HEALTH CARE SPENDING
(Research Paper)
The rising cost of health care has affected almost every section of society of the United States. One section which has been adversely affected in the name of Obamacare act is the medical fraternity is itself. The expenses of providing health care to all the segments have outweighed the incoming financial assets. The only way to reduce the expenditure of providing healthcare is by cutting the cost on the inputs or of the assets which are utilized for providing the optimum level of care. However, doing this may mean compromising with the quality of care. Different researchers have proposed different methods for decreasing the cost of health care. In the current paper, we will discuss about all those proposed methods and will try to analyze the merits and demerits of those methods too.
Some researchers suggest that there should be more transparency in the payment system in the health care sector. The consumer should gain a clear introspect into the system and must have a say in the decision making regarding the ultimate cost of care. The incentive should be performance based and should be more of fee- for- service based system. This will bring about a substantial decrease in the overall cost and will benefit both the consumers and the providers (McClellan, 2011).
` Another renowned research worker suggested involving the patients in the whole process of providing care. The patients should have the right of making an informed decision and the concerned care providers should be liable for providing explanation and all the available options to the patient. The patients should gain access to the indicators of quality care and must get a clear insight into the costing of various medical services which are being provided to them. This would mean that the information regarding the medical care shared with the patients by the healthcare providers should be easily understandable by the patients. Giving patients an equal share into the decision making regarding their care can help in cutting down the cost of health care (Nickitas, 2013).
The health care providers should focus on cutting the cost of health care keeping intact the quality of the care being provided. Sustainable cost cutting can bring about appreciable differences in terms of health care cost. The main objective should be to go for a bottom up re-engineering focused on delivering better standards of health care with the available resources by utilising them to their optimum capacity. Some studies based on pilot projects suggest that the health care organizations should adapt the TDABC approach in order to identify their short term and long term improvements strategies. Bringing about a small change in a single area of concern will not produce any major benefit, however, implementing small multiple changes will surely help in cutting down the cost to a significant mark (Kaplan et a,l., 2014).
Opposing the fee- for- service strategy, researchers have put forward new idea of switching over to a transitional policy. This policy suggests that there should be more flexibility and accountability in terms of financial matters as far as health care is concerned. The middle ground strategies will be helpful in managing the optimum level of quality care along with preventing any hindrance in the way of providing the same. The middle ground approach can benefit both the patients and the clinicians (Miller, 2011).
References
Kaplan, R., Witkowski, M., Abbott, M., Guzman, A., Higgins, L., & Meara, J. (2014). Using Time-Driven Activity- Based Costing to Identify Value Improvement Opportunities in Healthcare.Journal Of Healthcare Management, 59(6).
McClellan, M. (2011). Reforming Payments to Healthcare Providers: The Key to Slowing Healthcare Cost Growth While Improving Quality?. Journal Of Economic Perspectives, 25(2), 69-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.2.69
Miller, H. (2011). TRANSITIONING TO ACCOUNTABLE CARE: Incremental Payment Reforms to Support Higher Quality, More Affordable Health Care. Center For Healthcare Quality And Payment Reform.
Nickitas, D. (2013). Health Care Spending: The Cold, Hard Facts on Cost, Quality, and Care. Nursing Economics, 31(1).
