Healthcare Policy Initiative
The healthcare industry is experiencing various issues and challenges that might affect the professionals’ performance, on stakeholders’ perception, and the quality of patient care. One of the problems that have a substantial impact on different aspects of healthcare is the issue of increased medical costs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this challenge and its implications and propose a policy that will work towards overcoming the problem and improving the situation.
Rapid growth in medical costs can have various insinuations for the US population. Among them, it is possible to mention the fact that it will become more difficult for individuals to afford proper medical treatment and required drug purchases. The Centers for Medicare and Medical Services estimated that throughout the next ten years, healthcare costs would rise by more than 5% annually (“Healthcare costs for Americans,” 2019).
In such a way, the individuals might experience significant difficulties in affording such healthcare industry components, as hospital care or spending for prescribed drugs. Two factors are the most dominant in causing such a rapid increase. The prices for healthcare prices within the industry are rising, and the population of the nation is growing older, having a higher percentage of people aged over 65 (“Healthcare costs for Americans,” 2019). Consequently, those factors drive medical costs upward, which affects the way American families receive healthcare services.
Besides influencing the lives of patients, increased medical expenditures also have an impact on the work of healthcare professionals. The professionals can have challenges in offering the best solution in a situation when the patients who require extended treatment or expensive drug prescription. In attempts to provide the best healthcare service, the professionals might create further financial issues for the individuals.
Moreover, nurses and doctors can have moral worries when they can see that patients cannot afford the best cure for them. Therefore, employees within the healthcare industry can have psychological issues that might interfere with their performance in specific cases and cause higher turnover rates in the long-term.
One of the policies to advocate that will have a favorable impact on the overall situation in the future is the work on disease prevention. According to Cutler (2017), this policy “is both healthier for the individual and less expensive for the system” (p. 508). Thus, with a higher chance of avoiding specific diseases, the individuals would not need such extensive medical care, and the system will have lower expenditures for the treatment.
For example, new drugs for hypertension and high cholesterol have substantially reduced the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases, which implicates lower spending on treatment and medication (Cutler, 2017). Consequently, finding medicines to reduce the number of other chronic illnesses can decrease specific medical costs.
Still, disease prevention is a long-term policy, the effects of which might not be evident right away. While actively integrating disease prevention strategies, the industry can use such approaches as cutting prices for the drugs and offering bundling payment options for the individuals (Cutler, 2017). Those techniques can lower the financial burden for the patients and make them more willing to come and seek medical treatment without fear of not being able to pay for it.
It is crucial to employ an effective campaign to address the current issue and propose the policy and approaches aiming to improve the situation. Advocating the problem and suggested solutions through social media and reaching pharmaceutical companies, as well as integrating bundled payment options within specific healthcare facilities, can be the first step.
The Twitter post to highlight the problem can be: With CMS estimating a rapid growth in medical costs, it is critical to cut the pharmaceutical prices and integrate bundled payments. In conclusion, the issue of growing expenditures in the healthcare industry presents severe challenges for all the parties involved, and there is a need for action to change the situation.
References
Cutler, D. M. (2017). Rising medical costs mean more rough times ahead. Jama, 318(6), 508-509.
Healthcare costs for Americans projected to grow at an alarmingly high rate. (2019). Web.