Fragmentation In Health Care

The U.S. health care system is way more complex than what meets the eye. A major difference between the health care system in the U.S. and other nations, is that the U.S. does not have universal health care. Lack of a universal health care opens up the doors for competition amongst insurance, physicians, technology, hospitals and outpatient services.

The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,

Sultz, H.A. & Young, K.M. (2010). Health Care USA: Understanding its Organization And Delivery (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Yet, our healthcare remain broken and threatens the financial well-being of America in the near future. At the conception of America’s healthcare system, the biggest issues concerning the management of American’s health were the methods of treatment, knowledge sharing among physicians and therapist, the lack of resources at the state and local level, and the true role of the Federal government. (Greg, 2010) The same issues haunt America’s healthcare system unto today. With healthcare cost growing more out of control, the question concerning how to best management America’s health has become increasingly relevant.

Healthcare in the United States is facing numerous issues within the current and future turbulent times. I believe that two major issues are the disparity of provision of healthcare to varying societal groups as well as the projected shortfall of healthcare providers to adequately service the population in general.

While the United States delivers some of the best medical care in the world, there are major inefficiencies in our healthcare system. We have high rates of medical errors, millions without health insurance coverage, and lower utilization of advanced health information technology than most western European nations. It seems every time you turn on the evening news, you hear something about the healthcare system in American and how it is in shambles. Without question, one of the biggest challenges facing American citizens is our dysfunctional healthcare system.

A highly effective healthcare system is highly dependent upon the ability of all people to receive reliable care that meets all needs. In addition to this, the quality of the healthcare system should be backed by the best scientific knowledge available. However, a closer introspection into the structure of healthcare in the nation reveals that there is big gap with regards to the overall performance of healthcare. In comparisons to

The fields of medicine and business are two fields that are derived from different ends of the motive spectrum in terms of cognition (how we think) and economics (how we think about our money). At least they should be. I believe that the underlying issue with the United States healthcare system is that there tends to be a large amount of overlay in these two opposite forms of cognition. Clearly illustrated by Dr. Steven Nissen when he says that, “When medicine became a business, we lost our moral compass.” Medicine was never meant to become a trillion dollar business. This might strike you to be quite a jarring

Some hospitals have merged with other healthcare organizations in hopes of providing a more integrated delivery system. However, delivery in many organizations is still quite fragmented leaving many US citizens dissatisfied. According to a 2011 survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund;

In America health care as always been a big controversy, because since the beginning they have always tried to find the perfect health care system that works for everyone. As one can imagine it is pretty hard to find a single health care plan to work for over 300 million people. The States has defiantly tried its several different ways of coming up with one system to work, but it seems that over time new and better ideas come along. It all started with domestic medicine where as one would go to his immediate family for help if he/she got some sort of sickness, and would only go to a medicine man or something if it was life threatening. Then

It’s common knowledge that there are problems with United States health care system. First and foremost, the prior fragmented United States healthcare system did not

The United States is not acquiring 20 or even 30 percent better health care or outcomes than other countries do. While there are points of greatness, particularly at some of America’s prominent academic health foundations and in unified health care strategies, the quality is unequal. And quality is a problem that affects us all, whether rich or poor. Practically no matter how we calculate it, whether by life expectancy or by survival for particular diseases like asthma, heart disease or cancers; by the rate of medical errors; or merely by gratification with health care

Our healthcare system needs major restructuring. Major improvements needs to begin with "all health care organizations, professional groups, and private and public purchasers should adopt as their explicit purpose to continually reduce the burden of illness, injury, and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the United States", (Crossing the ……, 2001).

American health care is unique due to its fragmented structure, which makes it difficult to grasp exactly what all it entails. The system is based on capitalistic nature where private insurers end up with substantial authority, with a few government-sponsored programs that intervene to assist and cover people, like with Medicare and Medicaid. Often, this means that the wage of doctors/physicians depends on the amount of people they see, which causes the quality of care they give to have less of a priority indirectly. The system causes doctors to see patient after patient, and in such a short amount of time, the only thing they can do is try to fix the problem the best they can (Heineman and Froemke). Patients can never be fully healed, but they will constantly visit various doctors and pay for a multitude of prescriptions and procedures. This interpretation seems to be harsh in suggesting that healthcare providers

The chief cause for the health care systems being deemed complex is due to three factors that can influence productivity. According to Shortell and Kaluzny’s Healthcare Management “These characteristics-interconnectedness, nonlinearity, and dynamism-make complex systems, unpredictable and challenging to manage” (Burns, Bradley, & Weiner, 2012). These three area are intertwined therefore staying abreast of each are can be difficult. In regards to interconnectedness systems are connected in various ways and the response time is going to vary which may hinder operations. Nonlinearity system outputs are not necessarily equivalent, what comes out may not be in line with the input influencing expected changes, a small adjustment can yield major results