The number of Americans who has health insurance has been declining over the years and the cost of health care has dramatically been on the rise. Most people did not fully understand their coverage and the health system did not give enough choices; instead, employers and providers had full control over plans, cost, preferences, and many other options. While the cost was on the rise, quality of service was either the same or declining. All these factors plus many others have made it imminent for the health care system, especially health care marketing, to evolve to the new trend of health care consumerism. So, what is health care consumerism and what good does it do?
Leading factors
Health care consumerism is a new step forward towards meeting consumers’ demand in the continuously evolving health system. According to Winans and Kasubski (2011), this is due mainly to changes in legislation and regulations, patients’ capabilities, and the increasing education and general health awareness within the community. Similarly, according to Hone (2007), four main factors have led to the emergence of health care consumerism. First, the success of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical marketing model that, undoubtedly, got patients involved in their health decision-making by demanding specific medications. Evidently, that opened the door for new patients’ awareness that has evolved into today’s era. Second, the unprecedented easy access to information not only through traditional media but also over the internet thanks to the widespread use of new technology. Third, the generations born between 1946 and 1964 have reached the age of 60 with increasing health needs. These generations have always spoken their needs out making fundamental eth...
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...one. In brief, to support healthcare marketing, leadership must be fully engaged and involved at every step to facilitate and integrate the changes within and outside the organization.
Works Cited
Cohen, S. B., Grote, K. D., Pietrazek, W. E., & Laflamme, F. (2010). Increasing consumerism in healthcare through intelligent information technology. American Journal of Managed Care, 16(), 37-43.
Hone, F (2007). New strategies for progressive organizations: Market forces and the new focus on demand-driven healthcare. Employee Benefit News, 21(1) 12. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214845748?accountid=38569v
Thompson, M. & Culter, C. M. (2010). Health care consumerism movement takes a step forward. Benefits Quarterly, 26(1), 24-28.
Winan, R., & Kasubski, D. (2011). What’s the attraction? Finding out why patients come to you. PT in Motion, 3(7), 16-22.
The process of choosing a health insurance provider should have been more consumer friendly. People
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Investor's, B. D. (2014, Janurary 8). Health Reform Wal-Mart's Way. Investors Business Daiky, p. A14.
Davidson, Stephen M. Still Broken: Understanding the U.S. Health Care System. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business, 2010. Print.
Berman, M. L. (2011). From Health Care Reform to Public Health Reform. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 39(3), 328-339. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2011.00603.x
Reese, Philip. Public Agenda Foundation. The Health Care Crisis: Containing Costs, Expanding Coverage. New York: McGraw, 2002.
The purpose of leadership in healthcare is to work with the other to improve or change the situation into the best condition. The challenges facing the healthcare professional requires a strong leadership since the situation is varying and not consistent. Healthcare is about people caring toward each other, therefore the healthcare professional must align together with one goal, so that patients will receive a high level service with professionalism.
The steady rise of healthcare costs and the ever increasing cost of health insurance premiums are making it harder and harder for employers to pay healthcare premiums for their employees. In the past, it was almost a given that employers picked up the tab for health insurance coverage. The health coverage was usually exceptional with little or no money paid out of pocket by the individual for the insurance premiums. Those appear to be the “good old days”, with fewer and fewer employers shelling out money for health insurance premiums and demanding a larger percentage to be paid by the employee. Other employers are simply unable to financially provide healthcare coverage for their employees and have stopped all together.
Health care in the United States is a booming topic that everyone seems to have their own opinion on, but are the health care companies really interested in making the world a healthier place or are they more interested in making money? This is a growing social problem in not only the United States but the world. The social problems that are arising from health care are the growing pharmaceutical problems, the issue on overmedication, and the issue surrounding privatized hospitals. These social problems have been growing for decades and it is finally time to stop them.
Johnson, Eric J., Ran Hassin, Tom Baker, Allison T. Bajger, and Galen Treuer. "Can Consumers Make Affordable Care Affordable? The Value of Choice Architecture." Ed. Thomas Boraud. PLoS ONE E81521 8.12 (2013): 1-6. Print.
6. The special characteristics of the U.S. health care market are Ethical and equity considerations, asymmetric information, spillover benefits, and third-party payments: insurance. Each one of these characteristics affects health care in some way. For example, ethical and equity considerations affect health care in the way that society does not consider unjust for people to be denied to health care access. Society believes that it is the same thing as not owning a car or a computer. Asymmetric information also gives health care a boost in prices. People who buy health care have no information on what procedures and diagnostics are involved, but on the other hand sellers do. This creates an unusual situation in which the doctor (seller) tells the patient(buyer) what services he or she should consume. It seems like the patient has to buy what the doctor tells him. The topic of spillover benefits also cause a rise in prices. This meaning that immunizations for diseases benefit not only the person who buys it but the whole community as well. It reduces the risk of the whole population getting infected. And the last characteristic is third-party insurance. Which involves all the insurance money people have to pay. This causes a distortion which results in excess consumption of health care services.
Healthcare plays an important role in almost every person’s life at one point or another. Many times, one can get caught without, or underinsured and it can be detrimental to their livelihood. With the rising cost of healthcare, it is likely that having a national healthcare policy in place, and as an individual, being able to afford and obtain adequate health insurance has not been required until now. With the new national healthcare plan, it is required for all citizens to obtain and maintain some sort of public or private insurance policy. The rising costs can be attributed to many things. A significant reason for the astronomical cost of health care is because of the staggering amount of uninsured or underinsured individuals receiving medical attention and almost many never paying the bill. Those who do have insurance have seen a gradual increase in their premiums and deductibles to make up for this.
Vogenberg, R. F. (2011). Adapting to market change: Beyond healthcare reform. American Health & Drug Benefits, 4(6), 368-371. Retrieved from www.ahdbonline.com
Arguably, all three situations met by the end of the 20th century. The rise of managed care, the increase of health care costs, and the growing number of uninsured patients place economic and political pressures on individuals (and governments) to find a cost-containment resolution. Additionally, since the late 1970s, the medical profession has faced the dominating principle of patient independence as a challenge – first to medical paternalism and then extending even to the principle of beneficence. More so, the usage of the Internet and other global media has expanded the ability of patients to access an...
A manager’s leadership style must influence staff and others to take them seriously. A manager sets the tempo for the employees’ work ethic. Effective leadership from healthcare managers is important to the modern healthcare reform (Kumar, 2013). Leadership engagement in healthcare explains how a problem could affect a healthcare organization. Managers that hold leadership roles must adopt a certain style that can be functional for his or her initial organization to be successful. Performance improvement can be a very serious aspect of leadership engagement (Croxton, 2011). Healthcare managers need to have people from all areas involved to work effectively. Without the consistency of getting all staff and physicians involved, the organization may suffer greatly.