Assignment #1 What is wrong with healthcare today, using the material you have learned in this class? Why is it difficult to care for patients with chronic conditions? (if you want to share a family example, that would be ok) Do you feel EMRs/EHRs help or hinder the care of chronically ill patients? As we have discussed in the previous class, there are many factors that affect healthcare in the US, such as tobacco use, alcohol use, smoking , obesity, high Blood Pressure, etc. Undoubtedly, these factors can cause issues in the system and the system needs more time, costs and effort to face these issues besides chronic diseases. We have seen the cost that the us government has to pay to support the health system – around $315.4 billions to …show more content…
By EHRs/EMRs, patients with chronic diseases can easily download, update, upload and transfer their records electronically to consult other healthcare providers. Also, they can make sure that the treatment plans are safely and efficiently provides due to the support of CDSS. Moreover, it is clear that EMRs/EHRs are beneficial to follow up with patient directly, through patient portals. In other words, patients can have access to patient portal to upload clinical results, and the providers will see these results daily and monitor patients ' conditions effectively. Thus, patients can have an electronic copy of their medical records to refer them to other physicians to have other opinion and consultations; therefore, patients ' preferences can be achieved, through this technology …show more content…
It is seen as a trivia technology in healthcare; however, it is definitely useful and has a high effect positively on the quality of healthcare. This technology are used as a mean that let patients to have a 24/7 connection with health providers. Patients will arrange, manage and reschedule their appointments without a need for visiting registration offices, through using answer machines. Besides the direct interact, there would be staff reduction in customer services center In the emergency cases, patients will have quick connections with their physicians directly, so answer machines will accomplish patients’
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
For years now, the healthcare system in the United States have managed patient’s health records through paper charting, this has since changed for the better with the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) system. This type of system has helped healthcare providers, hospitals and other ambulatory institutions extract data from a patient’s chart to help expedite clinical diagnosis and providing necessary care. Although this form of technology shows great promise, studies have shown that this system is just a foundation to the next evolution of health technology. The transformation of EMR to electronic heath record system (EHR) is the ultimate goal of the federal government.
The facts bear out the conclusion that the way healthcare in this country is distributed is flawed. It causes us to lose money, productivity, and unjustly leaves too many people struggling for what Thomas Jefferson realized was fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America holds the unique position of not having any form of universal health care. This should lead Americans to ask why the health of its citizens is “less equal” than the health of a European.
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.
In order to make ones’ health care coverage more affordable, the nation needs to address the continually increasing medical care costs. Approximately more than one-sixth of the United States economy is devoted to health care spending, such as: soaring prices for medical services, costly prescription drugs, newly advanced medical technology, and even unhealthy lifestyles. Our system is spending approximately $2.7 trillion annually on health care. According to experts, it is estimated that approximately 20%-30% of that spending (approx. $800 billion a year) appears to go towards wasteful, redundant, or even inefficient care.
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 ...
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the adaptation, utilization, and functionality of an EHR. The impact the EHR could have on a general population is invaluable; therefore, it needs special attention from a trained professional.
A famous Greek physician named Herophilos once said, “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” One of the most crucial issues challenging Americans today is the overwhelming rise in health problems. Serious health problems like obesity can create other ailments such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than one-third (35.7%) of adults in the U.S. are obese and in 2008 their estimated combined medical bills totaled to $147 billion dollars; of that 35.7% of Americans, approximately 15.4% do not have health insurance. One of the biggest influences on the number of uninsured Americans is the outrageously high cost of health care. Compared to the rest of the developed world, the U.S. has dramatically higher healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP or on a per capita basis. The Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) reports that healthcare costs in other countries average $3,200 per person and nearly $8,200 per person in America.
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.
Nearly every American can agree that our current health care system needs reforms. Primarily do to the fact that 45.7 million Americans are without health insurance. That's approximately 16 percent of Americans who sometimes have to do without healthcare, or face crucial financial responsibility. The main issues are admission to healthcare, and the affordability of health care. Before 1920, doctors didn't know enough about diseases to really provide useful care to sick people. Therefore the...
Healthcare has now become one of the top social as well as economic problems facing America today. The rising cost of medical and health insurance impacts the livelihood of all Americans in one way or another. The inability to pay for medical care is no longer a problem just affecting the uninsured but now is becoming an increased problem for those who have insurance as well. Health care can now been seen as a current concern. One issue that we face today is the actual amount of healthcare that is affordable. Each year millions of people go without any source of reliable coverage.
The U.S. expends far more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet we get fewer benefits, less than ideal health outcomes, and a lot of dissatisfaction manifested by unequal access, the significant numbers of uninsured and underinsured Americans, uneven quality, and unconstrained wastes. The financing of healthcare is also complicated, as there is no single payer system and payment schemes vary across payors and providers.
There are new challenges every year in the health care field. Research on the future of U.S Healthcare System is of paramount importance to the entire Health care industry as well as the citizens of the U.S. To begin with, the research will discuss how challenges for future healthcare services can be enhanced by reducing the costs of medication. By creating a better quality of health care, Information technology advancements, including future funding, lower rising costs, the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The research will also discuss the challenges of market shares for different ages of populating and maintaining a skilled work place. It will further discuss the tentative solutions to these challenges. The role that the government plays to ensure that these challenges are mitigated and that health care is available to all American citizens is also discussed. Among these problems poor quality of care is perhaps the most visible and troubling, resulting in nearly 100,000 preventable deaths each year (Institute of Medicine, 1999) and reduced quality of life for millions of Americans due to non-fatal yet serious adverse events such as wrong-limb amputation, hospital-acquired infection, and medication errors (Institute of Medicine, 2006; Leape, 1997).
Another great aspect of the EHR is that it involves the participation of the patient. It is crucial to make the patient participates when they are diagnosed with a chronic condition such as diabetes or cancer. With the EHR nurses and providers can ...
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).