The concept of utility, as a model utilized in the distribution of healthcare resources, contends that clients or patients have the right to access satisfactory healthcare services. Owing to the scarcity of resources within the healthcare sector, it is not the best model since not all citizens would have the privilege of accessing healthcare services equitably. Therefore, the biggest problem with using utility as a method of distributing healthcare resources is the perception of healthcare services being a product whereby contractual terms would dictate those capable of having its access. The challenge would then be in the complexity of distinguishing those to prioritize in the medical schemes because some can afford the services while some cannot.
Healthcare is a fundamental right with the distribution of health resources needed to be done equitably despite the ability to afford it. Allocation of healthcare resources based on the utility approach would tend to privatize healthcare access, with the downtrodden in the society being the least in the cadre of entry, which would then contradict the access to healthcare services (Aguilera, 2020). An essential healthcare resource is medical personnel who utilize their expertise in providing curative care to patients. The utility approach would then contend that physicians and nurses use their expertise and experience as an economic asset that they would charge and offer to those capable of affording them. Therefore, the fiduciary principle that it would advance would lead to segregation in access to healthcare and further entrench bias within the health sector (Puaschunder, 2021). Application of the fiduciary principle would contend that competing rights have to be analyzed to determine the client with the utmost freedom to the given healthcare service.
Concurrently, healthcare resources would be prioritized within the regions and patient groups that would be deemed to have legitimate rights. Legitimate rights tend to be drawn from a positive outcome that would be considered necessary by society. The cost-benefit analysis in the utility model would also be difficult to comprehend, since some clinical conditions tend to have higher incidences than others do.
The utility can be used constructively within the healthcare sector despite the problem identified in the paragraph above. Its constructive use would be applicable where it is merged with the social service model that provides that the quality or nature of service provision needs to be advanced equally to all the country’s citizens (Cicellin et al., 2019). In such a case, irrespective of an individual’s socioeconomic status, one would have the right to access quality healthcare. Therefore, the constructive use of utility in healthcare would ensure that the government is the primary provider of healthcare services, and taxes are utilized to distribute healthcare services based on geographical factors and the prioritization of regions that would have higher health issues incidences.
The government would entrench the concept of utility in affirming that the money that it invests within the allocation of healthcare resources per region is commensurate with the need of the particular region. In such cases, more oncology specialists would be employed within the geographical areas that witness more cancer cases. The undertaking would lead to an improvement in service provision. The utility approach anchors on the curative approaches which will help provide patients with quality healthcare and would be accomplished where equity in the distribution of all healthcare resources is entrenched without any form of bias.
References
Aguilera, B. (2020). Ethical allocation of scarce health care resources in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Medwave, 20(5), e7935-e7935. Web.
Cicellin, M., Scuotto, A., Canonico, P., Consiglio, S., & Mercurio, L. (2019). Understanding the low cost business model in healthcare service provision: A comparative case study in Italy. Social Science & Medicine, 240, 112572.
Puaschunder, J. M. (2021). Data Fiduciary in Order to Alleviate Principal–Agent Problems in the Artificial Big Data Age. In Information for Efficient Decision Making: Big Data, Blockchain and Relevance (pp. 41-90). Web.