The Department of Defense has the responsibility to manage one of the United State’s largest health care systems, the Military Health System. The Military Health System operates under the mission to enhance the health of the service men and women, while maintaining a high quality, effective benefit to those who qualify for care (Brown et al, 2009). Military Health Systems cover the health care needs of over nine million service men and women and their dependents, through a vast array of military and civilian facilities. The Military Health Services offers three health care benefits to those who are entitles to benefits based on their current military standing: TRICARE (Brown et al, 2009). TRICARE health plans are the replacement for CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services); which was the main provider of health care services for military dependents. TRICARE’s purpose was to also facilitate members with access to better health care. This program offers primary, secondary, and tertiary care to its beneficiaries. TRICARE is the largest single provider of any form of managed health care in the United States; being the largest provider does not come without changes and upheavals since CHAMPUS was converted into TRICARE (Brown et al, 2009).
In 1993, the CHAMPUS program had a demonstration project that suggested that a reorganization of military health care was necessary. These projects established that the health care techniques used by civilian managed care, could benefit the military. By adapting to the way civilian managed care organizations run, the military could improve their quality of care, increase patient satisfaction, and place a cap on future costs (Kongstvedt, 2007). These projects gave wa...
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.... If the past can predict the future, TRICARE and the Military Health Service will continue to be a relevant source of health care for years to come.
Works Cited
Achieving breakthrough preformance. (2010, January 15). Retrieved from http://www.health.mil/Libraries/Documents_Word_PDF_PPT_etc/2010_MHS_Stakeholders_Report.pdf
Brown, D, Kurlantzick, V, McCall, N, Williams, T, & Gantt, J. (2009). Use of six clinical preventive services in tricare prime compared to insured, managed care, and all u.s. populations and healthy people 2010 . Preventive Medicine, 48(4), 389-391.
Kongstvedt, P. R. (2007). Essentials of managed health care. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett
Meltz, J. (2009, April 30). Tricare stakeholders report 2006. Retrieved from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5742336/tricare-STAKEHOLDERS-report-TRANSFORMING-THE-FUTURE-miliTARY-MEDICINE-tAble
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Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) serves a vital purpose in the government in caring for America’s Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen. The mission statement of the VA is, “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise ‘to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s Veterans” (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015). The VA provides a multitude of services to America’s veterans, the largest of which being medical treatments.
One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)
As I began watching Reinventing Healthcare-A Fred Friendly Seminar (2008), I thought to myself, “man, things have changed since 2008.” And as the discussion progressed, I started to become irritated by how little had changed. The issues discussed were far-reaching, and the necessity for urgent change was a repeated theme. And yet, eight years later, health care has made changes, but many of its crucial problems still exist.
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The U.S. healthcare system is very complex in structure hence it can be appraised with diverse perspectives. From one viewpoint it is described as the most unparalleled health care system in the world, what with the cutting-edge medical technology, the high quality human resources, and the constantly-modernized facilities that are symbolic of the system. This is in addition to the proliferation of innovations aimed at increasing life expectancy and enhancing the quality of life as well as diagnostic and treatment options. At the other extreme are the fair criticisms of the system as being fragmented, inefficient and costly. What are the problems with the U.S. healthcare system? These are the questions this opinion paper tries to propound.
The first example of managed care in the form of a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) dates back to 1910 in the state of Washington, but major growth and development in managed care programs was between 1985 and 2000 (The Origins of Managed Care, 2007). The goal of managed care is to control health care costs, but at the same time deliver a high quality of care, typically within a network of providers (Managed Care, 2015). Americans 65 years old and older rely on Medicare for insurance. As part of the Balance Budget Act of 1997, Medicare beneficiaries were offered a choice to get Medicare Part C from private insurers, consequently changes were made to these plans in 2003, and the managed care plans for Medicare recipients
The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. With a large and well-trained health workforce, access to a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, patient outcomes are among the best in the world. But the US also suffers from incomplete coverage of its population, and health expenditure levels per person far exceed all other countries. Poor measures on many objective and subjective indicators of quality and outcomes plague the US health care system. In addition, an unequal distribution of resources across the country and among different population groups results in poor access to care for many citizens. Efforts to provide comprehensive, national health insurance in the United States go back to the Great Depression, and nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has proposed some form of national health insurance.
Barton, P.L. (2010). Understanding the U.S. health services system. (4th ed). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.