The health care sector in the U.S has had predominant influences from the improvement of technology. This is one of the major reasons that has led to more involvement in the medical science field which is directly associated with the education of the health care practitioners. The health care system need to improve has been rising due to various goals and strains that have faced the American people. They include the need to check the costs of health care that are soaring, improve the quality of health care and cater to the increasing number of Americans in need of health care.
The need for health reform in the U.S shifted in the 1920s, this time period brought about a shift in the logistics of medical care where there was an improvement efficiency in medical care and a significant rise in the prices. The earlier years specifically in 1904-1912 saw the stir up of political energy. Reformers and politicians worked to endorse a system that will protect the people from the effects of poor health care. The health insurance policy started to be considered and was included into campaign manifestos. The main argument for the support of the endorsement for health insurance was that health insurance was effective in supporting the health of the workers as well as their wages.
The health system in the U.S has moved from the patient based health care to managed care. The quality of health therefore improved with the standards of need and the mode of financing which was left to the people. Later on, more policies were formulated to deal with the issue of availability and quality of health. The introduction of Medicaid lessened the burden of health care costs on the old and the poor. The support of health for a country is important in improving the living standards of the people. It also tends to improve the life expectancy of the people.
The year 1940 saw an improved vigor in the fight for health insurance. It was a time when the cost of medical care was frustrating the budget of an average worker . It prompted the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to fight for health reform. The efforts were compensated by the passing of the bill which proposed the insurance program to be financed by social security taxes. The taxes are accumulated from the payrolls of social security.
The improvement of health care in the U.S whose effects were substantial is the passing of the two bills to support Medicaid and Medicare in the year 1965. These two programs were as a result of salvaging the interests of the poor people in the society and the aged. Provision of care with this programs depend on hospitals, private care givers and managed care centers and organization. You find that under these programs, care still goes to the associated stakeholders even though the funding is from the federal government.
The two programs are also aimed at overseeing the insurance sector to pay for the medical charges. Medical care has become affordable and it spans on a comprehensive coverage to the people of the U.S where the employed, the poor and the aged receive medical care. The reformation of the health system in the U.S has evolved overtime which has led to the continued building of the sector. It means that the health facilities, the policies and the health care givers have participated in the improvement.
The changes in medical care began their positive reformation when the managed care concept hit the medical care market. This model looked at promoting health care by setting the standards in which health practitioners could practice the art in a safe environment and that has been set up in a conducive manner. This is the time Health Maintenance Organizations were set up in order to provide managed care where the guidelines were to provide health care by encouraging preventive care, the fight to reduce overutilization and dependence on expensive medical services and setting the required standards for the available providers to give quality health care services.
Managed care services brought a relief to the health system where the patients improved from the results of having independent health practitioners to chip in as their agents, the complexity of health care that came with patient’s overdependence on non-profit facilities or private facilities and where insurance did not cater for the health of the patient but dealt with payment to the hospitals or the physicians. It means that the improvement worked to empower each component to the extent of improving the health care system.
The tendency to improve health care in a country works to benefit the country and it results in more improved lifestyle. This is the time that the economy becomes stable, other companies also get to achieve their objectives and the practices in the certain country becomes stable. This is because the people are healthy and that various stakeholders work to maintain and raise the status of the facilities and the sector.
There are major bills that contributed to the dominance of the health system. An example is the Hill-Burton Act, it came up in 1946 and it was brought to the light in order to control the building of hospitals. It controlled the subsidies that were responsible for the construction of hospitals in the communities. There were implications for this bill like the scarcity of beds in the hospitals which led to a reduction in the patients to be admitted but this was later recouped to normalcy.
Health policies will keep cropping up as time goes because of the need to improve health care. Rising costs in research, medical education, living standards and also technology are bound to bring various or mixed effects to health care. This means that there are bound to be many stakeholders in the health care system which will lead to improved services or dilution of the services. The rush to invest in health care will be directed towards the business aspects which means that the system has to be curbed by more policies.
The issue of taxes and payment policies that are in existence tend to affect the business aspect of investing in health care. This makes it hard for the business investors in the sector since the policies tend to regulate the business aspect of the sector. The tendency to control taxes in the business affects the business and to an extent limits the freedom to indulge in the venture. This means that the consumer will not receive the value or standard that will have been set by the presence of business competition in the venture.
So far the policy making and proposal efforts are still in effect to determine the future of healthcare. It is the reason that in every campaign towards presidential elections, there has to be debate over the issues of health and the policies brought forward to protect the sector. The health sector cannot depend on the political wing for every elite health policies, there are individual preferences when it comes to health care consumers and market forces in which the funding is initiated. Therefore, health care policies will remain dynamic as the market trends remain static.
New Primary Care clinic therefore needs to be a market oriented health care facility. This way, most of the business aspects of the health facility will be catered for. There is a growing demand for customized health services and with the introduction of the health facility in this location is ideal to business and the objectives of health care. It means that the services should be directed towards the people of the location and to give it a start, a survey involving the people should be launched.
The purpose of the health facility is to serve the needs of the people in the location. Therefore, understanding their needs is the prime reason in which the medical facility should base concern. It means that the needs of the people will be sampled, and the feedback is bound to improve and guide the health facility services to the people. The essence is to compile a list of all the required information on the various problems. Then a team of analysts will work to highlight the most important needs in a descending order.
Since technology is not advanced at the health facility, the management should have a written proposal forwarded to the various stakeholders to highlight the various needs that the health facility has. These needs will include the technological aspects, the medical equipment and if there are programs to be initiated to involve the people. This way, there will be communication in all sectors of the health facility.
The health facility requires a mission statement which should read: To eliminate all the disease causing conditions in the location and strive to bring health in the community. This mission is to ensure that the health facility and the people of the location work together to perform health best practices in the particular location. There is need to have a motto which will direct the daily activities of the health facility and push it to achieve its short term goals as well as aim at the long terms goals.
The motto of the health facility is: sustainable health for a cooperative community. This shows that the health facility is dedicated to serve the needs of the people and help them support more of its health goals. There are barriers that are evident in the location and they come through financial support to the set targets of the health facilities. These barriers involve poverty in the community and vulnerability caused by old age.
Poverty is a hindrance to conducive health conditions. This is because health facilities tend to run on a budget that is financially supported. It means that without finances, the programs of the health center are bound to fail. This way, the hospital management should encourage the residents to sign up with insurance agencies. The agencies are bound to pay for the health services. This is because of the recent policies that have urged health insurance to cater for the medical needs of the American people.
There are some chronic diseases that require specialized attention or even the involvement of technology. This means that the health facility needs to have the items to cater to the conditions. Since this is not possible due to financial constraints, the health facility will have to enter into a partnership with the hospital in the city. The partnership should consider the business aspect of both facilities and therefore there is need to negotiate.
The partnership will be to have patients with the specific conditions transferred to the city health facility for the treatment. There is also need to transport them and this is where the proposal to the various stakeholders will highlight the need to have an ambulance to link the two locations. There is also need to have an exchange program for the medical practitioners in the health facility with the one in the city. This will provide educational and motivational purposes to the health practitioners in the health facility.
Finally to ensure that the clinic serves its care and business goals there will be a continuous audit and survey into the community and even the clinic records. The survey will identify the improvement of the health programs, the number of people involved and whether there are improvements and then the financial records of the clinic. An improvement in the various aspects will mean that the health facility is performing on an improving scale.
References
Conklin, P. T. (2002). Health Care un the United States: An Evolving System. Michigan Family Review, 5-17.
Helms, B. R. (2001). The Changing United States Health Care System: The Effect of Competition on Structure and Performance. Washington: American Enterprise System.
Hoffman, B. (2003). Health Care Reform and Social Movements in the United States. AM J Public Health, 75-85.
