Qualitative Research Appraisal

Summary: Steven Brill in the article “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” clarifies his opinion about the costs of healthcare services in the United States.

In U.S., spending on health care has been growing at a faster pace than spending in rest of economy since 1960s. The government was spending 4.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at that time, which grew to 16.2% in 2007, and is expected to rise to 20% of GDP by 2017(1). Without any drastic measures, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), these numbers will project to 25% of GDP in 2025, 30% by 2035, and 49% in 2082 (2). The major components of U.S. health care spending are hospitals (31%), physician and clinical services (21%), pharmaceuticals (10%), and other spending (25%) (3).

In the film Escape Fire the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, there were many insightful examples of why our Unites States healthcare revolves around paying more and getting less. The system is designed to treat diseases rather than preventing them and promoting wellness. In our healthcare industry, there are many different contributors that provide and make up our system. These intermediaries include suppliers, manufacturers, consumers, patients, providers, policy and regulations. All these members have a key role in the functionality of the health care industry; however, each role has its positives and negatives. Each person with an occupation in the healthcare industry is doing their designated job as assigned, but it’s evident that the system’s design is flawed to its core.

Physicians and Hospitals go hand in hand when it comes to the medical care of patients, and it is this relationship that allows the patients to receive the care they need and deserve. It is also this relationship that we as health care administrators need to understand. In order to fully understand this relationship we need to define the concept of the integrated physician model. We also need to explain the importance of clinical integration in the strategic planning process, and the dynamics of and controversies surrounding accountable care organizations and alternative approaches to the current health system. I will also explain the advantages and disadvantages for hospitals and physician’s models. All of these things are important for health care administrators to understand about the relationship between a physician and the facility they work at.

There are many stakeholders involved with health care administrations. Those stakeholders can be patients, health care physician, insurance providers, pharmaceutical manufactures, hospital organizations, community clinics and government. Each different stakeholder has their own individual vision of health care administration. This causes conflict due to the nature and differences in vision. which then can cause conflicts among each stakeholder involved. A patient is going to have a different idea of how a health care should be managed. This in contrast to the way a physician may think the administration should be managed. Furthermore, each different stakeholder involved would have their own ideal reasons to why the health care administration

When being placed in the role of a manager, it is important to understand the finances of the organization and how to read and understand the recording of finances. It is also important to understand how all the different parts of the records fit together to give us the knowledge of where the business is financially. Knowing also the different responsibility centers related to financial recording and how they function is important as a manager. Once a manager understands what and where items belong on a balance sheet, they will better understand the state that the business is in. “It provides you with a picture of the financial health of your practice or organization on a certain date.” (Arnow & Xakellis, 2001).

Medicine is a practice based on moral standards applied to clinical values and judgments, also known as medical ethics. Ethical values consists of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice. However, these ethical principles are affected when distributive justice and rationing of health care resources are implemented “…in a world in which need is boundless but resources are not…” (Scheunemann & White, 2011, p. 1630).

How does the aging of the population, health insurance reimbursement, and consumer demand impact the practice patterns of health care clinicians? A physician shortage is expected by 2020, primarily driven by the demand for physician services. The number of persons over the age of 65 will double by 2030. The older population may also present with comorbidities that demand more physician services. Of the 83 million people over age 62, 14 million will have diabetes, and 21 million will be obese. However, first year enrollment in medical schools has declined every year since 1980.Other conditions that will drive demand for physician services include rates of heart disease and cancer, two of the leading causes of death in the U.S. It is projected that the shortage will most affect the primary care sector of physician services. Physicians who practice primary

In healthcare cost physician and other healthcare providers essentially has enter a contract with their patient where they can understand the providers top priority that is first most foremost when it comes to

Millions of Americans are constantly reminded of the horrible effects of the Affordable Care Act anytime medical care is required. I have witnessed many families and individuals struggle to cover the extra financial responsibility imposed upon them: Susan Gardiner, a fellow Kroger employee, states her health insurance costs have significantly increased following the approval of the Affordable Care Act; consequently, Ms. Gardiner routinely experiences financial hardships as she requires frequent medical care. Americans simply cannot cope with the Affordable Care Act’s inherent attribute of exorbitant insurance premiums and deductibles.

Although the US is technologically advanced and has some of the highest caliber medical professionals in the world, compared to many other industrialized countries, it has one of the lowest outcomes in regards to quality of care. Moreover, it has some of the highest overall medical costs (Panning, 2014). In the US, low quality care and high costs have resulted in fragmentation of the healthcare delivery system. Fragmentation of services often results in patient experiences that are poor, with less than desired clinical

Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less. 2013. Print. This book is interesting. I

For several decades, government officials and healthcare experts have been discussing the broken and dysfunctional US healthcare system. The US ranks highest for cost and lowest for outcomes. Healthcare accounted for 17.4 percent of the gross domestic product in 2013 (CMS.gov). The Institute for Healthcare Improvement highlighted the quality of healthcare in the US or lack of quality with the 100,000 lives campaign. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement brought national attention and awareness to the epidemic of hospital errors and the loss of life related to those errors. One would expect that amount of money the US spends on healthcare to equate to great patient care and reduction of patient mortality, however, that is not

There are many ethical issues facing health care at any time and it is impossible to say definitively which is the most pressing or the most important. Health care professionals are expected to base their practice on a set of ethical principles, including truthfulness, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and confidentiality. Ethical issues can arise, however, when a l professional is called upon to act in opposition to personal values or in cases where the values of patient, health care worker, and sponsoring institution conflict. The following issues are presented in no order.