As healthcare costs continue to escalate in the United States, employer healthcare plans are looking for alternatives pricing plans to lower healthcare insurance costs for their employees. Blue Ridge Paper Products (BRPP) is one company in Canton, North Carolina who is attempting to decrease healthcare costs for their employees by offering health promotion incentives and more cost effective provider reimbursement options (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2008). McLaughlin and McLaughlin (2008) explain while the health promotion strategies they have instituted have been successful at lowering BRPP’s healthcare claims, they have found it difficult to negotiate lower costs with local healthcare providers. In this paper, I will discuss possible consumer and provider bargaining strategies with regarding to lowering healthcare costs; the benefits of a large academic medical center and a large tertiary community hospital; and finally, how medical global tourism will affect state and national healthcare policies. Decreasing Healthcare Costs: Bundled Pricing and Lowering Administrative Costs It would be necessary for a hospital administrator to look closely at ways to lower healthcare costs and provide more efficient care when a large employer like BRPP states they are thinking of relocating their employee inpatient hospital services to a company like InduShealth. InduShealth is offering substantially lower prices for several surgical procedures and a U.S. hospital administrator would not want to lose this large consumer population if it was possible to find more efficient methods of providing healthcare to their patients (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2008). One pricing strategy that a hospital administrator could advocate for is a bundled... ... middle of paper ... ...on, L., Sunley, S., Manca, D., & Grunfeld, E. (2011). Current use of electronic medical records in primary care of chronic disease the implications for clinical governance. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 16(4), 353-363. doi: 10.1108/ 147772271111175387 Stegman, M.S. (2005). Coding & billing errors: do they really add up to a $100 billion health care crisis? Jouranl of Health Care Compliance, 7(4), 51-55. Rezaie, R. & Singer, P.A. (2010). Global health or global wealth? Nature Biotechnology, 28(9), 907-909. Turner, L. (2012). Beyond “medical tourism”: Canadian companies marketing medical travel. Globalization and Health, 8(16), 1-11. Young, S. & Erdem, S.A. (1996). An exploratory study of services marketing in global markets: Major areas of inquiry for the health care services industry. Health Marketing Quarterly, 14(1), 85
According to Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young, the authors of our textbook Health Care USA, medical care in the United States is a $2.5 Trillion industry (xvii). This industry is so large that “the U.S. health care system is the world’s eighth
The U.S. spending on health care is an outlier compared to other industrialized countries. On an individual basis heath care in the U.S is approximately double what other industrialized countries spend. On a total spend basis, the $3 trillion currently consumed in this sector represents the world’s fifth-largest economy. This high spending on healthcare is unsustainable in the long term. Businesses, individual consumers, and the government are consequently not insulated from the shrinking economic growth due to the ramifications of the high healthcare costs. In a global competitive market the U.S. business will lag behind other industrialized countries unless these high healthcare costs are curtailed. In addition, individuals, even those with insurance face the grim prospect of bankruptcy due to the high cost of care.
Miller, H. D. (2009). From volume to value: better ways to pay for health care. Health Affairs
Hicks, L. (2012). The Economics of Health and Medical Care (6th Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). Staff Analysis Statement of Problem HCA, after following a conservative financial policy since its establishment, has entered the new decade preparing to make some changes in order to realign their financial strategy and capital structure. Since its establishment, HCA has often been used as a measure for the entire proprietary hospital industry. Is it now time for the market to realign their expectations for the industry as a whole? HCA has target goals that need to be met in order to accomplish milestones in the future.
Formed in 1998, the Managed Care Executive Group (MCEG) is a national organization of U.S. senior health executives who provide an open exchange of shared resources by discussing issues which are currently faced by health care organizations. In the fall of 2011, 61 organizations, which represented 90 responders, ranked the top ten strategic issues for 2012. Although the issues were ranked according to their priority, this report discusses the top three issues which I believe to be the most significant due to the need for competitive and inter-related products, quality care and cost containment.
With consolidation among hospital systems over the last few years there has been a trend toward ways to streamline processes. By having “shared services” such as laundry services, human resources and radiology and diagnostic services it’s possible to lower costs and have common processes. The advent of health care reform and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with its Information Technology (IT) incentives has led to greater interest in risk management and IT solutions. While there was a decrease in 2012 on outsourcing IT services the finalization by the Supreme Court of the ACA and President Obama’s re-election cemented the need for an IT solution (Kutscher, 2012)
The health care industry is positioned for the global market place. It is expected to grow exponentially in health-related services for the elderly. China’s population of individuals over sixty years old is expected to grow to one third in the next twenty-five years. Though their culture view aging somewhat differently than in United States, they are interested in the attractive senior living options established here. Senior care encompasses private care facilities, home health care, products, drugs and medical equipment. As the largest health care market in the world American companies have made significant global inroads over the last two decades. These businesses are positioned to offer additional services directed at retirees, and children who will be responsible for their parents and potentially their grandparents as well.
An issue that is widely discussed and debated concerning the United States’ economy is our health care system. The health care system in the United States is not public, meaning that the states does not offer free or affordable health care service. In Canada, France and Great Britain, for example, the government funds health care through taxes. The United States, on the other hand, opted for another direction and passed the burden of health care spending on individual consumers as well as employers and insurers. In July 2006, the issue was transparency: should the American people know the price of the health care service they use and the results doctors and hospitals achieve? The Wall Street Journal article revealed that “U.S. hospitals, most of them nonprofit, charged un-insured patients prices that vastly exceeded those they charged their insured patients. Driving their un-insured patients into bankruptcy." (p. B1) The most expensive health care system in the world is that of America. I will talk about the health insurance in U.S., the health care in other countries, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and my solution to this problem.
The United States health care system is one of the most expensive systems in the world yet it is known as being unorganized and chaotic in comparison to other countries (Barton, 2010). This factor is attributed to numerous characteristics that define what the U.S. system is comprised of. Two of the major indications are imperfect market conditions and the demand for new technology (Barton, 2010). The health care system has been described as a free market in
As developed countries struggle to provide efficient and affordable healthcare for their citizens, medical tourism has increasingly become common practice among tourists that cross international borders to developing countries seeking medical treatment. The following review will examine three current articles from various trade journals by scholars in economics, tourism and business with supporting and opposing arguments for medical tourism. The objective of this literature review is to identify the ramifications of medical tourism on the host developing economy, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages, as well as determine whether the globalization of healthcare is merely a business or does in fulfill a common
The Effects of Tourism on MEDC Tourism has changed dramatically in recent years, due to the improvements in technology of transport which have gotten faster and more efficient, allowing people to even travel hundreds of miles abroad which before the invention of the plane would have been only for those in the army, explorers or the unbelievably wealthy whereas today flights on planes can be bought very cheaply and people have a greater amount of free time which can be spent on holiday because of paid holiday leave, earlier retirement, increases in awareness of other cultures and countries through the media which often have a more reliable climate than of local holiday destinations. Tourists used to mainly travel to more traditional holiday destinations like the countryside or sea side resorts, for example Blackpool, which have struggled to survive against competition from foreign holidays which are seen as more interesting and exciting. In modern times longer holidays are taken abroad which are available to people from all levels of wealth, so even low class people can go to popular overseas destinations, so types of holidays that are popular have changed, which can be seen from the increase in popularity or activity holidays that are being taken. Holidays are becoming more active, the once relaxing day trip to the seaside now seems to most people boring with little to do except swim in the sea and make sand castles with little alternative entertainment aside from visiting the arcade, whereas modern holidays are more exciting with diving, safariing, skiing to see unfamiliar and unusual things, which has not changed, what has changed is what is ‘unfamiliar and unusual’ partly because of the availability of information on the internet and television, once people learn about things like rhinoceros’s or Chinese new year festivals, being at a crowded beach with a few rock pools is going to look pretty dull in comparison to the modern traveler.
A journey that patients take from one country to another country to get cost effective and efficient medical treatment, followed by a great vacation at some of the most beautiful locations is called medical tourism. In simple terms, the medical tourism refers to “visit by overseas patients for medical treatment and relaxation”. Thus, it is an amalgamation of two distinct services: healthcare and tourism. Although the medical tourism is a recent phenomenon, this sector grows exponentially and emerges as a major force for the growth of services exports worldwide. Currently, it is a multibillion dollar industry.Countries like Belgium, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dubai, Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand etc are actively involved in medical tourism. India is one of the major democratic nations of the world. It has achieved considerable progress after initiation of reforms in 1991. It has emerged as the fourth largest economy in purchasing power. It is amongst the fastest growing
The cost of US health care has been steadily increasing for many years causing many Americans to face difficult choices between health care and other priorities in their lives. Health economists are bringing to light the tradeoffs which must be considered in every healthcare decision (Getzen, 2013, p. 427). Therefore, efforts must be made to incite change which constrains the cost of health care without creating adverse health consequences. As the medical field becomes more business oriented, there will be more of a shift in focus toward the costs and benefits, which will make medicine more like the rest of the economy (Getzen, 2013, p. 439).
To cope with seasonal demand variations, Andorra has developed diversity of tourism products. One of them is ‘Health Tourism’ which is a combination of two potential sectors of Andorra, ideal environment and medical & wellness services. According to health tourism connects with various sectors, strong networks among stakeholders in its supply chain is essential. Andorra has developed the Health and Wellness cluster, which recently has 140 members, aiming to improve medical infrastructures and provide medical technology to both Andorrans and international patients (ACTUA, 2017). For more development in tourism product, Andorra linked health tourism with sports and represented through ‘the Center of reference in sports