This is one place I can relate to the most having worked in the healthcare industry for 2 years in India.
Cost.
I knew that the cost of healthcare was much higher in the United States than what we have back home, which I thought, was because of the high quality and high employee costs in the United States. A Harvard business article which I have cited put things into perspective and got me thinking in a different way altogether. Back home, I probably know people who have never taken an appointment to see a doctor. Surprised! Think about the last time you wanted to take an appointment for a doctor and had to wait for 2 or more weeks to see one. Don't you think if you had a common cold, it would automatically die out with some rest and home care. What if it was something more serous like a malaria or a dengue fever, you probably would have seen the doctor in an emergency department much before your appointment.
On average while a doctor sees 20 patients a day( according to a doctor that I know here), in India an average physician sees 45 outpatients and 18 inpatients a day. There are some days where a doctor would have seen 55-60 inpatients a day. ( don't be surprised, it's not just Friday the 13th). By no means is the waiting line to see the doctors a pleasant sight. Imagine my frustration when an International Patient ( no offense intended) asked me, if all the patients had appointments they wouldn't have to wait so long. She didn't have an appointment too, but because the international patient pays more ( 11$ as opposed to 6$), she can see the doctor when she arrives. There are only so many slots, that to get an appointment they would have to wait longer. The patient satisfaction is an issue here due to the long waiting hours...
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...eased to make it profitable. While an MRI scan costs 1000$ and upward, this price has to make up for the employee cost, the establishment cost, administrative cost, servicing costs and the variable costs associated with it.
Coming back to the point of utilization, the certificate of need act stopped the under utilization of hospitals. The closure of hospitals if it happens, will bring in the over utilization of hospitals leading to the reduction in costing. However in Turkey, when they felt that there was an under utilization of hospitals, they invited medical tourism to fill the gaps(though I feel that it is too late for the United States)
This is an article I found about India's secret to a low cost healthcare. http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/indias-secret-to-low-cost-health-care/ Works Cited
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/indias-secret-to-low-cost-health-care/
Supposedly, the national average occupancy rate of hospitals is lower than it should be because of rising costs of hospital care. Factors causing variations in occupancy rates are hospital size, product diversification, and urgent versus non-urgent
Without question the cost of medical care in this country has skyrocketed over the last few decades. Walk into an emergency room with an earache or the need for a few stitches and you’re apt to walk out with a bill that is nothing short of shocking.
In the U.S and other nations of the world, the health expenditure and number of physicians increase as the economy expands. However, physician shortage is of a great concern globally, which the U.S and the Military Healthcare System (MHS) are no exceptions. According to Garber (2004) “a shortage exit when there is unsatisfied demand, which occurs when the quantity of a good or service is less than what people will be willing to buy at the current price”. For example a long wait time to get an elective surgery done, or a long wait for a patient to get an appointment to see the doctor are evidence of physician shortage. Another definition of shortage is “having a projected supply of physicians that meet less than 80% of the forecasted demand or need, calculated at the estimated means (Scheffler, Liu, Kinfu, & Dal Poz, 2007). The World Health Organization report (2006) estimated that, 57 countries had absolute shortage of 2.3 million physicians. This shortage according to prior studies implied the lack of a sufficient number of health care professionals to deliver skilled health interventions such as child-birth.
Exploring the documentary on frontline Sick Around the World, I was shocked to hear where the United State’s healthcare system stood in comparison to other nations’. I felt highly astonished when finding out that our country shamefully holds thirty seventh place when being categorized for our National healthcare. Our healthcare system has grown a reputation for being highly unjust and corrupt when providing utilities and services for citizens. This upsets me because reflecting over the statistics presented in the documentary, our country should have a remarkably better healthcare system considering how much more money we spend. By comparing our financial investments and structure to other countries, one would think our nation would finally find a solution to
Because of the lack of organization with the health care providers in Canada, the wait times are too long and can cause serious complications to any condition the patient went in for in the first place. This situation of how the health care system can resolve wait times was brought to the government but they continue to ignore the proposals brought to them. It is possible to resolve the problems of wait times without extreme change and expenses in the health care system. The solution is to be found in the reorganization of the health care providers. Lack of assistance in the emergency room can make ones illness to become worse, therefore, causes the patient to be forced to wait in emergency rooms for an extended period of time and when they are finally seen by a health care provider, the outcome is very poor due to lack of registered staff, physicians and proper assessment(Goldman & Macpherson, 2005, p.40). The objective of this paper is to discuss and critically analyze the conditions of emergency waiting rooms. The specific issue this paper intends to explore is extensive and prolonged waiting times for patients accessing health care, patients who need urgent treatment and the vulnerability of elderly patients and children. With an in-depth critique of the barriers to health care and shortcomings of emergency rooms, strategies will be provided to enhance a health care system that makes it more accessible and efficient.
On a global scale, the United States is a relatively wealthy country of advanced industrialization. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is among the costliest, spending close to 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) towards funding healthcare (2011). No universal healthcare coverage is currently available. United States healthcare is currently funded through private, federal, state, and local sources. Coverage is provided privately and through the government and military. Nearly 85% of the U.S. population is covered to some extent, leaving a population of close to 48 million without any type of health insurance. Cost is the primary reason for lack of insurance and individuals foregoing medical care and use of prescription medications.
Based on a number of articles I have read, it is evident that the Government of Ontario is redirecting its funding to areas which require it most such as home care, long-term care, mental health and addiction services, and even telemedicine. It is also important to note that a key factor to reducing wait-times is to also increase the number of critical services to hospitals. As listed on the article titled Investments to Reduce Wait Times, on the Government Ontario's website, this includes services such as cardiovascular procedures, improving care for patients with rare diseases, and
It’s called universal health care, and it’s a system followed by nearly every modern nation in the world and even some not-so-modern nations. In America the practice of medicine is pretty awful, the health care system is a very corrupt system, the politicians get richer (including Hilary Clinton), and the American people (middle class and poor) get the worst of it. You see a young mother who was diagnosed with cancer and she has to travel to Canada to get the medicine that she needs; she has to lie to get her medicine once she is in Canada, but she is willing to do it instead of continue to be denied here in the U.S. If I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the early or late 1990’s
The number of doctors that present in the United States of America directly affects the communities that these doctors serve and plays a large role in how the country and its citizens approach health care. The United States experienced a physician surplus in the 1980s, and was affected in several ways after this. However, many experts today have said that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the United States, or, at the very least, that there will be a shortage in the near future. The nation-wide statuses of a physician surplus or shortage have many implications, some of which are quite detrimental to society. However, there are certain remedies that can be implemented in order to attempt to rectify the problems, or alleviate some of their symptoms.
...ently, without expensive health insurance, Americans are in a bind. If they cannot afford health insurance, they surely cannot afford the medical bills that will fall upon them should they need to be hospitalized.
The health care system in the United States is one of the most complex forms of healthcare system. What makes the system complex is that there are multiple factors involved. For example, there are multiple players and payers involved in the system. This includes physicians, administrator of health services institutions, insurance companies, large employers and lastly the Government Shi & Singh, 2012). Each of these players and payers are involved to protect their own economic interest. Hospitals for instances, wants to maximize reimbursement from both private and public insurers. Insurance companies and managed care organizations are concerned with how they can maintain their share of the health care insurance market, while physicians seek to maximize their income and have minimal interference with the way they practice medicine (Shi & Singh, 2012). It is obvious that there is no centrality of the health care system. In other words, there is no one department or in particular government body that is unilaterally in charge of the administration of the health care system as it is in the other developed nations where they have a single payer system, which is the government. Instead, the U. S. has health system that is financed by private sectors. According to Shi and Singh,(2012), 54% of total health care expenditures is privately financed through employers , while the remaining 46% is financed by the government. Lack of centrality in monitoring the total expenditures through global budgets or control over the availability and utilization of services coupled with most hospitals and clinics now been privately owned may potential...
...staff would not be required to put in the overtime to compensate for the lack of workers. Patients would no longer have to suffer the neglect of the staff because he or she was too busy. Making sure the patient gets the best quality care reduces the time spent for recovery. Reducing the time spent for recovery increases the organization’s finances. Providing a safe facility also reduces the expenses on the private hospital’s budget. Ensuring a patient is safe can reduce potential use of ongoing treatment and services. Hiring the appropriate nursing staff needed can save the organization money. Instead of cutting back on staff, more staff needs to be hired to fulfil the needs of the patient. In the economy today, private hospitals need to focus on the overall long term effects of each action opposed to quick reactions resulting in financial strain for the facility.
Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.
As reported by Bowron (2010), hospitals will benefit from reducing patient-nurse ratio by saving money. Bowron point out that an adequate staffing ratio could lower hospitals’ costs significantly in the following ways:
Everyone country has success or strengths within its health care system. These strengths have helped revolutionize the country’s health care system into what it is today.