Continuum Of Care: A Comprehensive And Integrated System

Vulnerable Population The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov) refers to the older adult population as those people that are 60 years-old or older and live in a community and not a long term facility, when talking about identifying vulnerable older adults. One cannot be considered helpless just because of their age, there are other factors that play into being vulnerable. A very important characteristic is having one or more chronic illnesses. In this discussion I will give my opinion on whether older adults are a vulnerable population, and I will summarize and review two articles explaining what risks they face and how to help eliminate the risks.

There are thousands of people in the world who oppose the idea of age based healthcare rationing. Some believe that if we ration healthcare based on age, that it would take away rights and justices from the elderly population (scu.edu). Like mentioned in the article by Claire Andrea and Manuel Velasquez, “Aged-Based Health Care Rationing”, when people refer to the justice part, they believe that everyone should be treated similarly unless there are rules or morals presented that require them to be treated differently. Yes, everyone should be treated equally, but healthcare rationing is not going to treat people differently, only the medical resources would be rationed. Andrea and Velasquez make a good point in the article, they say by rationing medical resources it would increase the economic productivity of the young, making it more beneficial for the whole world.

“Managed Care is a health care delivery system organized to manage cost, utilization, and quality (Medicaid, n.d).” Managed care is set up for easy affordable access to healthcare, the care is regulated so that needed procedures are performed on the patients within the limits of network providers available. There are many undesirable and helpful aspects of managed care. For example, a managed care system provides lower costs, quality service, employer opportunities to make available insurance for their employees, in network provider connections allowing for easy finds of doctors for the patient’s specific plan (Cyrene, n.d). There are however many disadvantages, those include not having the accurate provider or lack of provider for the required

Elderly adults usually experience problems in their daily lives due to health-related disabilities and chronic diseases. This makes it difficult for them to perform self-care activities. An elderly may need to complete various daily living activities such as taking care of their personal hygiene which may include oral care, grooming, and bathing. At times performing these activities tend to be very difficult, but with a little bit of help and therapy, they usually manage themselves. There is certain characteristic that the elderly possess that will help them in completing the ADL once they decide to take part in the therapy.

The Effects of Regulations on Managed Care and IDS Managed Care is a health care delivery system organized to manage cost. The legal and business imperatives of managed care pervade our national healthcare system, the regulation of managed care depends on who contributes to the plan and who bears the risk for paying for the insured services. More than 170 million Americans receive health care coverage or benefits through some type of "managed care" setting.1 By 2007 about 20 percent of these services are directly provided by a health maintenance organization (HMO), while the majority are served through other managed arrangements, 60 percent in Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) and 13 percent in Point of Service (POS) plans. Beginning

Health care has gone through a great evolution through the years. Before 1965, individuals older than 65 years old received inadequate healthcare and more than half of this population did not have coverage (Reinhard, 2012). Due to this predicament, the need to identify issues and implement health policy was imperative to improve health care. Consequently, Medicare was introduced with the goal to mitigate the health issues during the 1960’s and to improve the healthcare availability for individuals 65 years and older. Since then, Medicare has gone through numerous changes in order to incorporate other population needs.

The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is the most aggressive organization in place to improve health care services and financially rewards their ACO members. The Accountable Care Organization has major emerging opportunities for cost reduction in health services. The ACO is continuously searching for methods to diminish the cost of medicinal services. Providing high quality care with a lower cost can increase their member’s quality of life and reduce the probability of their members utilizing health services. ACOs are working towards cutting health care expenses and increasing the quality of patient care in most organizations.

Physiological changes occur as people ages. Physiological changes involve poor vision, hearing, altered metabolic rates like decline renal function. These changes affect the drug metabolism in older people which imposes them to the risk of an adverse effect of the medicine. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare have developed National Safety and Quality in Healthcare standards (NSQHS), that aims to provide safe, quality care to the public and efficient distribution of health services. Medication safety is one this standards which guide for safe medicine use within the healthcare system.

This is the opening line of the popular 1960’s song and the title I choose for my change project. I have worked in the area of care of the elderly for the past 20 years having transitioned from Sick Children’s Nursing. I have been fortunate to work in small units where there was good local knowledge of the residents. However in recent times I have become shocked at the type of care given in these units.

Introduction The implementation of health care has effectively evolved into a triad of sequential tiers of service delivery : primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care. For healthcare delivery to be effective there had be a shift in the emphasis of undergraduate tuition to promote a comprehensive approach to healthcare provision the efficacy of which is dependant on interdisciplinary cooperation. With the aforementioned in mind, I reflected on the role I could play in the provision of effective health for all.

Managed Care Introduction Managed care firms involve a specified population within an integrated care system, but running on limited resources. One institution can offer care services and pay for the same. Healthcare providers have a core duty which relates to skills, competence, and fidelity to its sick workers. The institution, which pays salaries to its workers, must express stewardship alongside fidelity.

The care for a patient with an acute illness is handled differently than a patient with a chronic illness. Acute illnesses are severe and sudden, while chronic illnesses are long term and cannot be prevented by vaccines or cured by medications (Acute Care). The care that a nurse gives to a patient with an acute illness is immediate and usually short term. This care involves treating the critical concerns and symptoms that the patient is displaying. The care that a nurse gives to a patient with a chronic illness are long-term treatments.

Over the last few decades, managed health care has revolutionized the way medicaid beneficiaries treat essential healthcare services such as family planning and parenthood programs. The term managed care is a health insurance plan or system that allocates the provisions, quality and cost of caring for an individual. It has an significant role when it comes to providing health care services to medicaid members and the ways it’s utilized. Managed care plans create contracts with health care providers and medical institutions that help provide services at a lower and more affordable cost to their members. Additionally, managed care plans tend to pay health care providers directly so that it’s members don’t have to pay out of pocket for services