Health Care Access, Affordability, And Quality Essay

Rising health care costs became an issue after the Medicare and Medicaid programs were formed in 1965 and have continued to be a factor in the United States economy since then. “By1970, U.S. government expenditures for health care services and supplies had grown by 140%, from $7.9 billion to $18.9 billion.”() By the 1990s the annual increase in the government health care expenditures was finally brought under control and has fluctuated between a 5% and 8% increase each year since then. This essay will discuss the different factors contributing to the rising costs of health care in the United States, as well as how the cost of health care affects the accessibility and quality of medical care throughout American history.

The use of mobile technology in the healthcare industry has exploded in the last ten years. Mobile health or mHealth, provides an entire new aspect of the relationship between patients and their doctors and other medical providers. Mobile devices place important and critical information into a medical professional’s hands in real-time. Doctors can monitor a patient’s condition more frequently, allowing them to make better and more informed decisions and diagnoses.

Mhealth has reached the poorest of communities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). More than 9 million patients email their physician in 2009 (Digital Health Care, 2010), because patients’ busy lifestyles do not allow time for an office visit for non-emergent health conditions. . In recent years, the expansion of mobile health (mhealth) technologies, including health text messaging, mobile phone applications, remote monitoring, and portable sensors, have changed the way health care is being delivered in the U.S. and globally (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Patients like the convenience of communicating with his or her physician through advanced technology.

Despite the countless advanced in technology and the abundance of health care organization popping up all over the place, whether they are free standing clinics, hospitals, urgent cares or etc, many people still lack the ability to receive quality health care. This has become a concern throughout the world, but especially a more vocal concern for residents of the United States in the past few years. In this paper we will discuss the reasons preventing access to quality health care and how we can overcome the many obstacles that stand in our way to provide quality health care to many who lack it today.

As consumers utilize smartphones, tablets, and other devices for other functions like social media and email, they are starting to look at these features to assist them with their healthcare. Mobile body area network devices will be a growing trend in the coming years as a way to get patients engaged in their healthcare and also to give providers routine updates on the status of patients with chronic conditions. As DeGaspari (2014) indicates, these devices can lead to improved functionality for other devices used in hospitals, such as sensors for monitoring patients that might get up and wander or be a fall risk. Telemedicine will continue to grow as payers, providers, and patients all start to realize the mutual benefits that can be

Unfortunately, along with the good must come the bad. For every positive aspect of smartphones and social media in healthcare related settings, there is an equally negative aspect. One pitfall of smartphones in healthcare is directly related to one of the positive aspects of smartphones: the availability of medical

The United States health-care system grapples with myriad challenges ranging from stress of an aging population, tremendous inefficiencies and rising costs. These challenges have significantly impacted access to health care services by the citizens.

The emergency department in the modern hospital is one of the most complex clinical settings to operate. According to Johnson, Sensei, & Capasso (2012), this department is an intersection of the diagnosis and treatment of emergency cases. As a result, it experiences immense volumes of patients every day. However, in most hospitals, patients visit the facilities with an indication of what they might be suffering from. Specifically, they use their iPhones to get a list of conditions that they might be having (Boncana, 2016). This method of detection has come to be known as mHealth. In this regard, mHealth, rather mobile health, is a method that patients use to enhance their health and medical practices via the use of mobile technology. The cell phones used in this approach are equipped with medical/health software, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and patient monitoring devices.

The health care industry has become increasingly reliant on technology. From medical translation tools to mobile apps, these devices are helping healthcare institutions save money and improve patient treatment.

The United States of America is the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare coverage for its residents. Despite much spending on healthcare, the United States of America failed to provide Universal Health Care for its population. The United States have violated the human rights of 32 million people by denying them proper health care coverage. In considering the highest health care spent, the U.S. government has failed to meet its obligation to respect, protect and fulfill everyone’s rights. This has disproportionally affected the health of many disadvantaged groups and the under-resourced communities, such as the undocumented immigrants, people living in poverty, people of color and including the middle-class working legal immigrants. A majority of uninsured residents have received poor access to the office of private physicians. Many undocumented uninsured immigrants are forced to frequently seek healthcare from so-call safety-net providers, such as community centers and the outpatient or emergency department of hospitals. They go without medication and skip preventative care, especially due to high costs. Countless have unhealthy lifestyles which have contributed to very poor health outcomes such as high rates of cancer, low birth weight and infant mortality and lower life expectancy. Current presidential debates about health care reform address concerns about the right to health care, access, fairness,

With smartphones, the drug industry has found new ways to engage patients and provide them with useful services that can improve quality of life. For example, the maker of clarityn created an app that could provide users with detailed information about local pollen count and where to find nearby medication to help ease seasonal allergy symptoms. Besides apps, technology can be use to collect patient data and patient can use their smartphone to refill their prescriptions

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

Some hospital trusts and health authorities consistently outperform others on different dimensions of performance. Why? There is some evidence that “management matters”, as well as the combined efforts of individual clinicians and teams. However, studies that have been conducted on the link between the organisation

It’s no secret that technology is constantly evolving behind the elusive doors of this nation’s operating rooms. In order to provide the best possible care to achieve the most desirable outcomes for increasingly complex medical disparities, physicians are continuously attempting to predict future needs of patients and of course, medical technology. Following the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, pioneering physicians at teaching hospitals instituted the use of such mobile assistive devices for the purpose of gaining access to patient health records from any location within the hospital versus on-unit with the traditional paper chart. Next began the use of the iPad at bedside for the purposes of patient teaching, instant access to medical records, and point-of-care documentation.

Mobile devices are such an easy tool to use so many different healthcare professions use them. Everyone from the pre-hospital side of things, including EMS workers all the way up to the administrative workers at the top in the hospitals. Even small doctors’ offices are starting to get on the train using tablets for everyday tasks. Tablets are even in used in the medical classrooms teaching future doctors, nurses, and paramedics.