Changes in Healthcare

Healthcare has gained exceeded attention in the past few years since all over the world, diseases and their intensity have been witnessed with an increase in population. Hygiene and sanitation have been associated with an increase in illness, thus contributing to the amplified need for better healthcare quality services worldwide. This paper aims to analyze changes in healthcare with the passage of time and its future.
Healthcare
Healthcare has become one of the most necessities of life. It would not be wrong to say that the meaning of 'necessities' has changed over time since several factors shape life and have become an essential part; healthcare is one of them. Healthcare is the identification and evaluation of safe and effective care for individuals in the presence of a culture that strives for excellence that must give an outcome of desired health fulfillment (Allen-Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017).
Future of Healthcare Industry
As mentioned earlier, there has been an intense upsurge in population over the past few years, and quality healthcare delivery has been affected. The healthcare systems have evolved to address the challenges and extra burdens of cost-cutting and people without health insurance (Garson & Levin, 2001). The future would focus more on the technology and its collaboration with healthcare so that Telehealth and e-health approaches could be incorporated for quick and efficient delivery of care to the patients. For this, diligent measures need to be taken, such as training and coaching healthcare professionals, nurses, physicians, and patients, especially the older ones, about smartphone usage and applications. Further trends like rural healthcare, supply chain management of drug delivery system, consumerism, administration, workforce changes, and unified care would also be involved (Vogenberg & Santilli, 2018).
Another trend that might be of interest in the future would be the alliance of the country's health centers, researchers, educators, clinicians, and policymakers for identifying upcoming challenges and the perspectives to tackle those hardships. This would help in mining out more information from the research so that current issues and trends could be determined and innovation could be incorporated to develop the country's healthcare delivery system. For this purpose, the government would play a vital role in devising policies that would benefit the system by keeping in mind that the patient is the definitive customer.
Effect of Discussed Issues on the System
With the integration of technology, there rises an issue of patient privacy, which is an ethical challenge. Very little importance has been given to big data and privacy, while the concern has been greater on the patients' side (Strang & Sun, 2019). The patients want their private information to be left alone and free from interference; however, the literature's privacy matter has been addressed as little as 1% of the time. The effect of this issue would be drastic for the healthcare system since if big data is managed effectively, there would be a reduction in crimes like fraud and abuse, would bring improvement in healthcare delivery of service quality and promote better management of patients, physicians, pharmacies, and their related cities with the use of the database. A positive economic impact would be seen on the country's gross domestic product at a greater level.
There have been other healthcare system changes that have transformed the roles of staff and their responsibilities. The occupational regulatory system has become complicated where the professionals have carved their interests out of their duties, and employees have become resilient to upcoming changes (Pindus & Greiner, 1997). The main concern remains that of cost reduction with improved healthcare of the patients. In the recent past, steps have been taken to reduce costs like introducing a payment system for quick discharge of patients but have resulted in more cost mounting and unstable health consumers' conditions. The healthcare workforce has been under pressure to provide quality care to the patients, consequently affecting the industry's costs. The burnout and fatigue have led to increased tiredness and absenteeism that result in lower patient satisfaction, and the quality of the healthcare industry deteriorates.
Reason for Present Status of Healthcare in the Country
Research has revealed that the United States has been consistently investing more each year in healthcare. In contrast, the positive outcomes have been observed less than better-performing countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia (Khazan, 2018). The first reason for this condition is the absence of insurance security. Convincing more people to have insurance policies would not ensure low mortality since many low to middle-income people cannot afford the policy. The second reason is the inefficiency of the administration. Hiring doctors and administrative staff for billing and insurance policies are expensive; rather, a standardized system of benefit packages should be introduced, which would reduce costs and alleviate the burden on the providers. The third reason is under-investment in primary care and social services that could be better determinants of health issues. The primary caregivers struggle to provide healthcare by receiving information from experts and clinics that make the process of continuous, coordinated care more intricate. Improvements in chronic disease outcomes are observed if doctors and policymakers give attention to better housing, visiting localities, and guaranteeing food deliveries to distant areas.
New Direction That Healthcare Industry Should Consider
The new direction that the healthcare industry should consider is changes in the workforce and their professional demands. Technology has now altered the way things operate in every field, especially healthcare, since the healthcare workforce, particularly nurses who are known to be holding an undeniable significance as they are the first contact points for patients. According to several investigations, nurse intervention has helped in patient health outcomes. The industry should consider these nurses' training for becoming familiar with technology and applications to encourage e-health. Almost 68% of the U.S. workforce has mentioned they would prefer remote working (Vogenberg & Santilli, 2018), which is conducive to implementing technology and distant healthcare services for the patients.
Recommendations for the U.S.'s Right Plan of Healthcare
Healthcare must be treated as a human right since only then will the country be committed to providing healthcare with excellence. According to their affordability, the U.S. should give the patients choice and control for choosing healthcare services (White House, 2020). The healthcare insurance policies would be presented to them, but the coverage options should be free. Healthcare savings plans and dropping costs by offering low priced drugs would be another initiative for American patients.
Administration in rural communities should be transformed so that a large part of the population that belongs to the lower-income class should get affordable and quality healthcare. Healthcare should emphasize hiring a culturally component workforce so that when international disasters occur, the workforce should provide healthcare without any barriers of language, culturally inappropriate beliefs and customs, and the inability to maintain trust between the medical caregivers and the patients.
Debate on ACA
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) intends to offer maximum healthcare facilities to the American people by making healthcare insurance more reachable. It also protects those who are already insured. The current American government believes that the previous administration started non-elderly people who were not covered by health insurance were in danger of pre-defined conditions of illnesses (White House, 2020). Only 2.7% of the people were given healthcare insurance, whereas the existing laws and regulations were already enacted for better sustenance in this regard. ACA was also criticized for failures like doubling of healthcare insurance charges from the years 2013 to 2017. The choice of insurers, coverage, and provider networks was limited, which affected the number of deductibles. ACA's inability to fulfill the promises and the disappointing results of federal taxpayers left the American workers with gigantic bills. There are future projections that the Congressional Budget Office would be priced over $1.8 trillion in the coming years due to the ACA's faults and follies.
Objective Opinion of Healthcare Future
The overall objective opinion of the future of healthcare is vested in technology. If appropriate measures are taken to incorporate technology aligned with the country's healthcare policies and goals, patients will get maximized quality care, that is, too, at their fingertips. This does include the challenge of training the workforce and the patients, especially the older ones, to learn the use of smartphones and the installed applications. Technology would keep the patients and the staff informed of the updated healthcare information and would not have to travel far to reach hospitals and get personalized care, whereas this would be possible at homes without wasting any time. The relations among patients and the doctors would equate based on speedy and inexpensive means of healthcare delivery and valid explanations for diseases.
References
Allen-Duck, A., Robinson, J.C. & Stewart, M.W. (2017). Healthcare quality: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum, 52(4), 377-386. DOI: 10.1111/nuf.12207
Garson, A. & Levin, S.A. (2001). Ten 10-year trends for the future of healthcare: Implications for academic health centers. The Ochsner Journal, 3(1), 10-15.
Khazan, O. (2018, June 22). The 3 reasons the U.S. healthcare system in the worst. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/06/the-3-reasons-the-us-healthcare-system-is-the-worst/563519/
Pindus, N.M. & Greiner, A. (1997). The effects of healthcare industry changes on health care workers and quality of patient care: Summary of literature and research. Urban Institute for U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/67096/407308-The-Effects-of-Health-Care-Industry-Changes-on-Health-Care-Workers-and-Quality-of-Patient-Care.pdf
Strang, K.D. & Sun, Z. (2019). Hidden big data analytics issues in the healthcare industry. Health Informatics Journal, 26(2), 981-998. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458219854603
Vogenberg, F.R. & Santilli, J. (2018). Healthcare Trends for 2018. American Health and Drug Benefits, 11(1), 48-54.
White House. (2020. September 24). Executive order on an America-first healthcare plan. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-america-first-healthcare-plan/