Introduction
Healthcare is a fundamental human right, and thus providers should act ethically and morally by focusing on the patients’ needs. While healthcare providers are also expected to make profits, the primary objective should be to render quality services to patients. Financial rewards and interests should not be placed above the patients’ welfare. According to the American Medical Association (2018), any form of treatment or hospitalization should not be willfully inadequate or excessive as such practices amount to unethical conduct.
Main body
Based on this understanding, the billing pattern highlighted in the case scenario is not an acceptable business practice. The medical clinic pays Galaxy Labs only $30 of the $120 that it charges patients for laboratory tests. These figures imply that the clinic makes 75 percent profit for every lab test ordered. This form of business is extortionate, and thus patients ultimately pay exorbitant prices in cases where alternatives would cost cheaply. According to the American Medical Association (2018), “physicians should not provide wasteful and unnecessary treatment that may cause needless expense solely for the physician’s financial benefit or for the benefit of a hospital or other health care organization with which the physician is affiliated” (para. 2). As such, the clinic contravenes this provision by giving priority to financial gains above the patients’ welfare.
Additionally, M. Harley is concerned that the clinic may be motivated by profits to order unnecessary tests with the sole aim of making money out of it. This aspect compromises the integrity of the doctors operating at the clinic and the professionalism that they are expected to uphold. Similarly, M. Harley found out that the choice for Galaxy Labs was not based on quality but on low costs. This aspect contravenes the provision that “Physicians have a fundamental ethical obligation to put the welfare of patients ahead of other considerations, including personal financial interests” (American Medical Association, 2018, para. 1). Additionally, considering low cost over quality exposes patients to medical errors, which may have far-reaching repercussions. If the clinic is not placing the welfare of the patients above any other interest, then its business practices are unacceptable. However, Whaley et al. (2014) posit that such practices are common in the healthcare industry, and thus patients pay more than required due to lack of information and transparency. Therefore, there is a need to sensitize patients on the different ways that they can use to gather information on the available healthcare prices before making a decision.
Conclusion
Code of conduct stipulates legal and moral obligations that businesses should observe in their operations. The first component should be legal issues. Businesses operate within a certain legal framework. Therefore, the laws governing employees and companies should be stated clearly in the code of conduct. This aspect allows all stakeholders to understand what is required of them. The second component should be compliance and regulations. Stating the laws governing employees is not enough. The code of conduct should specify the compliance and regulations requirements. As such, workers will understand when and how to execute different duties in the course of their work. The repercussions for violating the set regulations should be stated clearly and concisely for everyone to understand. Finally, a code of conduct should have value-based components. Such factors include the moral values that employees are required to uphold inside and outside the workplace. Some of the common values include trustworthiness, responsibility, respectfulness, and fairness.
References
American Medical Association. (2018). Code of medical ethics: Financing and delivery of health care.Web.
Whaley, C., Schneider Chafen, J., Pinkard, S., Kellerman, G., Bravata, D., Kocher, R., & Sood, N. (2014). Association between availability of health service prices and payments for these services. Journal of American Medical Association, 312(16), 1670-1676.