Healthcare Essays (Examples)

Health Care Law Ethics

Healthcare

Health Care Law Ethics

Health care over the years has become one of the most important debates to take place within the United States of America. This fact holds particularly true for the major part of the Obama Administrations whose New Health Care policies has been criticized extremely (Zhi Qu, 2010). The world, however, is still waiting for the final curtain to rise and to witness the climax which would be a while since the complete form of the plan will be implemented in the year 2014. The full effect of the Bill therefore is still something that will be witnessed in the near future but that doesn't mean that the criticism with regards to the bill is going to subside anytime soon.

The Center that has been presented in this situation, which functions under the heading of "The North Florida Women's Center" has been defined as a not…… [Read More]

Healthcare Issues Systems and Policies America Once

Healthcare Issues, Systems, And Policies

America, once the global leader in the health of its population and among the nations with the highest quality and most readily available healthcare services, has now fallen behind almost twenty other countries, including some that only became industrialized in the last third of the 20th century, and with substantial assistance from the United States. While most other so-called "First-World" nations have already embraced several fundamental concepts that appear to be the most efficient trends in modern healthcare delivery, the U.S. is still mired in problems associated with the failed model that is responsible for the continuing decline of healthcare quality (on the scale of entire populations), availability, and (especially) affordability. That is not necessarily completely, but largely, a function of a systemic failure in contemporary American politics: private-sector lobbying of elected public officials who actually write legislation.

Population Growth and Demographic Issues

With respect…… [Read More]

Healthcare Must Be Provided by the Government to All Citizens Who Cannot Afford the Cost

Health Care

As human beings, our health and longevity have never been better. Many people today live to 100 years and beyond, and often in good and active health. One of the major reasons for this is better health care and more access to health care for more people. On the other hand, however, many people do not have access to the same health care services as others. Often, the main barrier is funding. In many cases, people cannot afford a certain level of health care because of its rising costs. Others cannot afford the insurance levels required to cover their health care needs, often with fatal consequences. The major challenge here is that officials need to recognize that human beings all have certain rights. Indeed, surely the right to life should be among the rights to pursue happiness and the like. Health care goes hand in hand with this.…… [Read More]

Healthcare Economics Overall Healthcare and Economics Healthcare

Healthcare Economics

Overall Healthcare And Economics

Healthcare economics: Current challenges from a nursing perspective

Although the subject of healthcare economics has been hotly-debated, on one issue there is widespread agreement: the aging of the population will substantively increase the demand for healthcare in the near and far future. As the population worldwide is aging and living longer, the need for essential services over a longer lifespan will generate more costs for an already-beleaguered healthcare system. "Just under a decade ago, senior citizens accounted for only 12% of the American population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2050, that figure is expected to grow to 21%" (Can the U.S. meet the aging population's healthcare needs, 2013, Wharton). A larger percentage of the population will thus be on Medicare, the federal government insurance program for the elderly -- which tends to compensate physicians at a lower rate of reimbursement than private…… [Read More]

Health Care System There Are

With that in mind, even more changes will be coming to the planet in the near future. Even within the next 10 years, those changes are going to become more obvious and the health of people who are ingesting these chemicals and modified foods will likely begin to decline. When that gets coupled with the obesity epidemic, there will be a generation that will not live as long as their parents did (Simmons, 2009). This will be the first time that has happened, and obviously is not the way the U.S. population wants to go with longevity numbers and health issues. It is possible to make changes to avoid these kinds of problems, but so far nothing is being done to make those changes and soon it will be past the time to do anything differently.

Technology is highly important in health care, and will continue to play a role…… [Read More]

Health Care Professionals Healthcare Professionals the Paper

Health Care Professionals

Healthcare professionals

The paper is based on the healthcare professionals. It starts by analyzing the reasons why there may be physician shortage rather than a surplus in the United States. The paper as well analyses the factors that contribute to the nursing shortage in the U.S. And the roles of health professionals within the health care system. Lastly it covers the roles of a health service administrator within health care system of U.S.

There are various reasons why there may be a shortage of physicians rather than a surplus in the United State: In 1990s the main concepts was that physicians were to be trained in numbers that were much greater than the demand for medical care in the U.S. could support. Mixed reaction came from different corners, as majority recommended cutting down of about 20 to 25% of the physician-generating capacity of the country, a section…… [Read More]

Healthcare Information Technology Electronic Medical Record User

Healthcare Information Technology

Electronic Medical ecord:

User friendliness is among the significant factors- probably the most essential factor- hampering extensive usage of Electronic Medical ecord EMs in respiratory therapy within my organization. User friendliness features a powerful, usually direct connection with my organization's efficiency, error level, operator exhaustion and operator satisfaction- are all essential elements for EM usage. Moreover, within my organization, it's been observed that efficient coaching and execution techniques impact user adoption of EM rates also, but coaching is both tougher and much pricier, and execution is a lot more complicated and challenging when user friendliness is missing. It has proven challenging for espiratory therapists to gauge EM user friendliness as part involving the purchase procedure for a number of factors. Correct evaluation by buyers has resulted in-depth research inside our organization utilizing new abilities (HIMSS, 2009).

Two Organizations:

SAMHSA has worked to improve use of health information…… [Read More]

Health Care Information System the Study Looks

Health Care Information System

The study looks into the importance of health care information system and its latest innovation system. In this paper, I also analyze various innovated health care system which improves the delivery of services to patients. IT further looks at the case study of hospital or clinic which already using the said system. In this case the study looked at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and its pros and cons, then make a recommendation to the community health care management for adoption.

Information Technology (IT) is the best avenue, with a great potential to improve quality, safety and efficiency of Health care in the community. However, Health care information system (HCIS) can be defined as the gathering of programs and procedures, which can enable data entry, storage and the use of health care and administrative data about the patients, health care workers, health institution and other institutions connected…… [Read More]

Health Care Systems Over the Last Several

Health Care Systems

Over the last several years, America's health care system has been undergoing a tremendous amount of changes. At the heart of these transformations is the role of the federal government in regulating the delivery of various services. For some this is troubling, as it will lead to a larger form of socialized medicine. This is when consumers will have less choice and the underlying quality will decrease. While others think that the government can protect consumers and negotiate lower prices for everyone. These contrasting views are highlighting how America's health care system is a combination of government and private entities working together. To fully understand what is taking place requires looking at: the definition of the health care system, the impact of beliefs / values, providing examples of models for health care delivery and explaining how these areas are used in the U.S. Together, these different elements…… [Read More]

Healthcare Disparities Race Related

Health Care Disparities ace elated

Healthcare disparities

Serial number

Socioeconomic status and health

Correlation between socioeconomic status and race

Health insurance and health

Who are the uninsured people?

Causes of health care disparities

Suggestions for better health care system

The latest studies have shown that in spite of the steady developments in the overall health of the United States, racial and ethnic minorities still experience an inferior quality of health services and are less likely to receive routine medical testing which contributes to disease and even death. This research paper will seek to answer the question as to why there is race related disparity in health care and what we can do to improve the health care for those affected due to their race.

Health Care Disparities ace elated

esearch Methodology:

A comprehensive survey was conducted in both public and private sector of the United States health care system in…… [Read More]

Health Care One of the Most Contentious

Health Care

One of the most contentious social issues in the United States today is the debate over the responsibility of the state to provide basic health care services for its people. Normal Daniels argues that "if social obligations to provide appropriate health care are not met, then individuals are definitely wronged. Injustice is done to them." The essence of Daniels' argument is correct. This paper will extend Daniels' argument using philosophical tradition. I believe that there is a social obligation to provide appropriate health care for people.

Plan

In this essay, I will summarize Daniels' argument, lend it support using a range of philosophical traditions and will address the most critical counterargument against the provision of health care by the state. Daniels' argument can be rooted a utilitarianism or deontological ethics with equal strength. His proposition that libertarian philosophy also supports universal health care is weaker, and indeed the…… [Read More]

Healthcare System of Norway Health Policy of

Healthcare System of Norway

Health Policy of Norway

Analysis of Health Policy

Pressures on Health Care Delivery

High Cost

Ageing Population

Increased Diseases

Waiting-time Prioritization

The healthcare systems are developed to provide necessary healthcare facilities. It is also aimed to maintain health of their citizen in compliance with the state and international regulations. Norway is considered as one of the country, holding prominent place in global economy as well as growth rate and per capita income (Pontusson2011). It is also observed that the country is also similar to other states in Scandinavian region governed on the principles of a welfare state. In such context the importance of healthcare policies and systems is increased. The research is focused to investigate the policies, regulations, and healthcare system of Norway. The impacts of these polices are also reviewed in analysis and discussion sections. Finally the conclusion is formulated on the basis of secondary…… [Read More]

Healthcare Spending the United States Health Care

Healthcare Spending

The United States Health Care System is probably the worst organized system. It expends double than other developed countries on health care system but face worse outcomes. The Government is running healthcare programs but still lagging behind the rest of industrial world. The healthcare expenditures are rising year by year with no significant outcomes.

Current National Health Expenditures

The national health care expenditures of United States have increased at an alarming rate since the past decade and it is still growing at a rate of 10% every year. According to the recent statistics, U.S. expend more than any industrial country on healthcare systems that is about $2 trillion or $8,000 per person but still unable to provide quality health care. These expenditures accounts 17% share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is expected to reach at 21% by 2020.

According to the report of Organization for Economic…… [Read More]

Health Care in the U S and Spain

Health Care in the U.S. And Spain

What Can the U.S. Learn About Health Care from Spain?

In 2009, Spain's single-payer health care system was ranked the seventh best in the world by the World Health Organization (Socolovsky, 2009). By comparison, the U.S. health care system ranted at 37 (Satiroglou, 2009). The Spanish system offers coverage as a right of citizenship that is constitutionally guaranteed. Spanish residents pay no expenses out-of-pocket, with the exception of a few select services. They do pay for drug costs themselves and many complain about long waits to see specialists to get certain procedures. However, on average the Spanish health care system ranks better than that of the United States in many categories. Almost everyone is an agreement that the U.S. health care system is in need of serious reform. However, deciding exactly what these reform should be as a point of contention among providers,…… [Read More]

Healthcare Bill the Economic Resource

787,000 young Americans were added to the population of insured individuals, indicating a concentration on resource penetration in this specific population subset.

Administrative Impact:

The administrative implications of the Affordable Care Act are considerable and revolve mostly around the enormous undertaking of extending health coverage to a far wider number of Americans. In the text provided by Collins, we are given a sense that the primary objective of the Act is to provide public support for coverage to those currently disenfranchised by healthcare costs. Collins indicates that "the law's most significant coverage provisions will begin in 2014, with a substantial expansion in Medicaid eligibility that will cover adults earning up to 133% of the poverty level, or $29,726 for a family of four, as well as subsidized private coverage, available through new state insurance exchanges, for families earning up to 400% of poverty, or $89,400 for a family of four."…… [Read More]

Healthcare Finance Efficiency and Effectiveness Three Perspectives

Healthcare Finance

Efficiency and Effectiveness: Three Perspectives

Define and describe efficiency and effectiveness. hat are the differences between efficiency and effectiveness? How can a healthcare organization use this information?

Efficiency refers to the accomplishment of a task or a set of tasks in the most economical fashion, both in terms of time spent and resources utilized. By contrast, effectiveness refers to the ambition of achieving the best possible results from completion of a task or a set of tasks. hat they have in common is that they are both critical dimensions of the provision of healthcare. However, there may be some imbalance in how they are applied.

This is shown in an article by Treven (2012) which indicates that some healthcare practitioners view effectiveness and efficiency as being at odds with one another. According to Treven, "the author of a recent NY Times opinion article, Gilbert elch, argues that we…… [Read More]

Health Care Industry in the Last 10

Health Care Industry

In the last 10 years, health care has changed dramatically. Technology has taken over in many ways, and a lot of doctors now have their patients' records all stored electronically (St. Sauver, et al., 2013). While convenient, there are risks. Another way health care has changed over the last decade is through the survival rates for things like cancer and heart disease (Tulenko, 2009). These are still serious and life threatening illnesses, but many more people are living through them today because of the advances in treatments, medications, and technology that have made it easier to prevent and treat specific diseases and conditions. It is fascinating to see how well something can be addressed today that only a decade ago might have been a diagnosis with little to no hope attached to it. Doctors and nurses play big roles in health care, but there has also been…… [Read More]

Health Care Teams and Collaboration

Health Care Teams and Collaboration

Delivery system of a health system depends on numerous interfaces and multiple practitioners. There are different health care practitioners in a health care institution depending on their field of practice and their level of education. During a four-day period in a health care institution, a patient may have a chance to interact with 50 different employees of the institution. These employees are nurses, physicians, technical staff and others. For efficiency of nursing practice, critical information communications need to be accurate and precise. Therefore, this means that team communication and collaboration are essential. If teams in a healthcare organization do not communicate, the patients are at risk of injury or death due to poor care (eeves, Zwarenstein & Goldman, 2009). Lack of a clear communication structure in the institution may result to medical errors. A medical error may occur because of lack of critical information or…… [Read More]

healthcare and immigration policy

Definition and Description of the Issue
Health policy and immigration policy are interconnected, as attitudes towards immigrants—especially those who are undocumented—have impacted the substantive content of healthcare policies like the Affordable Care Act. Similarly, immigration policies have been influenced by real or imaginary threats immigrants may pose to public health or public health spending. Political and economic expediency guides both health and immigration policy, whereas frontline healthcare workers including nurses have a direct ethical and professional responsibility to patients regardless of immigration status. Effective public policy blends the ethic of duty to care with an honest evaluation of budgetary constraints and evidence-based practice. As much as possible, immigrant-related health policy ignores emotionally laden and fallacious rhetorical arguments.
Background
Since the nineteenth century, healthcare and immigration policy have been inextricably linked. New immigrants have been blamed for public health problems and for burdening the public health budget, and have also been…… [Read More]

Healthcare Organizational Culture Structure Leadership

A healthcare organization has both formal and informal structures that occasionally conflict with one another. Formally, this healthcare organization is approaching that of a service line. It is flatter than a traditional hierarchy, with several of the bureaucratic layers removed. Yet there is a senior leadership team with official, formal authority, presiding over different departments and work groups. Wadsworth (2017) in fact recommends a similar organizational structure and design for focused healthcare organizations like this one, in which performance metrics need to be integrated with issues like billing and reimbursements, patient satisfaction data, marketing, and human resources. There are some ad hoc elements to this organization’s planning procedures, but generally the service line design does help the eldercare institution achieve its goals and objectives.
As a service line structure, the healthcare organization has both centralized and decentralized decision-making processes. Some key decisions are centralized, with little if any input gleaned…… [Read More]

Healthcare Administration and Financial Decision Making for Management

Part 1:
Describe the role of analytics in healthcare. How does HIT support or hinder this?
Thanks to today’s advances in technology, the relevance of analytics in healthcare cannot be overstated. As a matter of fact, Cornelius (2015) points out that “advances in technology have enabled the medical community to generate and capture more data than ever before” (p. 95). In essence, analytics in healthcare has got to do with the utilization of the available (and relevant) data, i.e. patient data, to derive meaningful as well as actionable insights. The said data is often obtained from EMRs/EHRs.
In basic terms, it is via analytics that both structured and unstructured data is transformed into information that is not only meaningful, but also useful as far as the further enhancement of the efficiency of services offered in a healthcare setting is concerned. In the final analysis, therefore, analytics come in handy in…… [Read More]

Healthcare Reform and Legislation Today

Regulation of food and drug safety is such an accepted part of Americans’ daily lives, it is easy to forget that people did not always enjoy this security. The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act regulated the types of drugs which could be legally sold in the United States as well as prohibited food tampering and adulteration (Glass 2014). The Act’s passage ensured that proper testing is necessary to show that drugs are both safe and effective. Today, the process by which drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) remains controversial. Many scientists allege that the process is too easy, particularly when trials are sponsored by powerful pharmaceutical companies.
While the 21st Century Cures Act was designed to streamline FDA approval, its critics have alleged that it will “weaken already weak rules for device approval that have led to thousands of complaints” (Loria, 2016, par.32). Even before the…… [Read More]

Health care and evidence based practice

Evidence Based Practice (EBP) and the health care in US hospitals
The concept of EBP is founded on the evidently sufficient research on how to safely handle health conditions such as heart failure, asthma and diabetes among other conditions. The challenge however is, even in the face of the numerous research conducted which focus on the patients, there is still a wide gap between research and the implementation. This gap is what EBP seeks to address with the ultimate aim of making health care safe and efficient for the patients. By putting into practice what has been research, a significant impact can be made in the life of the patients as has been the history and practice of nursing from the times of nursing practice pioneers such as Florence Nightingale. In a nutshell, EBP is the judicious and contentious utilization of the current best evidence in conjunction with patient values…… [Read More]

Healthcare Disparities

Healthcare Disparities: Minority Populations
Introduction
The United States is a major world power and a major industrialized nation. Despite this fact, its healthcare system does not provide universal access to care, in stark contrast to most other affluent world powers. Some citizens have access to highly comprehensive insurance through their employers while others do not. Certain low-income individuals qualify for either subsidized insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or for Medicaid, the state-administered healthcare insurance program for the poor that is partially federally funded. The disparate ways in which healthcare insurance is provided in the United States often results in highly disparate allocations of care to individuals. But even when patients have insurance, cultural, linguistic, and psychological barriers can further exacerbate equal access to care for minority populations.
Definition
The existence of healthcare disparities in the United States has been well-documented. Not only are certain illnesses such as diabetes…… [Read More]

Healthcare in America and How to Change

Until roughly around the 1980s, the United States remained at the forefront of healthcare by most metrics such as life expectancy and infant mortality. From the 1980s onward, most population health statistics have declined considerably to the point where Americans live shorter lives than those in much poorer countries like Greece, Cuba, and Chile (Galea, 2017). Yet healthcare spending remains exorbitant, with Americans by far outspending their counterparts around the world. The reasons why American health has declined is due to a number of interrelated contextual variables. The healthcare system itself is not to blame; it remains among the world’s best and most advanced, with truly remarkable tools, technologies, and techniques at the disposal of most Americans. Sure, poverty and affordable healthcare remains one of the most significant barriers to achieving population health goals, but America’s failing bill of health is also related to broader social and political issues. The…… [Read More]

Health care and Nursing Information'systems

Introduction
The advent of advanced communication technology platforms such as smartphones and social media sites has made global communication fast and effective. Seamless flow and exchange of information has been quite fundamental in the growth of business, consumer insight about various products available in the market etc. Generally the innovations in communication technology have had a serious impact on every sector of the economy including healthcare, manufacturing, sales, government etc. Close to 74% of the people who access and use the internet and 80% of the people who use social media sites actually use the platforms to research about medical information, news, hospitals, and doctors (HCP, 2018). The social media is a powerful communication tool on general healthcare. It is impactful in the creation of professional networks and in the sharing of experiences. This said though giving and sharing excessive information through social media platforms may cause devastating consequences on…… [Read More]

Healthcare Administration Hospital Management

Healthcare management often entails resolving communications crises and disputes. For a hospital to operate efficiently and effectively, the organization needs to cultivate and maintain harmonious relationships between governance, medical staff, administrative staff, and boards of trustees. Often it seems like these disparate stakeholders are pulling in opposite directions, but nothing could be farther from the truth. When all members of the organization are on the same page, they can work together to achieve common goals. Often the job for the administrator is to discover the common ground between disparate members of the organization and work hard to ameliorate tension.
The factors that can contribute to tension between members of the organization often have to do with finances and/or budget allocations. Medical staff pushes for the latest tools, technologies, and interventions that can help patients, but the hospital may be facing a budgetary crisis. Yet financial disputes come down to differential…… [Read More]

Health Care Issues

Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Healthcare Organizations
As Almost, Wolff, Stewar-Pyne et al. (2016) point out, providing quality care to patients depends upon nurses operating in an environment that is positive and where there are “collaborative working relationships among healthcare team members” (p. 1490). When stressors negatively impact the workplace, communication can breakdown, conflict can arise and role ambiguity can become a problem. Managers can play an effective part in addressing the issues of role conflict and ambiguity in order to keep the workplace environment stress-free so that nurses and healthcare team members can cooperate, collaborate and communicate effectively. The best way to do this, according to Almost et al. (2016) is to develop an organizational culture in which roles are clearly and precisely defined and delineated so that workers know their places, their duties, and the methods by which they are expected to achieve organizational objectives.
Olivares-Faundez, Gil-Monte, Mena…… [Read More]

Competing Demands for Healthcare Interests

Conflicts of interest abound in healthcare, presenting major ethical and legal problems. With the exception of insurer-owned healthcare institutions, hospital owners and insurance providers often have competing or conflicting interests. For the most part, though, managing costs is a tremendous concern for both parties. Hospital owners or administrators might be driven more by issues related to overall patient outcomes, human resources management, and organizational culture, whereas insurers frequently seek methods of denying care to better manage their own costs and promote profitability. Insurance companies are generally more transparently profit-driven, with healthcare institutions sometimes claiming to be driven more by the motive to provide care to patients at whatever costs. However, ethically motivated healthcare institutions are becoming less common in the United States as purely for profit institutions have come to dominate the healthcare landscape (Grey, 1986). Healthcare administration education programs have failed to provide competency measures ensuring that the leaders…… [Read More]

American Healthcare System and Affordable Care Act

Issues Driving Change in Healthcare

Healthcare is driven by policy changes like those embedded in the Affordable Care Act, by shifting social norms and attitudes towards healthcare, and by demographic changes such as the aging population. The Affordable Care Act was revolutionary in that it mandated universal coverage but still fell short of transforming the ethos of a market-driven healthcare system. As a result, the Affordable Care Act did not lead to appreciable changes in insurance structuring. The Affordable Care Act did, however, instigate a new dialogue about the ethics, role, and function of healthcare in America. Social norms also drive change in the healthcare system. In fact, the Affordable Care Act itself helped change social norms and values, helping more Americans understand the importance of improved efficiency and reducing healthcare disparities. As social norms and values change, it may be possible to imagine a future in which Americans no…… [Read More]

Barriers to Health Care in Rural Areas

Hughes, A., Watanabe-Galloway, S., Schnell, P., & Soliman, A. (2015) studied the differences in colorectal screening between rural-urban in Nebraska. Their investigation into the reasons behind this gap indicated a few differences, some of which were not of the expected variety. The authors found that rural residents were more likely to believe that colorectal cancer cannot be prevented, and thus they did not feel screening was worthwhile. A higher percentage of rural residents also indicated that cost was a barrier, as well as things like perceived embarrassment, perceived unpleasantness were indicators found more frequently among rural residents. The study indicates that there are definitely some cultural factors that speak to the rural-urban divide. However, they also found that people with a personal doctor had a higher rate of receiving screenings. This indicates that physician density can also play a role – people without a doctor are more likely to not…… [Read More]

State versus Federal Healthcare Exchange

Health Insurance Exchange: State versus Federal
According to Goldstein (2018), ever since the ACA has been in effect, states with their own healthcare exchanges have fared significantly better than those who simply rely upon the federal exchange. States have greater flexibility in advertising directly to potential enrollees and can extend the signup period. The local flexibility also means that consumers can receive more personalized help, given that state exchanges are only responsible for informing a smaller pool of individuals about the confusing process of signing up and selecting insurance (Goldstein, 2018). On the other hand, it is also important to be realistic about the extent of a state exchange to fundamentally help consumers. State exchanges cannot ignore federal requirements that insurance policies must meet certain stipulated standards and have mandatory enrollment, regardless of consumers’ preexisting conditions.
As a result, premiums are expected to go up, regardless, and there are fears…… [Read More]

Telehealth technologies and Healthcare Informatics

Healthcare Informatics: Tele-health technologies
1) Tele-health technologies represent a sub-division of healthcare information technology which aid in delivering long-distance health education, public health, clinical care, health administration and relevant information. They encompass hardware as well as software and enhance general system efficacy through the maximization of individual practitioner productivity and elimination of geographical care obstacles. Perhaps the most ideal use of tele-health technology is real-time interactions, where patients and practitioners located at different places interact via audio- and video-enabled devices. Providers and patients may also be located at the same place, interacting via such virtual-connect technologies (e.g., videoconferencing) with a remotely-located expert. Such appointments facilitate on-going care via one’s routine physician without needing in-person appointments (Chiron health, 2017).
2) Taking into account extant tele-health options and approaches for assessing systemic implementation plans with regard to advantages and disadvantages in primary care facilities, the ideal choice is audio- and video-enabled devices.…… [Read More]

The Expansion of Urgent Care to Fix Healthcare in America

While Obamacare sought to improve so many of the issues plaguing healthcare in America, it also played a part in making the problem worse and more complex. Health insurance premiums rose, making the monthly fees for health insurance an extravagance for so many people. The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index showed that 11.7% of Americans did not have health insurance as of the second quarter of this year, which is a 0.8% increase from the last quarter of 2016: this means that 2 million Americans appear to have dropped their coverage during this interim (Backman, 2017). This comes as no surprise, since health insurance was becoming more and more expensive: “…premiums rose significantly across the board this year for those who don't qualify for federal subsidies, and many folks just couldn't afford them. Furthermore, a large number of insurers pulled out of the open exchange, leaving consumers with a narrower range of…… [Read More]

Financing Healthcare A Consumer's Perspective

How would you rank the various forms of health care financing by consumers? Which characteristics of health insurance are most important to customers?

While some nations such as the United Kingdom have a single, national health insurance system funded by the government, the United States has embraced a hybrid system in which financing encompasses private insurance, government-provided insurance, and self-financing (Trivedi 2017). Individuals may receive healthcare coverage as part of employer-provided benefits or they may purchase such plans themselves and pay a monthly premium. Private health insurance companies include both for-profit and nonprofit entities. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) placed additional limits upon private insurance companies such as prohibiting them from barring individuals based upon preexisting health conditions and limiting how much variation can exist in terms of the premiums other than factors such as geographic area, age, and tobacco use (Trivedi 2017). Despite these protections, many consumers still struggle…… [Read More]

Analyzing Health Care Cost

Health Care Cost and Quality Analysis
Introduction
Healthcare is significantly costly within the United States. Recent research studies have indicated that there is no correlation between health care cost and quality. For instance, despite the fact that there has been a significant increase in spending in the United States, the per capita spending projections are just about 200 percent higher compared to other developed nations. Regardless being top globally in terms of costs, the U.S is ranked 26th with respect to life expectancy and is also poorly rates on other healthcare quality indicators (Burke and Ryan, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to analyze one public agency and one private agency, delineate their roles and major activities in addressing cost and quality in healthcare, their current and projected initiatives and the implications they have for nursing.
Roles and Major Activities in Addressing Cost and Quality
Different agencies in the…… [Read More]

Regulatory Standards in Beverley Rehabilitation and Health Care Center

The role of regulation in nursing practice cannot be overstated. Towards this end, there are various regulatory agencies that provide guidelines as well as standards for various practice settings. For my practice setting, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) remains a key regulatory agency. HHS concerns itself with not only the protection of the health of the American public, but also the provision of services deemed essential. More specifically, HHS highlights its mission as “to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans” (HHS, 2018). According to HHS, under Congress’ authority, agencies create laws from time to time with an aim of assisting the government to execute its public policy. In essence, my area of focus is infection control and prevention.
It is important to note that as various studies have indicated in the past, one of the most significant threats to the safety as…… [Read More]

leadership and the effect on health care quality

Quality Health
If I were to assume the CEO position and recommend someone for the Chief Quality officer, being a position that predominantly deals with quality data collection and handling, a background knowledge and experience in the clinical sector would be of requisite importance. The individual also needs to have a comfortable knowledge in technology and IT since he is an individual who will be interacting with the technology department staff quite often. At a personal level, the individual needs to be a team player and a team builder. He needs to be a coach who is able to handle emotionally charged challenges and the adverse events. A person with knowledge in the business administration would also be instrumental in ensuring the CQO position is filed in with the most qualified person.
Unintended consequences of the use of electronic documentation tools
In as much as the electronic documentation is meant…… [Read More]

limitations of'studies in healthcare

Introduction
In any academic study, there are inevitably going to be limitations to the study that have to be taken into account when evaluating the results of the study. The authors are supposed to build these limitations into their conclusions, but if they do not then the reader must. Therefore, it is important to understand what the limitations of any given study are, and how they might have influenced the results.
Britz & Dunn
Britz & Dunn (2009) studied the relationship between self-care and quality of life. The authors begin with the hypothesis that decreased quality of life among patients with heart failure arise from self-care deficits. In other words, if people don't look after themselves the don't do as well. So, rocket science, but okay.
The limitation of this study are listed by the authors as having a small sample size and the potential homogeneity of the sample. These…… [Read More]

Affordable Healthcare for Hispanic immigrants

As Block, Bustamante, de la Sierra and Cardoso (2014) point out, there are more than 12 million Mexican immigrants in the U.S. who have no realistic access to affordable care, as nearly half of them are uninsured. Indeed, access to quality care is next to impossible for all groups with a low-socioeconomic background (Sherrill, Crew, Mayo et al., 2005). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was meant to provide greater access to care for low income populations; however, it “does not address lack of insurance for some immigrants, and the excluded groups are a large proportion of the Mexican–American community” (Block et al., 2014, p. 179). Block et al. (2014) suggest that the solution to this problem should be an innovative new form of health insurance coverage, such as bi-national health insurance—but they note that their research indicates such a concept is unlikely to find traction among an overwhelming majority of…… [Read More]

Changes in Healthcare Aligning with Organizational Values

Planning and Implementing Change in Healthcare:
Creating a Mentoring Program
One of the most common problems on all nursing units is the tendency of nurses to “eat their young,” or to be highly critical of younger and less experienced nurses. Given the need to recruit and retain new nurses to address the deficit of retiring nurses and to ensure that currently employed nurses are not overburdened and overworked, addressing this issue is particularly pressing. The proposed change is to institute a mentoring program to facilitate dialogue between new hires and existing staff. This will increase goodwill, improve training and communication, and reduce errors, thus hopefully reducing the phenomenon of nurses “eating their young.”
Proposed Change
To remedy the problem, it is necessary to address the root cause or phenomenon. “In most cases, nurse bullying is the result of ineffective communication and coping skills in a high stakes environment,” (Katz, 2014,…… [Read More]

Technology and Healthcare Choices

Summary
The article titled: “Can Technology Improve Healthcare Decisions?” details the importance of making decisions and how technology impacts decision-making. Specifically, the article discusses making personal health decisions and uses the example of wearing a seatbelt to provide a picture of the significance of the process. To make wise personal health decisions, the article uses a basic formula: medical information + your information = wise health decisions (Dugas, 2017). The ‘your information’ aspect involves a person’s beliefs, past experiences, and perspective. People tend to remain in their current path by either choosing the default option given or not choosing an alternative path. Technology can be used to understand the nature of risk, gain information (i.e. physical activity monitor) to make the kinds of informed personal health decisions needed to live a healthy life.
Strength and Validity
Dugas (2017) offers various examples to support his claims that technology can aid in…… [Read More]

The Cost of Healthcare

New staffing legislation would require Medicare-participating hospitals to establish committees consisting of staff nurses who will make decisions regarding unit staffing needs. According to Rothberg, Abraham, Lindenauer and Rose (2005) many states have introduced legislation that would limit the ratio of patients to nurses, meaning that most hospitals would be required to staff more nurses—and as Rothberg et al. (2005) point out, “increased staffing places a considerable financial burden on hospitals” (p. 785). Their study showed that by limiting the number of patients to nurses at 4 to 1, the average cost per life saved was approximately $450,000 and that “as a patient safety intervention, patient-to-nurse ratios of 4:1 are reasonably cost-effective and in the range of other commonly accepted interventions” (Rothberg et al., 2005, p. 785). Everhart, Neff, Al-Amin, Nogle and Weech-Maldonado (2013) found that nursing staff levels impact financial performance in markets where there is a great deal…… [Read More]

Improvement of Existing Healthcare Systems

Open Versus Closed Systems Perspectives: Healthcare Processes
According to Zakus & Bhattacharyya (2007), one of the great paradoxes of modern healthcare is despite the “availability of many cures, treatments, and preventive measures” for both severe and mild ailments, there remains a failure to engage in effective delivery of treatment to patients (p. 278). One possible explanation to this conundrum is that while the actual technology and medical care may be of high quality, the systems which deliver such care are faulty. Systems theory suggests that many of these issues lie in the fact that healthcare organizations are closed rather than open systems. Closed systems are by their very nature impervious to outside influences and determined to maintain standard operating procedures. Although this can ensure consistency, given that healthcare is a field constantly in flux, it is not an effective approach for the long term (Zakus & Bhattacharyya 2007).
In contrast,…… [Read More]

Public versus Private Based Quality Initiatives Healthcare

Although significant progress has been made in the recent past, there is still need to further enhance the effectiveness of the entire healthcare system with an aim of ensuring the delivery of better care. The public sector’s role on this front is more of an overseer as far as quality is concerned in the healthcare setting. In the words of Oliver (2014), “in the absence of a public sector presence in the country’s system for external quality assurance, the private sector will have much wider discretion concerning quality assurance activities” (147). Public-based quality initiatives set the standard for quality assurance activities which is a role that may not be effectively played by the private sector as a result of the potential for conflict of interest. This is more so the case given that the governance as well as sponsorship of quite a number of entities that concern themselves with accreditation…… [Read More]

Aboriginal Health Care Needs and Interaction with Health Care System

Health Care Needs and Interaction with Health Care System
Introduction
Aboriginal persons from the rural and secluded expanses of South Australia together with the Northern Territory are usually forced to travel to hospitals situated in the city in order to gain access to inpatient and outpatient healthcare services in addition to receiving expert care, examinations and investigations that are inaccessible in their individual geographic locations. In addition, their journeys and experiences may be challenging owing to lack of financial support as well as language barrier with English not being their first language (Kelly et al., 2015). Extensive comprehension of the Aboriginal patient experience is a significant element of enhancing the delivery of health care services and welfare for the Aboriginal people. The purpose of this project is to analyze and delineate the experiences of an Aboriginal individual together with their journey as a patient in receiving health care.
Describe the…… [Read More]

primary care clinic and healthcare for veterans

Overview
Working at the Primary Care Clinic at the Veterans’ Administration (VA), nurses are exposed to a range of diagnoses and patient care concerns. The experience helps evolve core competencies in a range of practice areas. The VA calls the Primary Care services “the foundation of VHA healthcare,” as well as the first point of contact with the VA healthcare system for most veterans,” (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,” 2016). Therefore, the clinical environment is varied and challenging, revealing the different ways healthcare providers and nurses establish long-term relationships with patients and coordinate care services across a broad spectrum of needs.
Week 8 Journal
This week, I fulfilled the DNP objectives during clinical practice with the Primary Care Clinic at the VA. Several instances showcased the nurse’s role as patient advocate. Clearly, advocacy plays a critical role in VA healthcare, with nurses increasingly being called upon to help empower patients…… [Read More]

Telemedicine and Health Care

Excessive Wait Times in Healthcare
Literature Review
Excessive wait times in healthcare are a problem for both patients and care providers as they affect patient satisfaction, which in turn impacts the job satisfaction of nurses and other care providers (Chan, 2014). Fatigue and overwork can set in for providers if wait time excesses are not adequately addressed, which can lead to higher turnover rates for professionals and higher costs as a result of recruiting and training new talent (Zbori-Benson, 2016; Dall’Ora, Griffiths & Ball, 2016; Walker, 2017). Wait times can also lead to complications for patients, especially if their conditions worsen, and in cases where patient wait times are especially long, such as in busy urban ERs, patient conditions can quickly become critical unbeknownst to nurses and physicians. This paper will discuss excessive wait times in healthcare and identify how management can address the issue for health care organizations to…… [Read More]

Whistle blowing and Upholding Ethical Principles in Healthcare

In healthcare organizations, ethical principles have been emphasized mostly through procedures and mission statements. The numerous oaths (Hippocratic Oath) and declarations found in healthcare institutions have stated principles and values, and this has formed the basis for ethical practices. The works of such ethical principles include and are not limited to nonmaleficence, beneficence, confidentiality, respect for the autonomy of patients, and justice (Gabel, 2011).
The ethical principles of an organization that I served previously influenced the care of patients negatively because of the frustrations and stress coming from the administrative personnel. Moreover, some of the colleagues who witnessed such unethical practices experienced conflict concerning the said ethical principles and this potentially led to their increase in stress levels, burnout, and demoralization. The professional practices of the organization were also unethical because some of the health care professionals used to derive personal incomes for referring patients to particular laboratories to undergo…… [Read More]

Health Seeking Behaviors Among Different Cultures

Background
The individual is a 26 year-old female living in Bethesda, Maryland. For the purposes of retaining anonymity and privacy, only the person’s initials (MA) will be used to describe her responses to interview questions related to cultural affiliations, values, kinship, religion, and all other elements relevant to the comprehensive cultural assessment. The Andrews & Boyle (2012) cultural assessment framework is used to guide interview questions and analyze responses. Furthermore, MA’s responses will be compared with results of an interview with someone from MA’s family’s country of origin, which is Mexico. MA was the first in her generation to be born in the United States; both her parents were born in Oaxaca, Mexico. Comparing the results of MA’s interview with the results of an interview with her aunt who still lives in Oaxaca enhances the ability of a healthcare worker to provide culturally competent care.
Cultural Affiliations
MA identifies as…… [Read More]

electronic health records drawbacks

Risks Associated with Electronic Health Records
While on the whole, electronic health records (EHRs) are a strong positive for the healthcare industry, and associated with better outcomes, that does not mean they are without risks and drawbacks. For example, there are still security risks associated with EHRs, but the risks are different than the security risks associated with paper records. Cybersecurity is a class unto itself – risks often come as the result of poor password hygiene, but there are other ways for a hacker to get access to health records as well. Poor password hygiene is human error, which when combined with active attempts to gain access to secure health records, leads to a variety of risks including legal ones (Raposo, 2015).
In addition to risks, there are drawbacks. First, because of the need to comply with HIPAA, there are only so many systems for managing EHRs, and these…… [Read More]

Childhood Obesity and the Affordable Care Act ACA

Topic 1: In reviewing the Affordable Care Act, what are the potential effects of the options for insurance coverage in both the private and public sectors? How will this impact the discussion about population-based nursing?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s individual mandate, which demanded that all Americans purchase some form of health insurance if they were not covered by their employer, had a sizeable impact upon dramatically increasing enrollment in healthcare plans. It also had a dramatic effect upon the structure of healthcare plans, since the law placed restrictions on the type of coverage available to Americans that did not exist previously. The expansion of the population covered by insurance, including sicker people who were not able to purchase healthcare before, likewise had a significant impact upon the need for population-based nursing. As more people enroll in healthcare insurance, it is vitally important to draw connections between the needs of…… [Read More]

Evidence-Based Practice In Public Health

Introduction
Evidence-based practice replaces the ambiguities and unfounded assumptions of practices based on anecdotal evidence or intuition. Moreover, evidence-based practices can mitigate the problems associated with cognitive biases. Especially important in the public health sector, evidence-based practices best inform public policy and institutional procedures. However, it is important to operationalize evidence-based practice so that its implementation is standardized across multiple departments and teams. The greatest challenges to evidence-based practices include the time and resources required to compile and then communicate evidence, and resistance to change.
What is Evidence-Based Public Health Practice?
Evidence-based public health practice has been referred to as a “paradigm” that is adopted by “an energetic intellectual community committed to making clinical practice more scientific and empirically grounded and thereby achieving safer, more consistent, and more cost effective care,” (Greenhalgh & Howick, 2014, p. 3725). Within the public health practice setting, evidence-based practice differs from evidence-based practice in…… [Read More]

Canada Health Infoway Change Management Framework

The best change initiative would be to follow the Canada Health Infoway Change Management Framework. This framework identifies six important elements which should characterize any meaningful change initiative (Antwi & Kale, 2014).
Governance and leadership - Leaders are normally in a good position to influence the direction of an organization. If the leaders be effective enough, the priorities and objectives of the organization will be aligned to bring about change.
Stakeholder Engagement - To realize change, it is important that each stakeholder is understood, regarding how committed they are to the cause. This will determine how much each stakeholder is engaged.
Communication - This enables the concerned persons to collect feedback, pass information to stakeholders, cultivate trust and provide progress reports to the group.
Workflow analysis and Integration - This involves a close evaluation of the current way of doing work so as to identify the areas that need improvement…… [Read More]

Counseling Women About Reproductive Health

DNP: PICO Introduction
Information is power in healthcare. This is particularly true in the area of contraception, given that a great deal of misinformation exists in the popular culture and online in relation to women’s sexual health. It is thus vitally important to know how best to teach women about how best to manage their reproductive lives so that they have the maximum amount of autonomy over when and with whom they have children. According to Dehlendorf, Krajewski, & Borrero (2014), the rate of unintended pregnancy is 50% in the United States, a rather extraordinary figure given the status of the nation as one of the world’s most developed nations. My PICO question for my DNP project is: “In childbearing women who receive GYN services at an OB/GYN clinic (P), how effective is a structured contraception counseling (I) compared to the current individual teaching sessions (C) offered by the healthcare…… [Read More]

Sutter Health System

Case Study Analysis
Introduction
Sutter Health System located in California is a non-profit community-based system of health care. Imperatively, the system of healthcare renders services to patients and households where the healthcare providers link up resources and share specialty and experience to develop and progress the quality of healthcare. In this regard, the non-profit linkage or system instigated an interface with the main endeavor of developing revenue collection of the healthcare amenities that would be gathered from self-pay patients. The traditional or conventional payment processing system had shortcomings that resulted in the delays in the process of efficacious revenue collection of the healthcare facilities. The restrictions and confines of the system of processing were owing to the absence of accessibility to specific information in the account and the members of staff were not in a position and lacked the capability to obtain real-time data and information. The healthcare organization augmented…… [Read More]

Medical Informatics and How to Protect Privacy

Individual patient records have been used for centuries, with some of the first comprehensive case records being maintained in the early 1800s (Seigler, 2010). However, medical records were not always employed as they are now. Early medical records were used less to maintain continuity of care or reduce medication errors, and more for instructive purposes, such as teaching medical students (Seigler, 2010). Whereas medical records were relatively arbitrary until recently, lacking formal standards or methods of recording, medical recordkeeping is now much more standardized (“Medical Records: A Brief History,” n.d.). Medical records evolved over the centuries to be more patient-centered, less about doctor perceptions of their work and more about how to improve quality of care for patients.
Because medical records contain sensitive personal information about health history, privacy issues abound. One of the most important considerations with safeguarding medical records is with regards to employment discrimination. Another consideration is…… [Read More]

Kaiser Permanente

Introduction
Kaiser Permanente represents the biggest not-for-profit integrated healthcare network in the US, having a membership of more than 11.8 million within Washington D.C. and 8 other states. Instituted in the year 1945, Kaiser Permanente -California covers Southern and Northern California. It is a triple-entity pre-paid holistic system; the 3 entities, which are distinct though interlinked, are: a healthcare scheme which covers insurance risk, a system of hospitals, and clinical physician groups. The monetary incentive is offering reasonably-priced, superior-quality patient care and engaging in population health management instead of creating a large quantity of compensable facilities. The physician group as well as the health scheme are in line with one another and answerable to an international budget. They directly contract with each other solely for delivering healthcare services. Each entity has a common objective of maintaining patient health whilst simultaneously ensuring optimal utilization, as reflected within Kaiser Permanente’s capitated system…… [Read More]

Human Services

One of the healthcare trends that could be most advantageous for middle to lower income families has got to do with the expansion of health insurance coverage for children. Five years ago, Raphael, Batsell, Kowalkowski, Beltran, Giardino, and Macias (2013) identified a trend towards increased “public health insurance eligibility for children.” For families in the middle as well as lower income bracket, the relevance of this sustained trend cannot be overstated when it comes to “reduced out of pocket medical spending, increased financial stability, and improved material well-being” (Wherry, Kenney, and Sommers, 2016).
There are various strategies that could be adopted in seeking to improve services for serving the middle to lower income families. These include, but they are not limited to, offering counseling services and recommending (and helping clients apply for and receive) stable health insurance coverage, i.e. Medicaid. While counseling would be geared towards the enhancement of mental…… [Read More]

Expanding the Scope of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Practice

Primary Care: Advanced Nurse Practitioners
In recent years, there has been a notable shortage of primary care physicians due to a number of systemic factors within the healthcare system, including the rising cost of medical school, which is driving many young physicians to choose specializations rather than the field of primary care. Yet primary care is on the front lines of protecting the health of patients. Primary care can prevent the festering of chronic diseases and is less expensive and less intrusive to the healthcare system and the patient as a whole than is secondary or tertiary care. This paper will examine the existing literature on the role of nurses in primary care and evaluate the role nurses can play in improving this area of medicine.
Synopsis of Studies
According to a 2012 study in Health Affairs journal, physicians groups have strongly opposed the expansion of the role of the…… [Read More]