...U.S. Healthcare System The United States health care system is multifaceted because the system is characterized by a variety of aspects. The system involves monitoring the services for social agencies. This process again involves a wide range of services because it allows many social workers to coordinate their efforts. Many people argue that the multifaceted nature of health care system takes into account high expenditures or the high costs of providing health care facilities. Health care is financed in the U.S through various programs. Financing in the U.S is entirely different than other countries. This difference is due to the fact that the U.S does not have a national health insurance plan, such as in Canada. Government programs, self-insured plans, and insurance companies are some of the payers involved in financing process (Toema, 1). The U.S does not have a national insurance plan for its citizens like other countries, but it has various public programs for the benefit of the poor, disabled and elderly people. There are basically two approaches to health care financing namely, market-based financing and government financing. The multiple payer health care system is financed regressively by privately owned health insurance companies and is therefore referred to as market-oriented. It is dependent upon the paying capacity of the beneficiary and accordingly the insurance plan is purchased by the beneficiary (Toema, 1). Various health plans cover various health care services...
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...Today's healthcare environment is increasingly complex, as issues compete for importance. As a consequence of this, nurses frequently face ethical dilemmas. In deciding the best course of action in such dilemmas, nurses can look for guidance to professional standards of conduct, such as those enumerated in the Code of Ethics of the American Nursing Association (ANA). According to Mahlmeister (1996), each nurse should own a copy of the ANA code, as this document can provide guidance on situations that nurses face on an almost daily basis. For example, consider a situation that may result from one hospital trying to institute policies concerning cost containment. In order to keep the cost down, the nurse in charge of a 7 bed unit (without a nurse's assistance) is expected under a restructuring plan to also work a second adult ward if there are fewer than three children on the pediatric unit during the night shift (Mahlmeister, 1996). This split shift leaves these pediatric patients unattended while the nurse is in the adult ward. The ANA Code of Ethics states that it is the nurse's responsibility "to safeguard the client and the public when health care and safety are affected by incompetent, unethical or illegal practice of any person" (Mahlmeister, 1996, p. 130). Even though this nurse was ordered by a manager to leave the pediatric setting, the nurse is personally accountable for his or her actions for any situation that may arise during this absence. Not only is this practice...
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...Running Head: Healthcare System Healthcare System in US [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Healthcare System in US Introduction United States is the largest and most diverse society on the globe. It spends almost 2 trillion dollars every year on health care, which is one in every seven dollars in the economy. U.S is one of the very few nations where all its citizens do not have medical coverage. Although it spends heavily on per capita on health care, and it has the most advanced medical technology system in the world, still it is not the healthiest nation on earth. The system performs so poorly that it leaves 50 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered (Garson, 2010). Discussion History of Medicare In 1945, the United States president Harry Truman decided to bring to the attention of the Congress. The message was in an attempt to develop a universal plan that would be applicable to all United States citizens. The Congress contemplated the bill that would establish a healthcare plan. The debate for a comprehensive plan carried on for twenty years. The prolonged wait made president Truman give up on the idea. Even though the president had given up on the healthcare bill, Social Security system and a number of other participants continued the efforts. After two decades of struggle, in 1965, the Medicare and Medicaid plans became legislation after the Congress approved the bill. President Lyndon Johnson’s vision of a “Great...
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...Health is wealth and as much as the latter is important to everyone, its significance and priority in each individual varies. In the United States there are two systems that cater to the healthcare needs of its citizenry and legal aliens alike who are residents. According to Wexler, the United States healthcare system is being looked to as a model by other countries because of the systems and coverage that the citizens enjoy (Wexler, 2011). However, there are flaws to the system as there is no perfect system to satisfy the society. Forces Affecting the Healthcare System Rising Cost of Healthcare. The shortcomings of the health care in the United States have become a significant moral issue. Being the only industrialized country that does not provide a universal health care, its citizens are left unattended. Other nations in the world have made health care as a basic right while the US consider it as a privilege and only accessible to those who can afford it. With this insight, everyone sees health care in the US as a commodity and not as a social service. Pohl writes that the uninsured Americans now number in tens of millions where most of them are those who are working hard to make ends meet (Pohl, 2002). Even with their employment (blue collar jobs, mostly), they still cannot access insurance because their employers do not provide them because of the high cost or these individuals are not eligible at all. Medicare/Medicaid. One of the biggest differences is Medicaid...
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...responsibility for the core public health functions; but are increasingly called upon to provide health care services for those individuals who cannot afford it. This assignment discusses the three forces affecting the development of our healthcare system. The three areas of interest and selected to discuss are diseases, availability, and social organizations. Several other areas have been impactful on the development; however, these areas seemed more prevalent and more commonly discussed regarding healthcare plus its reform. The evolving area of information technology in the healthcare industry will be discussed. The importance and relevance of information technology is a key contributor of communication. Information technology regardless of the industry is an extensive key thing for business, but relevant to healthcare information it articulates and organizes, the accessibility. Our health system has focalized on treating short term health concerns; however, chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, or heart disease are rapidly growing at epidemic portions and with the baby boomers, the largest percentage of an aging society are living longer lives and increased health concerns. The increase caused rises in the overall healthcare cost. * Obesity significantly increases the risk of developing conditions, to include, but not limited to diabetes and heart disease. The rate of obesity in the U.S. for adults is expected to be the highest in...
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...objective of this paper is to discuss certain emerging trends in the hospital industry and their impact on the U. S health care system. The focus will be on Big Data, Re-admissions reduction program, and Tele Health services which have brought significant reforms in the U.S health care system. Big Data in Hospital industry: Large amount of data is produced in the healthcare industry and most of the data is stored in hard copy form. The current trend is towards the digitization of these enormous troves of data. Report says that the data from the U.S. healthcare system alone has reached,150 exabytes in the year 2011. Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health care network which has more than 9 million members is believed to have between 26 and 44 petabytes of potentially rich data from electronic health records, including images and annotations. By definition, big data in healthcare refers to electronic health data sets are so large and complex that they neither possible to manage with traditional software and/or hardware nor can they be easily managed with traditional or common data management tools and methods. Now, most of the patient data is compiled electronically because it is easier for doctors to retrieve patient details. The clinical data includes physician written notes, medical imaging, patient data in electronic patient records (EPRs), machine generated/sensor...
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...what are the five most significant developments in the evolution of the health care in the United States 5 most significant developments in the evolution of the health care in the United States: **Medical care was relatively inexpensive in the early part of the 20th century although there were attempts by progressive reformers to protect workers [ against both wage loss and medical costs beginning around 1915. At that time, people were more concerned about loss of pay when they were ill; so “sickness funds” were established to provide insurance against lost wages. **The Great Depression that ended the 20s brought multiple changes. An historic change was the Social Security Act, which was passed in 1935. However, a push within the Roosevelt administration to include health insurance was defeated by internal government conflicts over priorities. **In November 1945, President Truman, noting that 40 percent of the population still lacked access to adequate health facilities, addressed Congress and proposed a new national health care program, known as the Murray-Wagner- Dingell bill. It met opposition from labor as well as the American Medical Association, and, following the outbreak of the Korean War, Truman was forced to abandon it. **By 1958, almost 75 percent of U.S. citizens were covered by some form of private insurance, and the medical profession had been able to avoid the government intervention and nationalized insurance they had feared since early in the century. Doctors’...
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...The Evolution of the U.S. Healthcare System Between the years the beginning of 19th century and today, healthcare in the United States evolved from a simple system of home remedies and itinerant doctors with little training to a complex, scientific, technological, and highly bureaucratic system. The system is built on medical science and technology and the authority of medical professionals. Its evolution includes the acceptance of the "germ theory" as the cause of disease, professionalization of doctors, technological advancements in treating disease, the rise of great institutions of medical training and healing, and the advent of medical insurance. Governmental institutions, controls, health care programs, drug regulations, and medical insurance also evolved during this period. Most recently, the healthcare system has seen the growth of corporations whose business is making a profit from healthcare. Prior to 1800, medicine in the United States was a "family affair." Women were expected to take care of illnesses within the family and only on those occasions of very serious, life threatening illnesses were doctors summoned. Called "domestic medicine," early American medical practice was a combination of home remedies and a few scientifically practiced procedures carried out by doctors who, without the kind of credentials they must now have, traveled extensively as they practiced medicine. Until the mid-eighteenth century Western medicine was based on the ancient Greek...
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...U.S. Healthcare System The U.S. healthcare system undergoes certain changes and reforms in the modern society, and there is an increasing need for health care reforms in the modern society due to the increasing costs on healthcare, the high rate of various diseases in the community decreasing the quality of the national health on a regular basis. The modern U.S. health care system is not very effective in the context of delivery, finance, management, and/or sustainability, and this is the major reason to imply certain changes and reforms in this field promoting its efficacy and success in the market. People living in the modern society should feel valued and important in the healthcare system receiving the needed assistance and support in a timely manner not depending on their health and economic status. Bar-Yam (2006) stated that “efforts to implement cost controls and industrial efficiency that are appropriate for repetitive tasks but not high-complexity tasks lead to poor quality of care” (p. 459). Thus, health care reforms will help to improve the quality of care increasing the efficiency of the U.S. health care system in the modern society inspiring much confidence, stability and security on the part of the patients. The U.S. health care system is overwhelmed with the inefficiencies and problems affecting the quality of care provided for the general population. The greater number of reforms in this field will change the situation for better applying the new and innovative...
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...The Love-Hate Relationship between the U.S. Healthcare Industry and the U.S. Economy The healthcare industry plays an important part in the economy of the United States. The sustained increase and high level of spending on health care has been the subject of discussion and scrutiny for several decades. The enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) was hardly the first fiscal policy for healthcare in the history of the economy. There is a long list of fiscal policy attempts from predecessors such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and most recently Bill Clinton (Sparer, p462). In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt drafted amended provisions to his pending Social Security legislation to include publicly funded health care programs but ultimately removed the provisions due to opposition by the American Medical Association (Coombs, p5). Following the Second World War, President Harry Truman called for universal health care as a part of his Fair Deal in 1949 but strong opposition stopped that part of the Fair Deal (Peon, p161-168). On July 30, 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the legislation establishing the Medicare and Medicaid program, social insurance programs administered by the United Stated government providing health insurance coverage to people who are either 65 or meet other special criteria for need (Roemer, p845). In October 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the Social Security Administration Amendments...
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...US Health Care Systems Strengths Tiara McDaniel American Intercontinental University HCM630-1205D-01 January 27, 2013 Introduction There is an opinion amid several Americans that regardless of coverage, price and other difficulties in the health care system, the eminence of health care in the United States is more superior than it is anyplace else in the world and there is a possibility that it may be threatened by restructuring of health care by President Obama. In addition to that, an article on Thomason Reuters, states that fifty-five percent of US citizens that was surveyed last year said claimed that American patients in American are provided with better care that people in other countries, but only forty-five percent of the participants stated that the US has the nation’s best health care system. (Reuters, 2008) Even though most Americans prodigiously back government tactics to raise the coverage and decrease the cost of health care, recent statistical evidence shows that sixty-three percent of American are afraid that there will be a decline in the quality of care that are given if the government were to make sure every citizen had health coverage. (Sack and Connelly, 2009) An additional study showed that eighty-one percent of Americans have the same worries. (Connolly and Cohen, 2009) Before one can make an educated assessment about the nature of care in one health system as opposed to another, it is essential to look at a varied array of indicators. Because health...
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...Tutor Course Date Final Project Comparison of Healthcare in US and Canada There are various differences between the healthcare systems in Canada and US. The differences were indelibly noted in 2004 after a policy analyst compared the two countries on the healthcare systems. According to the analysis, it was noted that US has an expensive healthcare system that doubles the Canadian healthcare systems. According to the percapita income expenditure on health report, the U.S spends $6,096 while Canada spends $3,038. On the other hand, other studies that were conducted later after the study was done indicate that the Canadian healthcare systems are better than the U.S healthcare systems. The reviews illustrated that the Canadian healthcare systems give the Canadians better and superior healthcare services as compared to the U.S (Pylypchuk&Sarpong, 2013). Pylypchuk andSarpong (2013) contended that various analysts have found that U.S is one of the countries whose spending on healthcare is big, but suffers the poorest healthcare for its people. Reports show that Canada has longer life expectancy than the US. The report on infant mortality in Canada shows that Canada is better than U.S by a great margin. Although analysts say that the comparative analysis do not give consistent differences between the healthcare systems, U.S is one of the countries that has been spot-lit of the idea of expensive healthcare. The actual reasons for the differences between...
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...Topic: U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM REFORM Course Project T. Wise DeVry HSM 534 Health Service Finance February 23, 2013 Week 7 Professor Alison Williams Background The United States, being the most diverse society in the world, has a long and unsuccessful history of attempts at healthcare reform. We spend almost $2 trillion dollars per year on healthcare, yet not all American people have medical coverage (Barton, 2007). A huge percent of the population have to rely on outside sources, such as benefit health care from an employer or from government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. As compared to other nations, our society has people that are more overweight, live under more stress, and are less in physical activity. Additionally, our healthcare system underperforms compared to with other nations in critical areas such as, access, quality and efficiency (Davis). How did our system get this way? Why are we paying so much while other nations not so much? A history of major events - The U.S. healthcare system is trying to evolve with modern times; however, as time goes on, our current situation becomes more apparent: * In the 1950s, the price of hospital care was growing; however, more attention was diverted to the war in Korea. Many legislative proposals were made, but none could not be agreed on. * In the 1960s, hospital care expenses doubled, and despite over 700 insurance companies selling health insurance, a large percentage of the population...
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...Healthcare in Germany vs. U.S.A Western Governors University Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership Germany’s and the United States’ healthcare systems compare and contrast in many ways. Germany has the third richest economy in the world and many categorize their healthcare system as socialized. Germany provides medical care to all of the citizens—young, poor, old, sick, and injured. Otto von Bismarck the Prussian chancellor in the 1880s in Germany invented the concept of healthcare systems, the notion that a government has to provide mechanisms so all its people can get medical care when they need it. In 1883, the Sickness Insurance Act was passed, representing the first social insurance program. Over the past 130 years the system has grown to the point where virtually all of the population is provided access to medical care. The Germans have what they call “Sickness Funds”, which are paid for by premiums based on income to one of 240 private insurers. A worker earning 60,000 would split a $750 family premium with their employer. It is more expensive than the U.K. but cheaper than the U.S. by about two thirds. It is a system where the rich pay for the poor and the ill are covered by the healthy (Saul, 2014). The United States healthcare system until recently has been mostly controlled by private industries and insurance companies, although we do have Medicare and Medicaid for the old and poor. Recently the Affordable Healthcare Act has been passed which requires...
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...A White Paper on Strategic BPO in the US Healthcare Industry The Current Healthcare Environment The healthcare environment today faces challenges that it has never seen before. The industry is under attack from every possible direction from cost containment, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) compliance, lack of stability, to an uncertain future. After trying various managed care techniques and concepts the onus to contain costs is now on the healthcare consumer. Concepts such as defined contribution mutated into various consumer driven health plans are being touted as the nirvana pill for an aching industry. Medical and disease management is expected to play a key role for payors as they try to manage healthcare delivery. While executives are trying to grope for answers in an ever changing environment, the light at the end of the tunnel seems far away and a dim one at that. Regardless of the concepts that will or will not be around three years from now, one thing is certain, the degree of COMPLEXITY is increasing by the day. Healthcare Payors are facing the following points of pain: 1. Managing increasing medical costs and balancing customer satisfaction 2. Reducing operating back-office costs 3. Complying with HIPAA standards and requirements 4. Upgrading IT infrastructure and moving to the web to provide real-time connectivity 5. Focusing on survival...
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