Cutting Cost in Healthcare Without Compromising Quality, Research Paper Example

Introduction

A healthy society is the backbone of a successful nation. It could be observed that somehow, for many years, people have been dependent on the system of healthcare that governments provide. The organization of available healthcare services often involve adjustment of budget that entails the creation of new systems that would require hiring more personnel to be able to comprehend with the responsibilities that need to handled by the said sector of the government. As a result, many individuals are now being responsive to the idea that to improve the healthcare system, there should indeed be a consideration on monetary adjustments directed towards the course of development that is desired for the operations handled by the said public sector of service.

It is proven however that not all progressive adjustments should require an impacting course of high budgeted development. There are particular assumptions of growth in the healthcare sector that does not need necessary extensive budget adjustments. The sufficient and efficient way of considering growth on the part of the healthcare service involves the commitment of the administration to create a system that could handle the adjustment and have the right condition to fulfill the needs of the public through the said system. Presented herein are some of the most conceivable changes that can be embraced by government and practically some of the healthcare institutions thriving in the United States that are geared towards serving the public in a more efficient manner which keeping a sustainable system of operation.

Issues Confronting the American Healthcare

At present, the United States has been deemed to offer the highest cost of healthcare service among other developed countries. It could be observed that this occurrence could be accounted for several irregularities in the system of operation that the American Healthcare system is noted for. Some of the current issues that the country needs to face are noted herein:

Overstaffed Admin, Understaffed Workforce

Several healthcare institutions hire more than what is needed especially in the administrational department. This means that most of the personnel working in a healthcare establishment are dedicated to the administration department. It is imposed by this particular occurrence that the workforce is often expected to defend themselves in line with proper organization and administration of operations that are dedicated to better healthcare operations (Dartmouth Institute, 2010). Question is, does healthcare operation actually need such concentration on administration? Are there other ways to impose on a more refined manner that could define the possibility of reducing the administrational staff while retaining the efficiency of the role that the department performs for the entire establishment?

Too many physicians, less healthcare assistants

Physicians are doctors who have specific fields of expertise and are then allowed to have only a number of patients under their care in a particular hospital. Aside from serving several clinic hours, they are given the responsibility to confirm with their medical duties to having regular hospital rounds every day so as to check on the patients that were assigned to them (Dartmouth Institute, 2010). Notably, it could be analyzed that in a ration with the actual working workforce of the industry, the physicians in a hospital usually are not in par with the number of healthcare assistants needed for each institution. This means that the direct care that the patients receive is not sufficient enough for their requirement of development and recovery. As a result, more patients stay longer and less recover in the pace that they are supposed to be cured with the medications that they are expected to take.

Inefficient use of effective healthcare interventions

There are numerous healthcare interventions that are directed towards creating a more responsive reaction on the part of the patients as they undergo particular healthcare proceedings that entice them into becoming more capable of incurring development in a faster, better manner (Clark, 2010). Relatively, it could be analyzed that the efficiency of better healthcare interventions could be accounted for through the application of good and efficient healthcare administration. How could this need them be addressed given the fact that there are only a few assisting health staff in most healthcare institutions in the US?

Ill defined role of insurance markets

Insurance programs supporting the hospitals are currently serving at least 34 percent of the overall number of patients admitted in particular healthcare institutions. At this point, it is then insisted that the healthcare institutions themselves prepare a new payment system that could manifest the role that insurance companies ought to play in helping their patients pay for the dues they ought to handle.

At this point of understanding the primary issues that have been realized to have been jeopardizing the operations of the US healthcare systems towards the betterment of the public’s healthcare status should evidently be geared towards imposing a more effective system of administering operations without the need to hire a higher number of operators in the industry. Hence, in realization of the major problems facing the system of healthcare in the country, the direction of this documentation of suggested solutions to the noted problems shall include innovation of the operations and empowering of the current workforce that is working for the said sector of the government’s operation for the public.

Suggestive Solutions

As based from the presentation that has been made in the previous section, the solutions found in this section shall provide a more consistent pattern from which the developments ought to come from. The solutions noted herein are directed towards developing the performance of the current workforce while developing the systems of operation of the healthcare institutions in the country, both private and public. It shall also try to address the need of providing financial assistance both to the patients and the administrators as they intend to improve the facilities utilized in the institution for the sake of better service to the public.

Improved Staff Orientation

The relative assessment of how good the workers of a certain institution perform towards their duties to their patients and the stakeholders of the healthcare institutions they are working for should come from a performance-based evaluation. Increasing the competence of the current workforce [especially in the healthcare assistance departments] is an essential part of improving healthcare service (United Health Group, 2009).

On the other end, realigning the concentration of the distribution of workforce should be accounted for as the administrational department ought to be trimmed down while the working assistance operation employees should be added upon. This then entails for the new system of development that should consider reducing the upper staff and adding the budget adjusted from the administrational force towards the creation of new jobs in the lower-level of concentration. Notably, this indicates a new sense of manifesting good indicators of growth based on the direct service operations offered by the institutions.

Stronger IT System Application

As the administrational personnel are to be reduced, someone or something should take the place of the numerous minor-officers who are to be removed from the list. At this point, it is suggested that the application of a stronger IT-System should be considered. At present, there is the centralized EHR program or the Electronic Health Record that entails the recording of the names and information about the patients, their dues, the personnel who attended to them and the operations considered to support their recovery proceedings (United Health Group, 2009). With this, the centralized operation of activity organization, performance evaluation, computation and assessment of fees to be paid by the patients and creation of comprehensive records for presentation to the board for release of budget would become more efficient and easier to evaluate (Clark, 2010). Through a working network within the institution, all these operation procedures could be taken into account and release of documentations would be easier to handle.

Better Payment Systems

Updated and well recorded. Through the application of the new IT system, it is important that the payments of the patients are to be assisted through proper insurance support (Pine, 2010). The improved recording system shall then entail for better payment systems that would help both the patients and the institution to create a reflective report on what needs to be improved and what needs to be adjusted every now and then for the sake of supporting the points of recovery needed to be given attention to by the administrators.

Conclusion

Realizing the needed adjustments, it could be analyzed that the development suggested herein could simply be regarded as dependent on the readiness of the institutions to welcome innovations as part of their operational progress. The creation of IT programs that could support the lesser number of administrators and the organization of a higher number of healthcare assistants would provide a more comprehensive development allowing the healthcare institutions to make room for more reliable direct patient-assistance operations. The reorientation of the workforce shall empower them to understand their duties more and respond accordingly to these responsibilities hence making them more competent on their posts. True, lowering the cost and incurring budget adjustments is an essential point of the development being imposed in this presentation of new interventions to healthcare operations in the United States.

References

Bloomberg Reports. 10 Ways to Cut Health-Care Costs Right Now. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_47/b4156034717852.htm. (Retrieved on November 30, 2011)

Clark, DD. (2010). Cost cutting in health systems without compromising quality care. Front Health Service Management.

Dartmouth Institute. (2010). An Agenda for Change: Improving Quality and Curbing Health Care Spending: Opportunities for the Congress and the Obama Administration. The Dartmouth Whitepaper.

United Health Group. (2009). Health Care Cost Containment – How Technology Can Cut Red Tape and Simplify Health Care Administration.  http://149.111.129.166/hrm/UNH_WorkingPaper2.pdf. (Retrieved on November 30, 2011)

Pine, Michael. (2010). Controlling Costs Without Compromising Quality. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

The Guardian. Health service reform: Perils of the cut-price knife. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/23/nhs-reform-competition-quality. (Retrieved on November 30, 2011)