bill and was lobbied by pharmaceutical companies not to support this bill. She said that the pharmaceutical groups also argued that the bill would make it more difficult for people suffering from pain to receive treatment and it would be costly for pharmacies to implement the requirements set forth by the bill. Dr. Staggers, however, is not easily persuaded by these lobbyists and feels that the new law is much needed. Another issue of concern is healthcare reform. Dr. Staggers states that the biggest challenge is how to define and respond to Obamacare...
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...Christina Calderon HCS 440 December 8, 2012 John Branner/ Instructor Healthcare Expenditure Healthcare in the United States can be a controversial issue and individual’s views differ from the policymakers. The controversial issue is some agree with the money being spent and some do not agree with the money being spent on Healthcare. This paper will be discussing to support of healthcare expenditure and how it is necessary for the American population. Current Level of National Healthcare Expenditures: Healthcare costs have been one of the most expensive things and is still continuing to be expensive. It cost patients over $8,000 dollars for each patient per year, which is more than double of other nations. Staying healthy in the United States has its sacrifices and do so is very expensive. In fact, in 2009, the average annual cost of health care was $7,960 dollars per person which is two and a half times what it was in Japan for the same year ("Healthcare Expenditure", 2012) 15%to 25% of the American population has no healthcare coverage due to a lack of any form of universal health care America spent $2.6 trillion dollars on health care in 2011; about one in every six dollars went into the healthcare system (Kliff, 2012). A third of that spending $750 billion did nothing to make anyone healthier. That $750 billion was just wasteful and who knows where it was spent. Spending Too Much or Not Enough? I think the United States takes advantage of the opportunity each...
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...with many issues in regards to health care and its delivery. The changes that will be made will provide a clear, concise overview of the main features of the current medical care delivery system. The current healthcare world zooms in mainly on illnesses and injury. It is clearly time for a different approach to healthcare in this country. If a change would happen it would build a healthcare system that will concentrate on promoting good health and disease control and managing more difficult disease. Currently there is a large sum of money in the healthcare system, but reorganizing the order it is spent out, will improve the quality of care while lowering the cost. It is a must that a change comes, but if not the United States will continue to spend more and more money on health care. Americans assume that change may have not been predicted because of cost. Overall, there are many barriers to success, but it can be done. Managed Healthcare Quality According to (Washington, DC: August 2010)the current the patient health care needs are not being met, the reasons are because of several issues that need to be resolved such as poor connection and communication between the providers, mismatch incentives, and inadequate information management. Healthcare problems begin with broken elements, poor connection, and primarily targeting on other services. The focused services will block the important needs of patients. All the problems that go unnoticed have structured our current health...
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...health services is expected to grow at a rate of 46% (cited inCarayon, 2011, p.743). At the same time, chronic diseases, which can only be controlled but not cured at current level of medical research, are making greatly negative impacts on the society. About half of the adults in the U.S. suffer from at least one chronic illness such asdiabetes, asthma and a range of disabling neurological conditions (Haddad &Chetty, 2012, p. 285), and about 70% of the deaths in the U.S. can be account of chronic diseases (CDC, 2012).Because of the shortage medical staff at hospitals and clinics, and the long term care requirement of chronic disease patients, home health care is regardedas the best option to manage patients’ health. A home healthcare system typically consists of patients, medical contact centers and medical staff. Medical Contact Centers (MCCs) perform as the communication link between medical staff and patients with chronic diseases where patients upload their medical history, scheduled measurements. The MCCs may give instantaneous response by the system’s recommendations or pass on to the medical staff who can interpret the imported information and decide on what kind of actions to take on in order to resolve patients’ problems (Maglaveras, Chouvarda, &Koutkias, 2005, p.354-355) Home healthcare systems...
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...Current Healthcare Marketing Techniques Marketing has been around for a long time and continues to change with current times. Through the use of the internet alone, there are many types of marketing being used in meaningful ways. Current techniques affect consumer trends in many ways. There are also many positive effects, as well as, negative effects due to current techniques and trends. Types of health care marketing techniques are social media and using search engines to promote healthcare related topics, issues, brands and more. By the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are used to create relationships between healthcare providers and patients. Health care professionals are able to provide customer feedback establish trust with patients and consumer (Lawson, 2011). Social media also provides important news to spread to a broad audience that more than likely will share with their friends (Lawson, 2011). Social media such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have little to no cost. Another type of marketing technique is by use of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing are popular because healthcare organizations can advertise their ads easily. In an era like now where many people rely on the internet to give them solutions, these search engines will point patients and consumers in the right direction to find their solution. Current health care marketing techniques and trends are smart and creative. They find more direct approaches to...
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...Healthcare-Outline The United States is faced with a myriad of social and economic issues every day. Among these issues, The Affordable Healthcare Act (more popularly known as Obamacare) is a recent policy that has caused a lot of controversy. The Affordable Healthcare Act is a federal, 1 social program that will give all citizens healthcare coverage through government funding via tax revenue (Lazarus, 2011). The argument of whether or not to implement The Affordable Healthcare Act is fiercely debated on by both politicians and ordinary, informed citizens. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to solve this debate, as there are many valid arguments on both perspectives of the issue. One side supports The Affordable Healthcare Act, claiming that Americans need healthcare and many cannot afford it. On the other hand, there are those who do not support The Affordable Healthcare Act, stating that it will hurt the economy, lower the quality of healthcare, and harm healthcare workers financially both reflect a complex issue and a compromise is needed. There are serious flaws with the current state of healthcare in America, and the side that supports The Affordable Healthcare Act has valid points as to why the current healthcare policy should be changed. In 2010, almost fifty million Americans were uninsured (Lazarus, 2011). Healthcare is unaffordable to many people in its current state, therefore, many individuals can potentially be denied quality treatment for serious illnesses...
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... Administrative Ethics Paper The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing has a current article named “Caring for Patients While Respecting Their Privacy: Renewing Our Commitment”. The basis of the article concerns the ethical and legal issues concerning the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” otherwise known as (HIPPA). This law has impacted the healthcare industry and the way in which healthcare workers conduct themselves with patients, their families, and with one another. In nursing the importance of confidentiality has always been the forefront of patient care. The current Code of Ethics for Nurses (ANA,2001) is clear in its intent and meaning as it relates to the nurses primary role in promoting and advocating patient’s rights relating to privacy and confidentiality. Every nurse has always understood the need for patient confidentiality even before (HIPPA) was law. Truth being with advanced technology, new demands in healthcare, and recent developments in the world at large has made it more difficult to keep this promise. But keep it they must. As healthcare workers on any given day we hear and see private and confidential information, it is our duty to protect it. On occasion we do become comfortable with patient’s medical information that it can be easy to forget that as healthcare workers how important it is to keep information secure and private. Thus, a recommended solution to this issue is to recap the -privacy section of the “Health Insurance...
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...The problem with the current healthcare system. There are many problems with the current healthcare system in the United States (U.S.). Most of these problems stem from the fact that it is not really a system in the proper sense of the word. The healthcare system is really a patchwork of entities with their own goals and priorities. The “system” is unequal in access, costs of services, and quality. One of the major problems with the healthcare system is that healthcare services are seen as a product under the market justice theory. Healthcare services are really not comparable to most products because they are a necessity for all people at some point in their lives. One thing that makes accessibility a difficult issue is that insurance is required for most to be able to achieve access. Insurance in turn requires a job that offers coverage that is worthwhile and affordable, however, many jobs do not offer worthwhile, affordable, or any coverage at all. This is also a problem when a person becomes unemployed. Another problem that inhibits access is the high cost of services for many people. While accessibility may not be an issue for some there is also the issue of inequality of the costs of services. Unlike many other countries where the prices of services are more transparent or equal in the U.S. many factors determine the cost of one particular service to an individual such as where the patient lives or what their insurance covers. This leads to the problem of those...
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...Single-Payer Healthcare Reform in the United States Not long ago, Tina Bachtel, a beautiful thirty-five-year-old women from Ohio walked into a local healthcare clinic seeking treatment. Tina was pregnant and having health issues. She had visited the clinic prior to that day while uninsured which resulted in her having a large unpaid balance. Bachtel was denied treatment. She was told she could only be granted service if she paid one hundred dollars per visit. Tina Bachtel did not have the money to pay upfront. Shortly after leaving the hospital, Tina Bachtel and her baby died (Krugman). Healthcare nightmares like these are not uncommon in the United States. Reform of the American healthcare system is crucial for a healthier and more financially...
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