An Introduction To Combat Over Testing

2. Here, the research shows that in many situations, healthcare professionals are urged to conduct unnecessary tests and procedures in order to rack up the bill for insurance claims to then

burns through $2,797 more every individual consistently than other industrialized nations, despite the fact that 47 million of those individuals are uninsured so the U.S. spends more is that simply the value we pay for having the free decision of suppliers and driving the trends in therapeutic innovation. Not really because no less than 30 percent of all delivered human services administrations are thought to be pointless on the grounds that they do not make very sick individuals any healthier. As an illustration, we should consider Medicare spending. One study contrasted patients and comparable afflictions in high-spending Medicare areas and low-spending Medicare districts. Those patients in the high-spending ranges, who saw their specialist all the more regularly and spent more days in the health facilities, had an expanded risk of biting the dust when contrasted with patients in the lower-spending territories who had the same ailment. It's as though heading off to the specialist in this nation can make a man significantly more debilitated, maybe on the grounds that a patient runs the danger of experiencing unnecessary treatment that correct only the symptoms and not the disease (PBS,

An issue in the medical world today is that expensive tests and procedures are being done unnecessarily. In his article “Overkill” Atul Gawande, surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, and a professor in the department of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health argues that as someone in the medical profession he sees how unnecessary some medical procedures are. “The researchers called it “low-value care.” But, really, it was no-value care” (Gawande). Many people today are easily influenced by the power of the internet it’s as easy as googling a symptom and and coming up with a diagnosis and going into doctors offices and demanding a test or procedure, what these people don’t know is the cost of these tests

**Halstead, J. A. (2013). The NLN's Fair Testing Imperative and implications for faculty development. Nursing Education Perspectives, 34(2), 72.

In the United State healthcare system, there is a disparity between treating patients and treating our pockets. In the article, the big pill, there is a patient Sean Recchi who goes to MD Anderson, a hospital in Texas, due to a flare-up of his Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Unfortunately, to Recchi’s family surprise, he was being charged ridiculously high prices for his medical care. To make matters worse, the hospital would not accept their insurance and told Recchi’s wife, Stephanie, that they would have to pay $48,000 in advance for Sean to be seen for 6 days in the hospital before a treatment plan could be developed. Luckily, Stephanie had the money and wrote a check but imagine if she didn’t. Had she not had the money, what other option would she have? What other option would Sean have? Death?

As if having the potential of death looming over your head isn't enough, the treatments for cancer are becoming problematic as well. To be struck with cancer is something everyone is afraid of, but maybe that’s not what to fear most when contracting such a disease. The price to treat different types of cancer varies anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 a year (Berenson). Next, the patient is forced with the choice of paying for the drug, and having to pay a high price, or going without. It’s a problem that has always existed, but it finally has a name. It’s known as “Financial Toxicity”, and basically it’s the costs that diminish quality of life and impede delivery of the highest quality care (Zafar and Amy P. Abernethy). Most people hear the price and simply assume insurance will take care of it. That isn’t always the case. According to The American Cancer Society:

The author Joelle Charbonneau wrote the book The Testing. An amusing fact about Joelle is that she taught many students how to sing. In an article Joelle states “My students are a wonderful source of inspiration and continue to teach me life while I teach them about singing” (Charbonneau… New York Times). The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau is about a girl named Cia who is selected to go through a testing program to test her knowledge and see if she can attend a certain college. Cia has many roadblocks, but that does not stop her from doing her best. People should recommend this book because of its connection to the article titled New Surveillance Technology. The message of this book is that knowledge is power, so don’t betray it.

Education keeps evolving through time. However, it has been stagnant lately. We are in the period where high-stakes tests are one of the largest aspects in education. It has been like that for a few decades now. A large group of people seem to think that this is the perfect time for change. There are a lot of arguments going around opposing the implementation of high-stakes testing and vice versa. While doing the synthesis paper and proposal, I have noticed that most sources tend to talk about the collateral damage of high-stakes testing instead of its perks. As a result, I decided to interview an admissions officer, because I needed to hear from someone that should support the use of high-stakes testing. I needed to be able to understand both

False positives can lead to unnecessary treatments and time spent. They can sue for money spent and misdiagnoses Whether or not they win is another matter but

cording to Batnitzky, Hayes and Vinall (2014), fee – for – service (FFS) “is the oldest form of reimbursement method, and in this system, healthcare professionals are paid for every service and test they provide” (p. 3.2). While the opposition would argue this form of reimbursement is the catalyst for medical professionals to “pad their wallets” for profits, FFS is would be equivalent to a professional in another field of work to be compensated for the services they render. FFS has remained within the medical pay system because, medical professionals should not be limited in using all resources at their disposal to ensure the correct diagnosis is achieved as, you cannot take a one size fits all approach when providing care to patients. Treatment

Health care costs currently exceed around twenty percent and continue to rise where other countries spend less of their funding on health care but have the same increasing trend. An aging population and the development of new treatments are cause for some of the increase. Unrealistic incentives also contribute: third-party insurance companies and governments who reimburse for procedures performed rather than outcomes achieved, and patients bear little responsibility for the cost of the health care services they demand. However, few acknowledge a more fundamental source of increasing costs: the system by which those costs are measured. Honestly, there is almost a complete lack of understanding of how much it costs to deliver patient care,

In an article by Tupper and Holm (2015) a review of literature is performed on the pros and cons of mammography screening. Experts disagree on the usefulness of routine screening and some feel that routine mammograms cause more harm due to over diagnosing. It is estimated that 1 in 6 cancers are over diagnosed by mammograms causing undo harm to the patient who is receiving therapy for a tumor that would never probably bother them. Other experts argue that cancer rates are down due to increased screenings. Tupper and Holm (2015) address arguments on both sides of the controversy along with providing information on how to educate patients so that they can make an informed decision on screening and decreasing risk

Misdiagnosis leads to more testing and more office visits, which is more of an expense for the provider and patient. “Overtreatment is a national scandal. It's bad for our health: with medical errors now estimated to be our eighth leading cause of death, drugs, procedures and hospital stays can be risky (as well as painful, time-consuming and wallet-straining) even when they're necessary” (Grunwald, 2010). There is no proof that spending more gives better care.

As we move to a value based model in healthcare, it is imperative we contemplate the dilemma of who is the ultimate risk bearer. At the end of the day, that entity should be the one receiving the financial value of our efforts. Presently, the entity holding the financial obligation for paying for services is not the recipient of the saved dollars. This is becoming more prevalent as newer and more expensive treatments are available that impact an illness early in the disease process. One might disagree with the premise that a certain level of healthcare is a right, but we as a nation have effectively made this decision. For instance, deemed as illegal to refuse treatment of emergent care, we do not allow people to die at the footsteps of our

The goal of education is to impart knowledge, wisdom, life skills, morals and values into the multitude of students we teach. This obligation is not only directed toward our work with students but is indicative of how we should strive to function each and every day as educators serving with high ethical standards. There is a lot of pressure on teacher during the high-stakes testing season but this should not influence educators to behave in any manner that would be unethical for any reason.