Introduction
Over the past decade, the healthcare service has seen impressive changes, most of which were the direct effect of the Affordable Care Act. For instance, the availability of required services has increased, with more people gaining the opportunity to get good health insurance. However, the identified alterations have not been as homogenous as the U.S. population would like them to be, the lack of support for the elderly being one of the major points of concern (Moody, 2017). Due to a steep and continuous rise in healthcare costs, the opportunities for the elderly to receive proper care have decreased significantly.
Main body
The problem of access to healthcare and the increase in the number of underserviced areas is growing out of proportion nowadays. Therefore, actions have to be taken to address the specified concern. Given the current problems of the availability of healthcare services, it can be assumed that, in the future, a significant part of the aging population will not have access to a range of healthcare opportunities, which will reduce the quality of peoples’ lives extensively (Budhdeo et al., 2015). Specifically, it can be argued that the present-day tendencies are likely to lead to a sharp rise in costs for medications and healthcare services, in general, thus making the process of obtaining the necessary healthcare assistance barely possible.
However, there is also a possibility that the future healthcare prospects may include creating personalized care. Due to the emphasis on an individual approach toward every patient, healthcare organizations are highly likely to create the framework for addressing the needs of each patient individually by building a system of personal healthcare (Moody, 2017). The identified tendency does not seem unlikely given the recent increase in the opportunities for managing a vast amount of data and using the Internet of Things as the tool for arranging and transferring information (Beeknoo & Jones, 2017). However, the described alterations in the healthcare and nursing setting will inevitably imply an increase in the expenses that one will need to take in order to receive care.
The identified change is also likely to lead to a drop in the levels of security among the elderly. By incorporating the latest technological innovations into the healthcare context, one will ultimately have to transfer all data to the digital environment, which is currently exposed to a plethora of threats. Indeed, the possibility of patient data being hacked and disclosed to a third party remains quite high despite the attempts at increasing the levels of digital security and reinforcing the efficacy of data management. Thus, the specified concern is also likely to become the cornerstone for future issues with healthcare services and their quality, as well as patient safety, in general.
Despite the vast range of threats that the transfer to the use of digital tools in modern healthcare implies, there are several strategies for addressing the existing vulnerabilities and reinforcing the levels of security. Moreover, approaches for making healthcare services available can also be created. As far as the safety issue is concerned, promoting information literacy and enhancing the process of acquiring the relevant skills among patients should be seen as a necessity.
Conclusion
However, the concerns regarding economic changes and the availability of healthcare services remain a problem. It could be argued that introducing changes to the current regulations regarding health insurance could be a solution to the specified concern. Indeed, by reducing the cost of health insurance and providing people with more options for treatment, one will be able to manage the accessibility issue. However, the specified changes will require substantial funding.
References
Beeknoo, N., & Jones, R. (2017). Information asymmetry in financial forecasting within healthcare and simple methods to overcome this deficiency. British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research, 20(4), 1-12. Web.
Budhdeo, S., Watkins, J., Atun, R., Williams, C., Zeltner, T., & Maruthappu, M. (2015). Changes in government spending on healthcare and population mortality in the European union, 1995–2010: A cross-sectional ecological study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 108(12), 490-498. Web.
Moody, H. R. (2017). Perspectives on gerontology (custom electronic ed.). Long Beach, CA: California State University.