...Health Management Information Systems in Improving Primary Health Care Delivery Abstract Introduction Health management information systems (HMIS) are implemented in different countries with the expectation that they will contribute to improving primary health care (PHC) delivery. Information generated through these systems is conceived as an imperative for better decision making processes and strengthening accountability arrangements that underpin the delivery of PHC. Methods Electronic databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE data bases were reviewed for articles published between 1985 to December 2014. MeSH terms used initially for the systematic review were “Health care system” and the search was limited to English-language publications in...
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...continues to spend significantly more on health care than any country in the world; however, even though with this statistic the United States has a lot of uninsured and does not have the healthiest citizens. The lack of universal healthcare coverage in the United States has been a forefront issue. With the overwhelming amount of uninsured Americans and the past unsuccessful efforts of health care reform, the possibility of universal health care seemed to be very unlikely. The new healthcare reform bill that was recently passed under Obama’s administration anticipates covering 30 more million of the uninsured (Riegelman, 2010). However, this bill does not offer universal healthcare. While excellent medical care is available in the United States, the rising cost and the U.S. health care delivery system present many challenges for the consumer and lawmakers. This paper addresses four dimensions that are pivotal to the successes and failures of the system: cost, efficiency, quality. The cost of the U.S. health care system is higher than any country in the world. Its efficiency is also under heavy scrutiny. If it were not an emergency most physicians would require insurance verification. Therefore, patients would be delayed of treatment. Moreover, The healthcare system in the U.S. should be redesigned in terms of prevention rather than treatment when people are already sick. Insurance should not go higher for people that have pre-existing conditions or with more health risks. Prevention...
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...Health Law and Regulations Daniel Sanchez Health Law and Ethics/545 August 19, 2013 Mary Cummings Introduction Over the past several decades America has witnessed overwhelming increases in health care cost and a diminishing quality of care. The involvement of government sets the expectations of enforcing laws and regulations on how health care is delivered in the United States of America. Healthcare legislation has been defining regulatory agencies for centuries. The primary existence of these government-regulated agencies is to ensure that laws and regulations are enforced. Access to quality and affordable healthcare is protected through government regulatory agencies. In addition to the escalating cost of healthcare and increasing society’s debt both positive and negative effects has transpired. The pros and cons of improving care and reducing the cost of healthcare has been the goal of regulatory agencies from the beginning. Controlling healthcare cost and delivering quality care is made possible through health care legislation. The following will discuss governmental regulatory agencies and its effects on the healthcare industry. Government Regulatory Agencies and Their Role Federal regulatory agencies are in place to govern issues that impact the people of the United States. These agencies have been in existence for hundreds of years. Situations that impact the American society are inclusive to things that have a direct personal affect on them individually...
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...Seeking” in Health Care Chronic pain affects a significant number of individuals living worldwide. The International Association on the Study of Pain [IASP] and the European Federation of the IASP Chapters [EFIC] indicates that one in five people suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain, and one in three are unable to maintain a lifestyle of independence due to their pain (World Health Organization [WHO], 2004). The WHO identifies that pain relief is an integral right for individuals to attain the highest level of physical and mental health (2004). The Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education at the Institute of Medicine [IOM] (2011) examines pain as a public concern. The report concluded that chronic pain affects the lives of about 100 million US adults, “more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined” and is a national challenge (2011). Pain is a subjective physiologic phenomenon that cannot be objectified or verified and is often un-assessed, un-diagnosed, and undertreated. This stands as a serious public health concern because individuals experiencing chronic pain are at great risk for decreased functional status and quality of life. Additionally, individuals living with chronic pain experience the common co-morbidities of depression, anxiety, and anger (Wilsey et al., 2008). The IASP/EFIC data from WHO (2004) concludes that one in four individuals experiencing pain, report that relationships with family and friends...
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...Care: Improving overall health status Equality in Access to health services is one of the forty two topic areas in Healthy People 2020 that caught my view as one of the objectives to have the highest importance in achieving a national goal of healthy Americans in the future. But what does access to health care actually means? According Gulliford et al (2002), facilitating access to health is concerned with helping people to command appropriate health care resources in order to preserve or improve their health status but unfortunately gaining access to healthcare depends on some factors such as financial, organizational and social or cultural barriers that permits or limit the said utilization of services. Therefore having much available health services is not a factor in itself to improve the quality of healthcare but the utilization of such services by all of the people which will depend on affordability and general accessibility of the service. According to Healthy People 2020 (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2012), it is important to have access to quality health care service in order to achieve equity in health and eventually improve the general health status of all Americans. This I think is one of the most important move that the state should make in order to make the vision of having healthy Americans, including all migrants, ethnic and minority groups, by the year 2020. Though free service is not always the key to have access to quality healthcare the...
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...November 1999 I N S T I T U TE OF M E D I C I N E Shaping the Future for Health TO ERR IS HUMAN: BUILDING A SAFER HEALTH SYSTEM H ealth care in the United States is not as safe as it should be--and can be. At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented, according to estimates from two major studies. Even using the lower estimate, preventable medical errors in hospitals exceed attributable deaths to such feared threats as motor-vehicle wrecks, breast cancer, and AIDS. Medical errors can be defined as the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim. Among the problems that commonly occur during the course of providing health care are adverse drug events and improper transfusions, surgical injuries and wrong-site surgery, suicides, restraint-related injuries or death, falls, burns, pressure ulcers, and mistaken patient identities. High error rates with serious consequences are most likely to occur in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments. Beyond their cost in human lives, preventable medical errors exact other significant tolls. They have been estimated to result in total costs (in cluding the expense of additional care necessitated by the errors, lost income and household productivity, and disability) of between $17 billion and $29 billion per year in hospitals nationwide. Errors...
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...A Marketing Plan for an Imaginary Managed Care Organization Executive Summary and Situation Analysis Working for the Managed Care Organization of America, the ultimate goal would be to ensure cooperation in the understanding, agreement, and commitment between all divisions and units. One of the problems at the Managed Care Organization of America is that the healthcare professionals are put in a position where they are inhibited in their involvement over the communication and networking systems between the Nursing Administration, the head of each nursing unit or the RN or LVN in charge, and the certified nursing aids. This executive summary takes a brief look at designing and developing a contract process program that integrates cooperation and communication systems between the Nursing Administration, the head of each nursing unit or the RN or LVN in charge, and the certified nursing aids. Another challenge for the Managed Care Organization of America is the unclear policies in the Hospital Equipment Management Program. This executive summary offers a proposal whereby the healthcare professionals would develop and monitor a two-way communication channel and incorporate it into the Hospital Equipment Management Program, hold related workshops that can be attended by the Director of Hospital Operations and the division managers, build a cooperation team that unites operational goals and develop systems that evaluate whether these operational goals are being met and implemented...
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...eetin g tH e c H Al l en g e about the publication this publication is an adjunct to Health Advocate’s recent webinar “Stress in the Workplace: meeting the challenge” co-sponsored by the national Women’s Health Resource center, the leading independent health information source for women. this white paper offers comprehensive research about the causes and impact of workplace stress, its role in lost productivity and higher healthcare costs and includes the effects of job stress on women workers. the research also reviews successful organizational and individual strategies to help manage stress and reduce costs. Following these strategies can help reduce absenteeism and turnover, help employees better balance work/life responsibilities, and also reduce healthcare costs. about health aDVocate™, inc. Health Advocate, inc., the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy and assistance company, serves more than 5,000 clients nationwide, providing more than 15 million Americans with personalized help to resolve healthcare and insurance-related issues. the company offers a spectrum of advocacy, Wellness, Pricing decision Support and Human Resources solutions to help save time and money. the company also offers a direct-to-consumer advocacy service, called Health Proponent ®, to individuals who are not part of groups. For more information, contact Health Advocate (toll-free) at: 1-866-385-8033, prompt #2 or via email at info@HealthAdvocate.com. st r e ss i n t he wor k p...
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...eetin g tH e c H Al l en g e about the publication this publication is an adjunct to Health Advocate’s recent webinar “Stress in the Workplace: meeting the challenge” co-sponsored by the national Women’s Health Resource center, the leading independent health information source for women. this white paper offers comprehensive research about the causes and impact of workplace stress, its role in lost productivity and higher healthcare costs and includes the effects of job stress on women workers. the research also reviews successful organizational and individual strategies to help manage stress and reduce costs. Following these strategies can help reduce absenteeism and turnover, help employees better balance work/life responsibilities, and also reduce healthcare costs. about health aDVocate™, inc. Health Advocate, inc., the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy and assistance company, serves more than 5,000 clients nationwide, providing more than 15 million Americans with personalized help to resolve healthcare and insurance-related issues. the company offers a spectrum of advocacy, Wellness, Pricing decision Support and Human Resources solutions to help save time and money. the company also offers a direct-to-consumer advocacy service, called Health Proponent ®, to individuals who are not part of groups. For more information, contact Health Advocate (toll-free) at: 1-866-385-8033, prompt #2 or via email at info@HealthAdvocate.com. st r e ss i n t he wor k p...
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...HMA1: Trends in Healthcare Western Governors University Healthcare Management Case Study HMA1 Linda Gunn August 21, 2010 HMA1: Trends in Healthcare The American healthcare system is in the midst of change. No other time in history has the call for healthcare reform been so strong. It is the emergence of expensive new technologies with an aging population and a new call for equitable quality access of health services for all citizens that have pushed for the impending change. Successful managers will need to understand the impetus for this change. The challenges will provide many opportunities for a manager that is properly prepared to lead and guide their organization. Model trends in the United States. Historically, the United State’s healthcare system has been provider dominated. Physicians ordered and directed care without concern for cost or resources. While complex and ever-changing, the focus was on treatment of infectious diseases such as polio, influenza, small pox. (Shortell & Kaluzny, 2006) Our current model of healthcare places much of the responsibility and burden of the cost of medical care on the individual. American healthcare spending approaches 17% of our gross domestic product (GDP), the highest of any member of the World Health Organization. Our performance consistently underperforms in comparison to our peer nations in such measures as life expectancy, infant mortality and overall level of health. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2000) ...
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...eetin g tH e c H Al l en g e about the publication this publication is an adjunct to Health Advocate’s recent webinar “Stress in the Workplace: meeting the challenge” co-sponsored by the national Women’s Health Resource center, the leading independent health information source for women. this white paper offers comprehensive research about the causes and impact of workplace stress, its role in lost productivity and higher healthcare costs and includes the effects of job stress on women workers. the research also reviews successful organizational and individual strategies to help manage stress and reduce costs. Following these strategies can help reduce absenteeism and turnover, help employees better balance work/life responsibilities, and also reduce healthcare costs. about health aDVocate™, inc. Health Advocate, inc., the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy and assistance company, serves more than 5,000 clients nationwide, providing more than 15 million Americans with personalized help to resolve healthcare and insurance-related issues. the company offers a spectrum of advocacy, Wellness, Pricing decision Support and Human Resources solutions to help save time and money. the company also offers a direct-to-consumer advocacy service, called Health Proponent ®, to individuals who are not part of groups. For more information, contact Health Advocate (toll-free) at: 1-866-385-8033, prompt #2 or via email at info@HealthAdvocate.com. st r e ss i n t he wor k p...
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...How Does Cost Affect the HealthCare Delivery System? An In-Depth Look at the Health Care Delivery System and Cost. | | Princess L. Brigham | 11/23/2010 | HSA 6414: Social Dimensions and Issues in Health Care | ABSTRACT How does cost affect the health care delivery system? This research focuses on the cost of the health care delivery system and how it affects today’s society. High costs, gap-ridden coverage, and sporadic quality are the health care problems that most concern Americans. Yet most of the policy discussion is focused on the issue of coverage. Health care is expensive because of the pervasive entitlement attitude held by literally everyone in the system: patients, providers, suppliers, insurers. Government insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, veterans, Department of Defense) covers 87 million; tax breaks subsidize 176 million in employer coverage; insurers and other third-party payers take care of the bills for 85 percent of Americans. There is little awareness of the full cost or value of medical treatment on the part of consumers or providers, and little opportunity for individuals to choose their own coverage or make informed decisions with their doctors about treatment. Health care costs are far higher in the United States than in any other advanced nation, whether measured in total dollars spent, as a percentage of the economy, or on a per capita basis. And health costs here have been rising significantly faster than the overall economy or personal incomes...
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...Funding & Reimbursing Healthcare Services United States vs. Foreign Nations: Funding & Reimbursing Healthcare Services In this document I will discuss the health care system of three foreign nations versus the United States. Specifically, focusing on how physicians and hospitals are reimbursed and funded in the United States as opposed to foreign nations. The three other foreign nations that will be involved in this discussion will be: Germany, Canada, and United Kingdom. Reimbursement/funding of health care services varies from nation to nation. Each of these countries inhabits a different point on the international healthcare continuum. In this critical analysis you will read about the different ways foreign countries and the United States reimburse hospitals and providers for health care services. The United States of America In America, we, as consumers, have the right to choose among various suppliers of healthcare services. We make a decision based upon the competing market and quality of goods and services. Then we pay for the cost of our services mainly through insurance or by paying for the full cost of the purchase ourselves. According to Bodenheimer and Grumbach, health care financing in the United States started off from out-of-pocket payments and evolved through individual private insurance, then employment-based insurance, and then finally government-based financing (i.e. Medicaid and Medicare) (2012, p. 187). For most individuals, mainly employers or...
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...Regulatory Agency Paper University of Phoenix HCS 430 Legal Issues in Healthcare: Regulation and Compliance June 8, 2008 The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is one of the many agencies that handle an array of healthcare departments as well as research. The DHHS caters to citizens of all nationalities, race, and ethnicities. The DHHS focus is to protect the health of all Americans and providing the highest level of human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. The Public Health Service is divided into 42 subdivisions (Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). This paper will give highlights of the history of the DHHS, the source and scope of authority, how the day-to-day operations are guided and performed, and how DHHS is structured. In addition, examples are given as to the duties that are carried out within the department of the DHHS. History of the Agency The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was established in 1953 and was referred to as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1979, the agency was recreated and renamed as the Department of Education. The DHHS agency has many components within the agency that handles and maintains day-to-day operations. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Source and scope of authority According to the statement Office of Inspector General (OIG), the text reads that OIG will ensure that disseminated information meets...
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...well-known, obvious political parties within Texas. Within the pages of their party sets of principles, we see that each possesses a way of thinking like no one else in the world, with specific viewpoints and ideas for changing government policy. The people of Texas face many challenges, two of the most interesting/most forceful issues being the serious problem in healthcare and in education. Not only are we insufficient in these areas as Texans, but also on the national level. The parties' way of thinking on these two major issues gives us understanding of the mind and plans, desires of each. "Of the people, by the people, and for the people" predicts the Texas Democratic...
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