It is clearly evident that indeed there are positive stories as far as health systems in the sate of Pennsylvania are concerned. The 250 licensed hospitals in the area have been proactive in providing healthcare services to her citizenry with numbers indicating that there have been 39 million cases of outpatient care, 1.6 million cases of inpatient care in addition to 125,000 baby deliveries (HAP, 2014). The hospitals have also created 269,000 jobs both full time and part time and in general, have added 316,000 jobs statewide. This situation has seen the economy of the hospital growing by close to 98million US dollars (HAP, 2014). Even so, there have also been challenges that have bedeviled the system in its quest for providing proper medical care to the patients. For instance, there has been a notable decline in the number of general acute care hospitals. In addition to the declining numbers of hospitals, there are also concerns about the number of clinicians (HAP, 2014). Notably, it is projected that there are going to be shortages of ENs and doctors to a tune of 22,600 for RNs and 39,600 and 63000 between 2015 and 2025 for physicians (HAP, 2014). Apart from the clinician shortage, there are also concerns about the healthcare financials implications in the state of Pennsylvania. It is evident that the number of the uninsured is on the rise judging by the costs of uncompensated care incurred rising to a tune of 1 billion US dollars (HAP, 2014). This situation has led to most acute care hospitals in the state to operate in negative financial terms reaching margins of up to 22%. As such, these situations present problems in the healthcare system of the Pennsylvania state thereby creating the need for the problems to be addressed.
The impacts that shortages of clinicians will have on healthcare delivery include factors like increased adverse patient outcomes for the patients under the RNs care (Chan, et al., 2014). Fewer clinicians will mean that the patients under general acute care hospitals have got the effects of undesirable patient experiences like pneumonia, bleeding, shock, longer hospital stays and gastrointestinal problems. As a result, of these undesirable patient outcomes, the healthcare costs associated with it are likely to plummet translating to expensive healthcare provision on the side of the patient (Chan, et al., 2014). The chances of patient mortality increasing are also related to healthcare providers’ shortages since the available manpower are usually working under tight deadlines with higher care workloads. Such outcomes indicate that the level of satisfaction on the level of patients eventually goes down. Generally, clinician shortage has led to decreased levels of efficiency, effectiveness, and patient-centeredness (Chan, et al., 2014). All these outcomes have negatively affected healthcare quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania state also faces the challenges that come along with uncompensated care since most patients seeking medical care in acute care hospitals are not under any insurance cover schemes. As a result, the patients that provide the treatment to these patients are left with the tough responsibility of having to foot such bills (Popescu, 2014). As such, the levels of bad debts have always been soaring and, therefore, compromising the levels of care that the hospitals can provide to the patients that are being cared for in such hospitals. Such outcomes have got the effects of leading to undesirable patient outcomes most of which usually fall into the category of mortalities and readmissions (Popescu, 2014). Such effects can be solely associated with overstretched usage of the available resources.
On the side of uncompensated care, there is the need for Pennsylvania to encourage her residents on the need to take health insurance covers (Popescu, 2014). Such an effort is directed making sure that patients are not caught by surprise when it comes to paying for their medical costs. Additionally, if a patient is likely to undergo a procedure, there is the need for the patient to be notified about the financial obligations that they will be required to meet 96 hours in advance to ensure that they get prepared for the payment of their health care (Popescu, 2014). A major reason why there are increasing levels of uncompensated care is due to increased levels of readmissions. As such, there is the need for hospitals to integrate the usage of evidence-based procedures in their care provision regimen with an objective of ensuring that patients recover fully. Readmission cases usually catch many patients unawares thus challenging their payment capabilities (Popescu, 2014). Therefore, the Pennsylvania state government is tasked with overseeing these efforts to reduce cases of clinician shortages and also increased rates of uncompensated care.
References
Chan, Z. C., Tam, W. S., Lung, M. K., Wong, W. Y., & Chau, C. W. (2013). A systematic literature review of nurse shortage and the intention to leave.Journal of Nursing Management, 21(4), 605-613.
HAP. (2014). Facts About Pennsylvania’s Hospitals and Health Systems.
Popescu, G. H. (2014). Economic aspects influencing the rising costs of health care in the United States. American Journal of Medical Research, 1(1), 47-47.
Wyte-Lake, T., Tran, K., Bowman, C. C., Needleman, J., & Dobalian, A. (2013). A systematic review of strategies to address the clinical nursing faculty shortage. Journal of Nursing Education, 52(5), 245-252.
