Essays on Care Costs

PART I A. Background of the Study Smoking has been associated with several health problems such as heart diseases, respiratory diseases and cancer. Since smoking is an addictive activity, smokers have incurred the impression that they spend high costs on health care. They react to ailments and diseases associated with smoking by spending on medicine and medical services but they find difficulties in quitting the habit (Longest, 2009).

B. Statement of the Problem

1. Research Question Does smoking result to high costs in health care? This study will seek to address whether smoking could enable ...

Indirect Health care cost of obesity

Total Cost of obesity

In this research presentation the author will discuss how obesity in United States of America impact health care costs. This topic will be approached from the perspective of direct and indirect costs. Direct cost is related to treating obesity as a health disorder in itself without accompanying complications. Indirect costs emerge from associating medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure and arthritis among other serious diseases medical science is now discovering. These add up to what can be considered the total health care costs of obesity in United States of America.

Research Paper: Impact of Obesity on Health Care Costs

Introduction

Obesity in United ...

Health care is one of the most essential aspects of the social and economic fabric of a country. In the US, Health care has traditionally been an expensive service. In recent times, however, a number of factors have resulted in health care costs further escalating. Most experts argue that the Affordable Health care Act (ACA) has yet to contribute to the rising costs. All these factors point to the fact that in the US, health care is set to rise further. Some of these reasons for the rise in health care costs could be related to the structure of insurance and ...

Analysis and Recommendations Regarding the Hire of Smoking Employees

Our Board of Directors is considering adopting a policy of not hiring employees who smoke, as a way to contain health care costs. As requested, I have studied this issue and the many complex questions that it involves. After a presentation of those questions, I will propose a recommended course of action.

The first question is legality. Are we legally able to not hire smokers? The answer is both yes and no. There is no federal law that prohibits us from not hiring smokers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not recognize smokers as a protected class, so it is legal – at the ...

Health care spending in USA has been reported to be high than most nations in the world. A greater percentage of the nation’s total income is spent on health care even though some people are not insured. It is the third largest public health care expenditure per capita due to the current high cost of medical care and utilization

The level of current health care expenditures

Health care costs have been increasing for many years. In 2008, health care expenditures surpassed $ 2.3 trillion which was more than the expenditure in 1990 that stood at $714 billion. In 1980 the nation spent $253 billion. The increase ...

Health care cost inflation remains a big challenge to the United States healthcare sector despite numerous efforts by the government to reduce the cost of health care. Financial experts have introduced different strategies aimed at offering solutions to the problem such as introducing new models of care delivery, cost sharing, and payment system reforms but neither has proved to slow down health care cost inflation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of health care cost inflation by focusing on the history of health care cost, factors influencing the increase in health care costs, and the role ...

[Supervisor]

Abstract

The main reason behind the increase in the median age of the global population is a reduction in fertility and two decade increase in the average life span in the 20th century. These factors together with increased fertility in several nations throughout the 20 years post World War II will lead to elevated number of citizens aged >= 65 years throughout 2010 to 2030. The rising number of older adults results in an increase in demands on the public health system as well as on the social and medical services. One of the diseases affecting older adults is chronic disease ...

Fraud and Abuse in Managed Care in America: An Introduction

The American government significantly knows more about health care reforms, and what requires to be put into practice to resolve the poor health care system. The major trouble the government is trying to deal with the considerable rise in health care expenditures that are creating a large number of patients that are registered all over the USA. There exist various factors that are linked to ...

Article 1: American Society of Clinical Oncology Guidance Statement: The Cost of Cancer Care

Although the great advances made in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer have significantly mitigated cancer-related mortality in the US, they have been paralleled by significant increases in the costs of cancer care. The cost of overall health care as well as cancer care in the US is growing faster than the national GDP. The spiraling of cancer care costs is in part due to high prices and rapid assimilation of novel drugs and technologies. Conventional knowledge suggests that the high prices reflect the risks and costs linked to the development, production, and sale of these new drugs ...

English

Introduction Universal health care is defined by the World Health Organization as ensuring that health services are available to all people when they need the services. Also the health service should not be so expensive that people suffer “financial hardship” trying to pay the costs (WHO 2014). The characteristics necessary for a good health care system include care that is focused on the well-being of the patients, affordable health services and medicines, access to the very best medicines and diagnostic tools, and high quality health care providers (WHO 2014). Universal health care is an issue that has been debated ...

Introduction

Have you had any time you went to hospital without health insurance, or you did not have enough money to cover your medicine? No having health insurance is a considerable as one of the big issues in the United States. With the high cost for the hospitals and the thereby for the people who make not much money, that makes them start thinking a lot of how to deal with this issue, and may be will makes them worry about their family and their children. If the Americans receive a health insurance from government, they will get many benefits in their ...

Article Review: Strength and Weaknesses

Article Review The article revive is a report of a randomized controlled study conducted by Davidson et al., with the aim of evaluating and comparing the cost and health outcomes of active treatment and usual treatment in the management of post Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) depression.

The objective of the study was to determine the health care costs and health outcomes of providing post ACS depression patients with centralized care. This research is significant since depression is a leading cause of disability and it serves to complicate chronic disorders (Lopez, Mathers, Ezzati, Jamison & Murray, 2006). Highlighting the objective of the study ...

Will it be possible to rein in the costs of health care and still give the public the health care freedom-of-choice in health care providers? Employers and the public have seen their health care cost increase dramatically in the last decade, and they are expected to continue to rise. (Hartman, Martin, Nuccio, Catlin,) The United States has one of the world’s highest per capita spending rates for health care. (Pearson). Even with the great sums of money now directed towards health care, coverage is inconsistent and the cost of health care is still increasing. Physicians, hospitals and ...

Introduction

The cost of health care in US has been rising for the past several years. According to Medicare report (2010), government budget on expenditures in the last two years has tripled compared with the amount spent in 1990s. In 2008 the government spending on health care was about $2.3 trillion which represents 16.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to this report, the percent is the highest among all the industrialized countries in the world. The annual rate of growth of government expenditure on health care is 4.4 percent and it is predicted to increase ...

In past years there was a constant increase in the health related costs. The expenditure touched $2.3 trillion in United States in 2008 alone which was just $714 billion in the year 1990. The expenditure was eight times more in 2008 compared to 1980. It accounts to $7681 per capita expenditure spent by US health care in 2008.Adverse effects has been observed amongst citizens and government due to unprecedented rise of health care costs. Obviously, US government is spending less in economic growth and more on health care. Concerns were raised by citizens and businesses to implement health care reforms ...

Health Care

Health Care Expenditures Attributable to Smoking In the United States alone, there are about 440,000 individuals who die annually of smoking related diseases (Pubmed). According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, recent studies linked cigarette smoking to a numerous other diseases to include abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis, and stomach cancer. “These are in addition to diseases previously known to be caused by smoking, including bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, and throat cancers, chronic lung diseases, coronary heat and cardiovascular diseases, as well as reproductive ...

Introduction

The rate of mortality of the elderly in the society has reduced over the years. There is also the evidence of the health of the people improving. There has been a notable rise in the demand for proper healthcare especially for the people who are on Medicare. The life expectancy of the elderly has even improved as people now live for longer periods of time (Fussel, 2004). Additionally, it is exceptionally critical to note that the cost that one endures when trying to maintain their healthcare costs have significantly gone up. A person who is in better health would spend ...

USA Health Care System

Over the years, the health care system of many nations has evolved. The changes, some good and some bad, can be attributed to the cultural view of health care, situational factors, employee insurance coverage of health care and other economic factors. The most important factor that has changed, especially in the ever-growing US health care market, has been the spiraling costs of such care. Employers have been under greater burden of providing for the ever-rising costs of medical care and are trying to reduce such burden through covering less, covering fewer persons, passing the increases onto employees, or simply ...

GLECKMAN STUDY

HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN AMERICA Health care system in America is unique compared to those of the advanced industrialized countries. It does not have a uniform health system, has no universal health care coverage, and recent legislation mandating coverage is not yet implemented fully. U.S. health care system can be best described as a hybrid system. Rather than operating as a national health service, it operates as a single-payer national health insurance system, or a multi-payer universal health insurance fund. Programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, Children’s Health Insurance Program and Veterans Health Administration contribute almost 60-65% of the health care provisions ...

Should the U.S. provide its citizens with universal access to health care?

Interestingly, the United States is the only industrialized and wealthy nation that is yet to provide free and universal healthcare to its citizens. By far, the US is the Earth’s richest nation. Great Britain, France, and Canada have been able to provide its citizens with universal health care. The current health care situation in the US is affected by restricted access to health care and escalating costs. Insurance coverage currently determines the coverage of US healthcare system (Clarke, & French, 2013). Majority of US citizens are covered ...

Managed health care plans are a type of health insurance systems that are designed to help reduce the health cost of the patients. Within this health care plan, there are several techniques that are incorporated to help reduce the cost of providing quality health care services for the patients. This managed care or managed health care is usually used mainly by certain company or organizations to help provide cheaper and quality health care to their enrollees. This is because it has been found out that there are several ways in which unnecessary health care costs are usually incurred. Hence there ...

In the United States history, the healthcare economies have gone through humongous drastic changes, which have evidently culminated into the noble reforms that are notable currently. Although there are many factors, which come into, play concerning these changes, the fundamental driver behind these noble changes has been the key advances in advanced technology and medical care techniques especially in the field of surgical services and diagnostic imaging. In addition, it is paramount to comprehend the fact that in spite of the time-period taken, the payment for the services, as well as its primary source, has ultimately been a vital element ...

Introduction

According to the Institute of Medicine (2004), part of the National Academy of Sciences, there are more than 43 million uninsured Americans, based on data for year 2002 alone (p.1), while data from the US Census Bureau report that the number of uninsured has risen to a record of 46 million, in 2009 (census.gov). The enormous number of uninsured individuals, which is as large as the population of 26 states combined, brings harmful effects to the uninsured, their families and the entire country too (Institute of Medicine, 2004 p.1). Despite the fact that medical technology has significantly advanced over the ...

My dentist friend of mine reduced her work hours recently. As one of the highest paid professionals in USA, I wondered why anyone would reduce work hours while they can actually mint. She explained later that she is too tired of the legality of practice, facing constant threat of patients suing and the amount of paper processing for each patient. It is a revelation for me. I never perceived that this could be a deterrent to the doctors. The more I dwell into it the more I realize that there is a lot unsaid in the silence of the nurses and the ...

Chapter 1, pg. 36: Are Electronic Medical Records a Cure for Health Care?

The problem described in this case is on medical record keeping due to the increasing number of patients seeking medical services. According to the case, about 12 percent of healthcare spending goes towards record keeping (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Traditionally, medical records have been kept in files and folders, which make it difficult for healthcare professionals to access and share information. This problem can be solved by adopting electronic medical systems.

What people, organization, and technology factors are responsible for the difficulties in building electronic medical record systems? Explain your answer.

The application and use of electronic medical records is compelling because they can make healthcare less expensive, efficient, and improve the quality of care by enabling easy access and ...

Addressing National Debt within the State of the Union

I am a full time student at the University of Miami pursuing a bachelor’s of Science degree majoring in Economics. During the annual State of the Union speech, the president shares the economic evaluation of this country, and he presents the plan that the administration wants to implement in order to reverse the economic downturn. I admit not to have been a keen follower of previous State of the Union speeches: The only existing memories bring me back to the dinner table with my family, a feast before our midst with President George Bush, Jr. on the television. I don’t remember ...

40 questions answered from two different books.

Health Care Ethics Principles and Problems (Medical Ethics)

Chapter 1 Briefly describe the differences among ethics, professional ethics and health care ethics. Ethics is concerned with the way people ought to live their lives. It must not be confused with religion even though they may tend to advocate the same values. However, ethics are distinct interrelations among human which can be considered acceptable or unacceptable. Professional ethics embody regulations pertaining to how persons function within a discipline. It specifies right and wrong actions based on morality. It does encompass principles of being, but the authors of this text ...

Introduction

Despite the mass educational campaigns -- by the health profession, the public, and the media -- on the benefits of healthy diets and physical activity, obesity continues to be a growing problem not only in the United States but globally. By definition, obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat, normally 20% and above over the individual's ideal body weight (The Medical Dictionary). According to CDC, obesity and overweight are ranges of weight that are significantly greater than the healthy weight for a given height. This increases the likelihood of various health problems. Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to determine ...

This essay discusses the bans on smoking in public places that have been introduced in recent times in many countries of the world. Depending on the individual country, the ban may be either nationwide or determined by state or region within that country. The reason I believe such bans are so important is to reduce the numbers of deaths from cancer, which has long been known to be directly linked with smoking, including the effects of secondary inhalation of tobacco smoke, known as “passive smoking”. According to the CBC News website, quoting the World Health Organization (WHO), some 1.3 ...

Overweight is described as excessive amount of body weight that may come from muscles, fat, water, and bone, obesity, on the other hand, is having excessive amount of adipose tissue. Obesity and overweight and result from energy imbalances. The body requires a certain quantity of calories from food to maintain necessary life functions. Weight is maintained when calories consumed equals the number of calories the body burns up. If additional calories are eaten than used up, energy stability is tipped toward overweight weight gain, and obesity. Environmental, Genetic, socioeconomic factors behavioral, and can all lead to overweight and obesity (Overweight ...

Health Care Reform

The events and oratory that led to the inauguration of President Barrack Obama filled the mind of each and every American with positive thoughts in regard to having healthy lifestyle that would follow health care reforms. The anticipated health care reforms were to lead to the realization of healthy lifestyle changes and changes in regard to the way people look at things which transfer the “employee wellness” responsibility to the employers. The reason for this is that the high cost claims are making the contribution of the employer to the health insurance of the employee to increase greatly. Ensuring ...

The cafeteria services (K-12) of the Plante and Moran company have been under debate for some good time. The outsourcing of the cafeteria or its internal upgrade depends on several issues. Some of these issues are so urgent and require quick and permanent solutions. They include: the control of health care costs; employee’s health that has been threatened by lack of exercise, smoking, stress, and obesity; and the lack of the company’s ability to meet its health care costs. All these factors put the company under serious search for solutions.

Over the last few years, the cafeteria ...

People are unconsciously embracing slow and painful death every single day. This is evident from the thousands of people who smoke cigarettes on a daily basis despite being warned and reminded that smoking is harmful and it kills. According to a report prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, currently, 42.1 million of American adults are smokers (Jamal et al.). Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that smoke-related illnesses accounts for around 480, 000 deaths annually in the United States, which makes cigarette smoking as the number one cause of ...

Co-Payments: Haseltine (2013) Co-Payment is a small portion of the price paid by an insured person when they get a service. Co-Payments should be based on income, the higher the income; the higher the cost. Everyone is obliged except those who cannot pay. Insurance companies and healthcare organizations are not affected by this system. All HMO holders seeking medical service are affected especially those who receive high income. This system should not affect the quality and safety of a medical service because those who pays higher compensates for those who pays none or less.

Differentiated Service: Haseltine (2013) asserts that in a public ...

Employee drug use is an expensive problem that American companies face. To compound the situation there are public opinions that support and dispute the ethical dilemma of employer drug testing. Employee drug use costs employers tens of millions of dollars every year. The Department of Labor(2004) states "70% of illegal drug users are employed." Drug use causes businesses to suffer losses due to theft, health care costs, work-related accidents, and absenteeism. Around half of American employers require employee drug testing. Employee drug use costs American businesses $75 - $100 billion dollars every year (2004).

The most common ...

Patient Advantage. (2009). Proposal for a pilot study to identify cost saving measures in management of muskuloskeletal conditions. Patient Advantage.

The proposal gives details the methodology, objectives and expected outcomes of a pilot project aimed at identifying the opportunities for saving cost in the management of musculoskeletal problems, with a particular focus on myofascial pain. The literature reviewed in the proposal identifies myofascial pain as a major underlying factor in many cases of chronic musculoskeletal pain and yet it is grossly under diagnosed and under treated. This justifies the need for the study using the action research modality. The proposal identifies different methods used to measure the cost of healthcare which include direct costs, indirect costs, claims cost and goes on to ...

There is a dramatic change in the demands and needs of the health care system and debates arise whether the current health care system has become a market failure and whether government intervention is needed in order to address the current health care reform needs. At the onset, this author believes that the current health care system is not a complete failure, however, it is flawed that can be corrected through proper legislative reforms that will address the current needs of the health care system. The cost of health care services is rising, and this has a chilling effect on the ability of ...

This paper reviews an article titled ‘States –level Estimates of the Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse’ authored by Thomas Wickizer. The study was published in the thirty ninth volume of the Journal of Health Science 2013. It contains the findings of an investigation done to estimate the cost of alcohol and drug abuse in Washington State in the year 2005. The study employed the Cost of Illness (COI) to estimate the economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse in Washington. Both the direct costs associated with payment made for medication and indirect costs which include ...

Health care remains an imperative component in national development. Many states across the globe understand the importance of establishing health care system that offers quality, affordable and reliable medical services to the people. In order to attain this goal, nations across have invested heavily in health care system with the intention of improving quality of medical service rendered in public and private hospitals. Governments have addressed the issue of improving health care system seriously and have mobilized resources required in the implementation process. In a similar vein, government institutions have worked collaboratively with other nongovernmental organizations in advocating for reforms ...

Obesity is a serious societal health issue that costs the Australian economy a combined $ 79 billion annually of both direct and indirect health care costs. This cost is equivalent to half of Australia’s national budget. This paper focuses primarily on ways of promoting healthy eating habits by giving a summary of the module material learnt throughout the course duration. The summary will be in the following order; physical activity, food & nutrition, obesity and lastly proposed policy enactment to promote healthy eating habits.

About physical activity, the lecture highlights statistics released by the Southern Australia health report that indicate; as individuals ...

P- Patient or population (problem)

One of the primary determinants of the quality of care provided in a healthcare setting is the type or kind of leadership within that setting. The nurse leader or Nurse Manager therefore plays a critical role in helping determine the quality of care. When the leadership style they utilize augurs well with the opinions and needs of their staff, then the quality of care is assured to be high and effective for the current patient population (The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals, 2012). However, in those instances where the leadership style does not suit the staff nurses and other workers, ...

Introduction

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 18 out of 100 US adults who are 18 years or older are currently smoking cigarettes. CDC states that an approximate 42.1 million American adults are cigarette smokers. According to last year’s report on Smoking of the Surgeon General, more than 3.5 million of middle school and high school students in the United States continue to smoke cigarettes. “The burden of smoking-attributable disease and premature death and its high costs to the nation will continue for decades unless smoking prevalence is reduced more rapidly than the ...

Within the United States of America, the appeal of managed care has increased sufficiently as a method of healthcare administration. The development of managed health care is an attributed backlash to the traditional U.S. health care system (Sekhri 2000). The managed care organization is employer-based offering indemnity insurance and fee-for-service conditioned for both the providers’ and patients’ expectation of the unlimited resources and unrestricted choice (Sekhri 2000). The system is enforced by both user and provider satisfaction through adequate compensation and consumers through unrationed medical care. Methods used in the managed health care organization are consumer oriented for equal benefit. ...

Abstract

The core motive of Obama healthcare was embedded with goals of increasing quality and affordability of healthcare and also lowering the rate of uninsured citizens by expanding importance of public and private insurance coverage and simultaneously reducing the costs of healthcare for individuals and government. Along with it, It has also introduced a number of important mechanisms which have included business mandates, subsidies, and insurance exchange programs. These in turn have helped to increase health, coverage insurance, reliability and affordability. The law has also required insurance companies to cover all applicants within the latest minimum standards and must also offer ...

Introduction

Defining biologically, the reaction of a person in response to his/her environmental condition or towards a stimulus is termed as stress. At work, a person faces stress when there is a mismatch between the resources or capabilities and the demand of the job. However, certain stress at workplaces is normal, but when it exceeds the limit, stress affects a person’s professional life as well as personal life (Jones & Bright, 2001). It reduces the productivity of the employee and often affects the health condition (Jones & Bright, 2001). The paper reflects on the reasons behind stress at the workplace. Then it moves on to evaluate ...

Introduction

COPD is an acronym for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is a progressive disease which affects one’s lungs, rendering it increasingly difficult to breathe. The term progressive in the definition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease implies that the disease increases in severity over time. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease causes coughing in affected individuals and is characterized by copious amounts of mucus, shortness of breath, wheezing and tightness of the chest among other symptoms (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. 2013). This paper delves in this population, with an aim of studying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The paper will ...

Healthcare

Background While the right to life, happiness and the pursuit of liberty are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the concept of a ‘right to health’ has proven evocative and also divisive in the national discourse over the past three centuries. A mix of pragmatism, opportunism and pressure from special action groups has dogged the issue. A yellow fever epidemic in 1793 forced the American government to evacuate from Philadelphia. In response, George Washington came up with the first federal health law, proposing powers for the Executive to convene the government outside the capital in the event of ...

(Student’s Full Name)

Introduction “meeting the health needs of all persons, viewed as free and equal citizens, is of comparable and special moral importance” –Justice and Access to Health Care, Norman Daniels The above statement expresses the sentiments of persons who concur with the idea that there should be universal access to healthcare. The concept of distributive healthcare prevents this from taking place since it subjects persons to a screening process to determine their eligibility for certain types of healthcare. Additionally, distributive healthcare also promotes discrimination of persons, even substance abusers, in need of dire care at ...

Introduction

In spite of the literal connotation that seems to occurrences that take place at home or domestically, domestic violence does not always remain at home. Alternatively, domestic violence follows its subjects to work, and this often results in disastrous consequences. Homicide is ranked second among the leading causes of death of women at the workplace and that around 15% of these deaths are attributable to current and former lovers (Dougan and Wells, 2007). Every day, many employees are reporting incidences of workplace violence and most of these incidences are related to domestic violence. Dometic violence not only poses a threat ...

Business message

Scenario 1: Condolence to the family of an employee who passed away recently The formal message that is applied while giving consoling is known as the condolence letter. It provides brief information of a deceased person and how he related with others in the workplace (Shelly, Vermaat, & Quasney, 2011). Members of the deceased person’s family are presented a formal letter that proves the company’s position regarding the death of their workmate. Therefore, the contributions that the deceased person had to the company are appreciated.

On behalf of the entire John & Sons Company, we express our heartfelt sorrows for ...

Political Science

Politics Stream The lack of government response after the passage of Affordable Act of 2010 (ACA) is in relation to the insufficiency of the government funding to provide long-term care for all U.S. citizens. The best way to address this issue is by implementing policies to lower the costs of healthcare and make it economical for all (Patel & Rushefsky, 2014). The actors that are involved in this issue are the Democrats and the Republicans. The competing values and philosophies of policy actors of the Democrats and Republicans sought different actions. On the part of the Democrats, they have ...

Social implications of implementing electronic health records

Introduction Electronic health records (EHRs) are patient-centered records that provide access to information instantly and securely for authorized users. First, electronic health records store patients' medical histories such as diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, and test results. Secondly, electronic health records provide access to evidence-based tools that enable health care providers’ base their decisions about patient care. Thirdly, electronic health records automate and streamline health care providers’ workflow. In addition, electronic health records allow sharing of information with other providers and organization such as laboratories, consultants, pharmacies, as well as clinics.

Summary of the report

The report presents the following: ...

Affordable Care Act

The health care sector is one of the important sectors, which explains why the sector takes a significantly large percentage of the government spending budget each year. Besides, various acts have been enacted to ensure effective and efficient health care provision of health care services. The Affordable Care Act is the most significant health care legislation after the enactment of Medicare in 1965. The act focuses on three major provisions namely: Control of health care costs, expanding health insurance Coverage, and improving health care delivery system. After its enactment, the act was to be implemented progressively, with set goals and ...

Introduction

The United States stands out as one of the most industrialized and developed nations in the world with world class facilities. Despite its otherwise booming economy, the health care industry seems to be lagging behind other sectors such as transport, security and education. A key problem that besets the health care sector in the United States is the ever spiraling costs of health care services in hospitals as well as health insurance premiums. Several Americans have been reported complaining about the high cost of health care with a sizeable chunk of them admitting that they could not afford the expensive ...

Cuba’s achievements in the health care system are impressive than those of Mexico and St. Lucia due to the size of its gross domestic product per capita. It demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities such as Health. The Cuban government has employed a national health system and takes health care responsibility for its people (Garfield 1007). This has initiated equal distribution of resources as government operates all health care institutions. This is not the case in Mexico and St Lucia where most of health care institutions ...

Introduction

Direct patient care is a care that is provided to patients by staff members of a hospital. Technology has improved work done and made it more efficient in giving patient’s records. There are several technologies being used in hospitals in order to serve patients efficiently. This paper will look at two forms of technologies used in direct patient care discussing when they are being used, their value, and lastly, strengths and drawbacks of each technology.

Health care information Technology

Health care Information Technology for patients is the use of electronic medical records whereby information for patients are processed and kept. These records include past ...

Identify the problem in the case

The problem identified in the case deals with issues of health care cost in the United States. This is a major concern as many funds are spent in providing health care. According to the case, the United States spent 17.6% of its gross domestic product on health care, in 2009. Furthermore, despite this high cost related to health care, approximately 45 % of Americans are either uninsured or underinsured. Additionally, cases of medical errors and fraud also increase the cost of health care.

What management, organization and technology factors are responsible for the difficulties in building electronic medical records systems? Explain your answer

One of the factors is time for implementing the electronic medical records systems. The setting up of the ...

Political Science

Background and Description of the ACA 2010 President Barack Obama signed in 2010 the new health care law known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” that extended the health insurance coverage to millions of uninsured Americans in order to guarantee the security and affordability of the coverage (Jacobs and Skocpol, 2012). At the same time, the new health care law has broadened the coverage and aims to reduce the Nation’s budget deficit. The recent studies have shown that proposed reforms will work for the advantage of not just the consumers, employers, but also includes the ...

Health Care Utilization

This paper will describe the ways in which recent health care reforms have enhanced or restricted access to care and how changes in access may influence utilization. It will also explore the concept of universal health care and similarities and differences of current care to this concept as well as my experience with health care expansion. The Patient Protection Expanded and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was signed into law in 2010 and other similar legislations enacted at state levels have expanded access to preventive and emergency care to people who could not afford such services previously. These ...

Health care costs are an issue to a country’s economy as the costs tend to go higher than the consumer price index in a year in any country. Therefore, to succeed in cost control the measure of growth in healthcare spending at par with that of the nation’s Growth Domestic Product.

The causes of rising healthcare costs are found to be;

Hospital cost increases/consolidation The rising hospital prices are drivers of the rising health care costs and this tends to be more on the privately insured individuals. The major cause for this rise in hospital price is the consolidation of the hospital industry. The prices for the categories ...