Based on the information presented in this paper, EHRs can be beneficial to the healthcare industry by saving money and reducing errors but also can benefit the patient by having the doctors and hospitals they go to be more efficient, convenient, and allows the caregiver to spend more time with the patient instead of updating paperwork. With the ease of new software in development, healthcare facilities will train properly and quickly so they are not losing focus on the patient. Cost may be a major factor now why the healthcare industry has not already embraced this technology but that will soon change with the new incentive programs coming in the near future. By 2014, these incentives will be in place and the healthcare industry will grow in the 21st
With taxes at a breaking point government has little recourse but to try to hold down costs. Government cutting budget for health care sector affects every aspect. Since labour is the main component of health costs, income for health workers and professionals have been brought under tight government controls. This causes brain wash. Health professionals will migrate to other countries were they would compensate for the same services they provide. This causes shortage of labour force in health care sector which in turn causes long patient wait time.
Scherz claim is very well taken into thought and explains the reasoning as to why the new reform isn’t as “cared” for as it seems. There are many reasons that would suggests as to why building healthcare for every individual in the US is a good idea, but how much is truly being given? In the article he states three main points about the new reform that can be a potential downfall: • “Not
Pros and Cons of Managed Care PROs | CONs | Managed care is a set of techniques designed to make the providers of health care more accountable for the quality of the health care they delivered. | Premiums for private health insurance are getting costly. | Often negotiate lower rates for basic healthcare procedures with physicians, labs and various types of healthcare facilities. | Members may not be fully satisfied with the care that is given by a primary care physician and would want to consult with another who is not included in the network. | Many health insurance plans operate with the use of a wide range of physicians and specialists who are connected with the insurance provider network.
These tools are commonly referred to as optimization techniques. Optimization techniques “can be used, for example, to determine (holding quality and outcomes constant) which types of health manpower, given their relative productivity and wages, are least costly for producing a given medical service, or similarly, whether one combination of institutional settings is less costly that another for treating particular types of patients” (Feldstein, 2012. p. 15). Similarly, marginal analysis can be utilized determine the cost-effectiveness of allocating resources in an effort to achieve a specific goal. A basic knowledge of marginal analysis is also important when it comes to understanding how consumers (or patients) select various goods or services, and allows healthcare organizations to accurately predict changes in those services or goods. When a patient purchases good or services they receive a benefit, or utility; subsequent purchases provides the patient with more benefits, but “additional benefits decline as more units are purchased” (Feldstein, 2012. p. 17).
(Department of Health (DOH), 2010). These changes are to occur in a period of financial constraint, with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and empowering front line clinicians. (DOH, 2010). The proposal to use EMTs and A&E support ignores current inefficiencies in the way patients are treated. EMTs, trained in basic and advanced life support, deal with a range of life threatening illnesses and injuries and can administer a range of drugs.
Pay for performance, also referred to as incentive pay or P4P incentive programs are designed to overcome the limitations of current reimbursement arrangements by aligning financial reward with improved outcomes. These idioms pertain to health care payment systems that reward health care providers for their efficiency. Under the current mode of operation, providers are paid for each service performed, giving our health care providers the financial enticement to perform as many services as they possibly can. This can possibly lead to abuse in over prescribing medication and ordering unnecessary testing. By adopting a pay for performance stance on impacting the preventative side of health care, a substantial savings in rising health care costs may be met.
Now that there is sufficient data to convince most people (including Congress and major purchasers of health benefits) that there is a quality problem in the US health care system, it will be hard to resist the widespread urge to use that same information to reform an obviously imperfect payment system. Used effectively, pay-for-performance could remove some of the well-known distortions that are generated by the underlying structure of current payment systems and help refocus delivery on critical aspects of population health. If it is to succeed in promoting patient health and value for the health care dollar, pay-for-performance will require careful design and effective safeguards against potential unintended consequences including those associated with patient selection incentives (and the associated fairness concerns) and “teaching to the test” to ensure that these positive objectives are not achieved at too great a cost (Rosenthal,
For example, managed care providers emphasize on keeping enrollees healthy to reduce use of services and financial incentives for enrollees to use providers and procedures associated with the plan. All these can compromise the quality of healthcare provided to members. On the micro-level, managed care has changed healthcare delivery by enforcing measures aimed at reducing cost. For example, pay for performance (P4P) is a toll used in the U.S. to improve efficiency in healthcare systems by rewarding health care providers for following certain procedures. Such systems could compromise the quality of
Eventually, the consistent care would balance as the health care needs are met. Another measure of savings would be the reduction in cost for administration. The best way to control costs is to simply improve health care planning. Setting and enforcing a budget will assure the appropriate investments are made by negotiating outrageous fees for high-tech care with doctors, hospitals, and drug