Forces of Healthcare Numerous Forces Have Changed

Forces of Healthcare

Numerous forces have changed the way healthcare has developed. Rising healthcare costs, service fragmentation, variable access and quality, poor health, high costs for disadvantaged, social and political conflict, infections, chronic diseases, and emotional and behavioral aspects have all been forces in the development of healthcare in the U.S. (Cunningham, 2003). Consumer awareness, high costs of insurance as well as health services, and chronic illness have been major contributors to the way healthcare has developed over time.

Consumer awareness has raised questions to the service quality of healthcare, more especially compared to the rising costs of the services. As a result, healthcare institutions are being challenged with the way healthcare services get delivered to the patient. Consumers are now more aware of healthcare standards and the way illness should be treated, which challenges the healthcare system in the way that service is delivered in treatment settings. This includes the way a patient situation is handled by medical staff, the medications being administered, and the expertise of the professionals.

Rising healthcare costs are causing a higher insurance cost, which in turn, is causing millions of people to remain uninsured because of the affordability of the insurance to pay for healthcare. Uninsured persons have a lower access to quality healthcare and results in poor health from not being able to access treatment options. This causes a high cost to the disadvantaged patient population and higher illness rates that the healthcare system has to address overall. The higher the rate of an illness, the more force it puts on the healthcare system development.

Chronic illnesses have also been a force in the way healthcare has developed. For example, diabetes causes dysfunction of the bladder that retains urine and is life threatening to the patient. Diabetics can reach a need for dialysis in order to function and live. The dialysis treatments are performed by technology operated by dialysis professionals. Heart diseases have also become treatable through technology in monitoring heart rhythms.

Consumer awareness, rising healthcare costs, and chronic illnesses will continue to be forces of development for the healthcare system. Consumers are becoming more aware of illness and treatment options over time. Healthcare costs are continuing to rise and affects the costs of insurance, which also affects the affordability of the insurance as a payment option for care. As the population rises, so do the issues with chronic illness and the behaviors of the population that affect the illnesses.

Obama care, the federally mandated healthcare system, has become a major force in the development of healthcare and will continue to be a major force in the next decades. Because the legislation places caps on insurance, it will affect the healthcare system in ways that care is delivered, raise insurance rates to consumers, and cause uninsured persons to pay penalties for no insurance coverage on federal tax returns. It also introduces programs for the disadvantaged population to obtain healthcare coverage that will help pay for their care. Even though the legislation is not yet completely understood, it affects consumers, businesses who provide health benefits to employees, insurance companies, and health institutions.

Technology has become a major force in the development of the healthcare system. Technology delivers cure, medications, diagnostic procedures, and health information to professionals and consumers (Singh, 2013). Technology helps to provide early treatment, intensifies accuracy percentile in surgery and operations process, stores detail of data for more accurate patient care, medicinal administration, and provides higher competency. Technology has shaped the way that healthcare gets delivered to millions of patients. It has helped in delivering medications to patients through intravenous injections where patients receive medications that are not for home use. Dialysis technology has helped treat diabetics who have had bladder shutdown due to the diabetes illness. Heart patients have an array of technology in the way of pacemakers to keep the heart working, technology that monitors the heart rate and function of the heart, and heart surgeries. Technology, such as the MRI, X-ray, etc., has helped in the diagnosis of conditions and illness. Robots are assisting surgeons in performing various surgical procedures that have proven accuracy and less infection from procedures.

Information technology has shaped the way that data is retained in patient records that show histories, diagnosis, treatments, and other information that helps to give timely and accurate care to patients as they need it. Information technology is set up with detailed information that is useful when patients have to return to providers. With consumer awareness and cyber-attacks on the rise, information technology has become a bigger force in the development of healthcare because of government mandates to protect patient information from being used by hackers to obtain healthcare under other patients.