Healthcare is a dynamic sector and continues to experiences changes that aim at offering better service to the citizens. There are changing trends that health organizations need to put into consideration when they are formulating policies in the state, local and national level. The policies formulated at of these levels determine the effectiveness and efficiency of care that the patients receive. The future seems to have many transformations in healthcare. The current formulation and implementation of Affordable Care Act represent many changes that are yet to come to the healthcare industry.
The healthcare reimbursement program is due for a reboot because healthcare systems, providers and hospitals are now having divergent positions in the type of business model to use. There is the fee for service and the pay for performance model. The former model needs to restructure its business for improving the management of costs and quality improvement across the states to the national level.
The current technological trends that aim at connecting care should take the center stage in the formulation of policies right from the local level to the national level. Integration of technology in healthcare system is important because it allows the entire society to connect with the patients, populations and with healthcare providers. HITECH Act spurs the changes in that aim at adoption of technology in healthcare organizations. Electronic Health Records (EHR) has continued to increase and has made healthcare recording and documentation to become an easy task. The technological trends allows the healthcare providers and insurers at all levels starting from the local level and moving to the national level to share medication information and discharge history with the physicians of the patients in order for the improvement of care (Kabene, 2010). The technology and various innovations have shaped the delivery of care and the trend continues to bring more technological advances.
Healthcare insurance costs are on the rise up to now. The rise in costs has made healthcare to become very costly affecting the citizens in various parts of the country (Brown & Brown, 2011). The number of people without the insurance is high and runs into millions. The number has continued to grow and the number of Americans that have health insurance coverage continues to decrease. The state, local and national level should consider the numbers of citizens that do not have healthcare insurance coverage when formulating their policies. The policies should ensure that people have an access to healthcare insurance regardless of the social and economic status of the person.
According to statistics obtained from the United States Bureau of Labor statistics, employment in healthcare has increased on an average of over 25000 jobs per month. The trend is likely to continue due to the full implementation of Affordable Care Act and the increase in the elderly population. The formulation of policies should consider this trend and increase the staff in healthcare because of the increase in demand of healthcare.
The shortage of nurses and pending shortage of physicians in the country is a crisis if measures will not be taken. There is need for providing more opportunities for specialty training for nurses, PTs, physician assistants, specialty nurses.
Providing more opportunities will ensure that healthcare meets the increasing demand for care. The policy makers at various levels should put into consideration and allocate funds to ensure specialty training happens. They should also focus on preventative care by increasing consumer awareness programs. The awareness and preventative programs are efficient in reducing costs and improving healthcare.
References
Brown, S. A., & Brown, M. (2011). Ethical issues and security monitoring trends in global healthcare: Technological advancements. Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science
Kabene, S. M. (2010). Healthcare and the effect of technology: Developments, challenges and advancements. Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference
