Increased Cost of Medical Care as a National Healthcare Issue
The increased cost of healthcare is one of the major emerging issues in the national healthcare system today. The increased use of advanced technology and drugs is the major factor that has contributed to an increase in healthcare costs (Labby, Wright, Broffman & Holtorf, 2020). Although the use of advanced technology has a greater advantage in the health of public members, advanced technology has a negative side since medical facilities are expensive. The intensive marketing of drugs and medical facilities is a major factor contributing to the increased cost of healthcare nationally.
The increased cost of medical services has resulted in a significant impact on my healthcare organization. One of the negative impacts of the increased cost of medical services in my healthcare setting is that some of the patients are having challenges paying their medical bills. Severe medical conditions require a patient to purchase drugs from a pharmacy and patients who are financially unstable are finding it hard to purchase the drugs (Dickman, Himmelstein, & Woolhandler, 2017). For example, for the last six months, only four patients out of ten patients having heart diseases have been able to purchase the right medication. Another indicator of the negative impact of the increased cost of medical care is that number of purchases from our pharmacy sector has greatly reduced since the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Another negative impact of the increased cost of medical services in my healthcare setting is that health workers are facing challenges while offering services due to limited medical resources. Limited medical resources in my healthcare setting are a result of the increased cost of purchasing medical equipment. For example, the record from the main store shows that my organization has only added 15 stethoscopes for the last year. Another example is that my organization had a plan to buy two CAT Scanners for carrying out X-ray tests. This plan of buying the two CAT Scanners has become impossible since one CAT Scanner costs $2.5 million.
‘Why Do Healthcare Costs Keep Rising?’ is an article by Jim Probasco that tries to account for the current increased cost of healthcare. According to (Probasco, 2021), the United State spent over $4 trillion throughout 2020 in providing healthcare services. The article further explains the main factors that have contributed to the increased cost of healthcare services and the increasing population is one of these factors. Another factor contributing to the high cost of medical care is the increasing number of the aging population. The article also explains how people citizens in the United States have been avoiding medical care services due to the increasing cost and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
‘The Rising Cost of Health Care by Year and Its Causes’ is an article by Kimberly Amadeo that outlines the impact and causes of increased healthcare costs. According to (Amadeo, 2021), government policy is another factor that has contributed to the increased cost of medical care. This is because the US government approved the sale of expensive medical drugs even though it knew that these expensive drugs were not that much better compared to the existing drugs. The article also explains how preventable chronic illnesses have also contributed to the increased cost of medical services. These preventable illnesses include diabetes, heart disease cancer, and stroke.
Other healthcare organizations are making attempts to address the issue of the increased cost of medical care organization. One strategic approach these organizations are taking is offering health education on how the public population can remain healthy from preventable illnesses (Sandberg, 2017). The main theme in this health education concerns non-medical individual interventions. These interventions include healthy eating and controlled smoking. Individual interventions are more effective compared to medical interventions since patients may get tired of taking the medicine. Another advantage of this health education is that it will keep the public members healthy therefore minimize chances of seeking medical help at a cost.
Another intervention from other medical organization is that these organization is combining efforts with other non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross is offering free medical services (Sandberg, 2017). These organizations are playing a significant role in providing the non-governmental organizations with skilled task force such as nurses to help in their free health programs. Another significant role of the medical organization to non-governmental organizations is Helping with research on how to provide free medical services to the vulnerable population.
One approach that my healthcare organization has taken in addressing the issue of the increased cost of medical care is providing patients with a comprehensive range of medical services. A comprehensive range of medical services is essential since it fills the vulnerable gaps that health practitioners may create while offering medical services (Marcotte, Reddy & Liao, 2019). Another way through which my healthcare organization has responded to the issue of the increased cost of healthcare services is trying to equalize the medical payments the patients are making. This approach of equalizing the medical payments among the patients is cutting across all medical services my health organization provides.
Another approach my healthcare organization has taken in addressing the issue of the increased cost of healthcare services is moving health services closer to the patients. The main factor that has facilitated the effectiveness of this approach is that my healthcare organization has a good number of health workers. One advantage of moving health services closer to the patient will enable our health practitioners to reach out to patients avoiding medical services due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this approach of moving medical services closer to patients is only addressing patients with minor illnesses.
References
Amadeo, K. (2021). The Rising Cost of Health Care by Year and Its Causes. The Balance.
Dickman, S. L., Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2017). Inequality and the health-care system in the USA. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1431-1441.
Marcotte, L. M., Reddy, A., & Liao, J. (2019). Addressing Avoidable Healthcare Costs: Time to Cool Off on Hotspotting in Primary Care? Journal of general internal medicine, 34(11), 2634-2636.
Probasco, J. (2021). Why Do Healthcare Costs Keep Rising? Investopedia.
Sandberg, D. S. (2017). Medical tourism: An emerging global healthcare industry. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 10(4), 281-288.
