Description
What are some of the major challenges facing todays and tomorrows health care organizations and health care managers? Why?
Or
Explain why and how changes in U.S. demographics affect the health care industry.
first response
Healthcare is one of the largest, fast-growing industries in our nation. While the healthcare field has been a constant in society for centuries, the nature of healthcare itself has continued to grow overtime. Factors such as, population growth, population aging, disease prevalence or incidence, service utilization, and service price and intensity, are all areas that have contributed to this growth (Dieleman et al., 2017). For example, the first successful organ transplant occurred in 1954, and now, thousands of transplants are being performed each year (Institute of Medicine, 2008). Galatians 6:9 says, And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (KJV, 2021). As the healthcare industry continues to grow, it is important for healthcare professionals to continue to put the interest of their patients at the forefront of every decision they are making, and understand how to face the many challenges that arise.
As a result of these changes in the healthcare industry and in society itself, challenges arise that must be addressed. One of the challenges facing the healthcare industry is cost. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, 2020), national health spending is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.4 percent from 2019 to 2028, and reach an estimated 6.2 trillion by 2028. While technology and advances can contribute to a healthcare organization positively, it can lead to major issues as well. Healthcare managers and organizations must understand how to address these rising costs, which is an issue both currently and in the future. A few ways these rising costs can be addressed is through funding, grants, fellowships, etc. (Teel, 2018). Another common challenge facing the healthcare industry is regulation. Unfortunately, healthcare managers must deal with regulations out of their control. In fact, providers are dedicating approximately $39 billion per year to comply with the administrative aspects of regulatory compliance (American Hospital Association, 2017). Furthermore, an average size hospital dedicates 59 full-time employees to regulatory compliance, over one quarter of which are doctors and nurses (American Hospital Association, 2017). While these regulations are meant to benefit patients in terms of safety and high-quality care, healthcare professionals often find themselves devoting more time to regulatory compliance, taking them away from patient care (American Hospital Association, 2017). Every day, healthcare organizations and providers confront the daunting task of complying with a mountain of federal regulations (American Hospital Association, 2017). Unfortunately, the issuance of new federal regulations has increased over the last decade with the enactment of major health care legislation intended to improve patient care, population health, and fiscal accountability (American Hospital Association, 2017). Lastly, ethical challenges are an issue that continues to face healthcare managers and organizations The success of a healthcare organization relies heavily on the relationship between patient and provider. Ethical decision-making is important for all leaders, because these leaders influence various relationships and have the ability to create fundamental, successful change in healthcare (Teel, 2018). In my opinion, this challenge is a growing concern for not only the healthcare industry, but also all industries hoping to be successful long-term. Leaders must understand the success of the organization relies heavily on their ethical behavior (Teel, 2018). Building trust not only increases profits and funding, but also reduces unnecessary liability issues for the organization (Teel, 2019).
While rising costs, regulation, and ethical challenges are three major areas, which have caused issues for healthcare managers and organizations, medical and technological advancements and training and education are a few other challenges that also need to be addressed (Teel, 2018). Healthcare leaders must be able to adjust to new changes, face current challenges, while also leading and keeping the patient at the forefront of all decisions being made
second response
The medical and technological innovations have together made radical health care service delivery advancements possible. However, American society is at the beginning process to experience these tremendous improvements. Hence, despite being the time for health care growth, it is also the time for growing pains. I have been able to identify some major challenges facing todays and tomorrows health care organizations and health care managers, and why.
Information and service integration is one of the major challenges facing health care organizations and health care managers. Technology has caused significant changes within the industry (Borkowsi & Meese, 2020, p.5). Although the medical community welcomes big data advancements, the challenges of implementing not being fluid is a great concern. The reason is that non-relational databases merge patient information from various sources; this provides actionable metrics. The current technology provides a perfect opportunity for the newly available patient information to be exploited (Austin et al., 2016). Health care organizations in the past used relational databases to access and store patient data. It is important to note that relational databases cannot manage unstructured information such as transcripts efficiently. A great concern is that only a small percentage of the health care organizations have managed to transition using the traditional electronic health records from relational to non-relational databases. Besides, non-relational databases, despite their format, can fully exploit the patient’s recorded information.
Implementation of payment model is also one of the major challenges facing health care organizations and health care managers. New payment models instituted by insurers and benefactors aimed to decrease the costs and improve the health care service delivery. However, these new models focus more on the patient outcome than the service quantity through financial incentives. Therefore, the medical community considers the insurers’ approach concerning financial incentives to be the main cause of health care expenses. The insurers pay for the provided service, hence making the caregivers deliver quantity instead of quality. The new payment models seek to reduce these issues. Large organizations such as Medicare are at the center of providing these new models. However, the issue is that many providers do not participate in the models and monitoring processes; this complicates the new payment models. The new payment models are made to fit as adjustments instead of them completing overhauls. Moreover, it becomes difficult to measure the return on investment. Therefore, for transformative practices to be achieved, a significant number of early adopters are needed to contribute to its development.
Another one is challenges in establishing a beneficial outcome for pharmaceuticals. The insurers, patients, and regulators complain the drug cost is rising continuously. Therefore, for the drug manufacturers to lower the costs, the product development will be inconvenienced (Denis & van Gestel, 2016). Consequently, the drug manufacturers and insurers continue to struggle to find a lasting solution to the costs while the consumers struggle to keep up with drugs’ high prices. The government has come to play by pressurizing the pharmaceutical manufacturers to substantiate their costs. The drug manufacturers are also scrutinized by the pharmaceutical value assessment groups, insurers, and the public.
Lastly, leadership gap is also another major challenge facing health care organizations and health care managers. Health care leaders have the burden of managing teams and the facilities provided. Therefore, they are required to adapt to the increasing costs, uncertainties, and job vacancies. This is despite many of these health care managers not having adequate or formal training in leadership. Moreover, their busy schedules do not facilitate for them to pursue leadership training. Many professional and leadership development programs do not address the current unique problems faced in health care organizations. Therefore, currently, health care managers and professionals are forced to step up in assuming these leadership positions. Even the bible says, For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?, (1 Timothy 3:5, ESV). The challenge of a huge gap in leadership training and skills remains. Consequently, many health care leaders are forced to learn on the job. They also have to rely on the limited resources to sharpen their skills.
