Ways to promote better health in the United States of America

In the most developed countries, the United States' health-care system is among the worst. This may be supported by the fact that, when compared to other developed countries, access, equality between rich and poor, measures of affordability, and health outcomes are all poor. When it comes to end-of-life care, doctor-patient relationships, and survival rates after serious health issues such as strokes or breast cancer, America excels.
On the other hand, the United States performs poorly in terms of population health. It has a short lifespan and a high infant mortality rate. It also suffers the highest standards of mortality due to health care, deaths that can be prevented by the hospitals and the doctors. Practical ways to deal with the issue of health in the United States are by; consolidating services for better quality at lower costs, eliminating the tenacious fee-for-service payment system, and by embracing technology (Pearl, 2015).

Consolidating the healthcare providers could contribute to providing quality health services at lower costs. It is estimated that the number of hospitals in the United States is almost 5700, each community having at least one hospitals (Pearl, 2015). Most of these healthcare facilities were constructed many years ago when the inpatient services were expensive, and also transportation to health facilities was costly and complicated. The advances in the healthcare sector have however reduced the number of patients who are hospitalized, as much care has been shifted to the outpatient venues leading to some of these hospitals being closed down.

The services offered in the different healthcare facilities are similar in most of the hospitals within the same range. This contributes to the number of patients receiving healthcare services in a given hospital being small, the clinical staff of those hospitals being inefficiently staffed, and the individual expertise of the team is below optimal.

The hospitals with the low volume facilities register more risk-adjusted deaths as compared to those with high volume facilities. This is because the quality of health gets better as the facility volume increases. An example of this is when a hospital only performs a single cardiac surgery every day, the surgical teams and the doctors fail to specialize on a single thing, and they become ‘a jack of all trades.’ Contrary to this, when the numbers of surgeries increase, the surgical team can specialize in operations only. In addition to this, the team can develop better coordination and communication in their work, and this reduces the possibility of medical errors during the operations.

Provision of medical services is at times costly and running the facilities with low volumes becomes unproductive. Regardless of how many patients are attended to each day, the nurses, technicians, doctors and other staff need to be paid. The infrastructure which includes the machines, rooms and medical supplies also need to be made available to the hospitals.

By consolidating the medical facilities that provide the same services, could help in improving the quality of service that is provided by these hospitals and also contribute in reducing the medical costs that the patients could have incurred. This will help improve the health provision for the people since they can get high-quality health services at a lower price.

Eliminating the tenacious fee-for-service system could also contribute to promoting better health for the Americans. This is because, in the United States, most of the health services are compensated to the hospitals and the physicians according to the volume of their services rather than the quality of the outcomes achieved from those services (Pearl, 2015). In some medical specialties like surgery, as the number of the physician's increases, the complexity and the volume of services also provided increases which leads to a rise in the price charged for the service.

In surgery, the procedure can either be simple or complex. The complicated processes are costly even though in some cases they add very little to the outcome. These methods require some surgeons who are paid based on their numbers and the complications involved in the procedure.

To better the health services provided to the population, instead of the fee-for-service, it should be paid for value. This pay for value should incorporate the improvement in health, procedures for appropriateness of care and the expected health outcomes.

Embracing technology in the health system can also help in improving the health sector. Today, technology has become one of the primary drivers of improved performance. The health sector though still lagging behind in embracing this, it can incorporate technology, and this will help improve medical care quality provided.

One of the technologies that can be embraced by these health facilities is the use of electronic health records. These health records enable the doctor to access the necessary information that he/she would require treating the patient. Some of the data includes; other tests that have been carried out on the patient by other physicians, the kind of medication that the patient takes and the preventive screening that should be administered to the patient.

Mobile devices could also help in improving the health services provision; a patient will not be required to visit the doctor physically if he or she is suffering from minor issues like rashes. Some rashes could be diagnosed and treated by just using the digital photography. A patient can also be prescribed by a doctor who is familiar with his medical conditions by only using a secure email or a video call (Pearl, 2015).

The hospitals can also use the data captured concerning the patients to do predictive modeling. Predictive modeling enables the doctors to predict on which patient’s health could deteriorate and require to be rushed to the intensive care unit before his/her health worsens. By also comparing the patient’s health information to that of other patients with the same conditions, the doctors can identify the chances of such a patient being affected by certain diseases like stroke or heart attacks.

Conclusion

The healthcare system of the United States is a perfect model of inefficiency because it is the most expensive healthcare system in the world but is ranked at the bottom since it does not provide quality healthcare services to the patients. The quality measure, as compared to other countries based on child mortality to life expectancy, falls below half that of those nations.

The answer to the provision of better healthcare to the people of the United States is by; embracing technology, doing away with the tenacious fee-for-service payment systems and also by consolidating the health services to provide better health services at lower costs. The United States government should support the implementation of these strategies based on the fact that healthcare is one of the most fundamental functions in any country. By implementing these policies, the process of transforming the health care system in the country will become possible.

References

Pearl, R. M. (2015). Three Ways to Transform American Health Care. Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Deadline is approaching?

Wait no more. Let us write you an essay from scratch

Receive Paper In 3 Hours
Calculate the Price
275 words
First order 15%
Total Price:
$38.07 $38.07
Calculating ellipsis
Hire an expert
This discount is valid only for orders of new customer and with the total more than 25$
This sample could have been used by your fellow student... Get your own unique essay on any topic and submit it by the deadline.

Find Out the Cost of Your Paper

Get Price