Successful development of health care in any state is considered to be a very important issue. The way of how health care systems are organized identifies the quality and conditions under which people are able to get the necessary treatment. To understand better what challenges may appear with the representatives of health care, the decision to interview different health care administrators is made.
The Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Hospital for Special Surgery are the two organizations that are chosen. In the medical center, the nursing administrator is eager to answer a number of questions, and in the hospital, it was the health care administrator of the finance department who agrees to communicate in the form of the interview. The main theme of the communication is a variety of economic issues and the possible effects on health care.
The location chosen for the interviews could be forecasted: both administrators are busy people, this is why it was allowed to spend some time in separate rooms of both hospitals and put the questions for the investigation. The duties of the nursing administrator vary considerably: frequent organization of nurse activities, evaluation of the situation in the medical center and appropriate assistance for patients, consultation, and leadership. Taking into consideration the experience of the interviewee, it was not very difficult to explain the question and possible expectations.
This is why the tone of the interview was calm and confident: the interviewer knows exactly what to ask, and the interviewee realizes what types of questions are more appropriate. In the second case, the interview is conducted with a person who has an as good portion of knowledge about the financial situation of the hospitals and the challenges which may appear with time. This is why when the theme of the interview that is economic issues and their effects on health care is announced, the administrator is eager to share his ideas and propositions. The tone of the second interview is official and more educative. In general, each interview lasts about 30 minutes. This time is enough to build clear answers and evaluate the questions.
During some period of time, a number of introductory phrases and questions are posed to comprehend the nature of the interviewees. In spite of the fact that these two people take rather different positions in their organizations, there is one question that is similar for both of them. It is interesting to know what economic issues they may distinguish among the rest due to their considerable impact on health care and its development.
The point is that two administrators give rather different answers. The one who works directly with nurses at the Mount Sinai Medical Center defines the following three issues: healthcare costs which have been increased dramatically during the last decade, healthcare financing problems which are caused by employers’ inabilities to provide appropriate health care coverage, and, finally, very expensive promises which are given but still not followed. This identification of economic issues is based on the administrator’s personal experience and the necessity to face a number of problems in the process of work.
The second health care administrator who works in the sphere of finance sounds more persuasive and more thoughtful in his evaluations. One of the first economic issues that affect the health care system is constant budget cuts. The impact of budget cuts is more significant for those people who have to be dependent on special medical programs so the closing of some facilities could lead to several unpleasant issues.
Another economic issue in health care is based on health universal coverage. This issue has been also identified by the previous administrator, still, this one provides interesting details about the conditions under which people without appropriate health coverage have to pass necessary treatment. Finally, the idea of a reduction in medical expenditures is mentioned. People want and aim at getting the best treatment and results, still, they do not find it necessary to spend much money or make the government pay for health care services.
The ideas offered by both administrators seem to be rather effective and interesting to evaluate and work out. Both of them have correct opinions and properly weighted issues. They admit that economic evaluation is a significant step that has to be taken from time to time in order to identify the weaknesses of the system and improve them just the way Lessard (2007) studied economic evaluations as the techniques to evaluate cost and consequences in health care.
The economic ability of health care should be ensured by a variety of means (Libby, 2010), and the identification of economic issues which put the system under a threat is a successful step, to begin with. It is also clear how to influence budget cuts may be for health care workers, and how extremely important this economic issue can be for the hospitals and working conditions (Barner, 2009).
Interesting approaches and experienced ideas offered in the interviews help to comprehend how weak the economic side of health care is and how many improvements should be done to provide people with appropriate services and care.
References
Barner, B. (2009). Budget Cuts in Healthcare. Chicago Defender. Web.
Lessard, C. (2007). Complexity and Reflexivity: Two Important Issues for Economic Evaluation in Health Care. Social Science & Medicine, 64 (8), 1754 – 1765.
Libby, R. (2010). Principles of Health Care Financing. PEDIATRICS, 126 (5), 1018 – 1021.