Module 2 : Professional Development

It is no secret that the cost of American healthcare is becoming increasingly more expensive. However, the issue of the rising cost of healthcare and its severity needs to be recognized as a major problem. Health prices are steadily increasing in the United States, and there is no sign of it stopping. Since 1970, spending on American health care has grown 9.8%, which is a rate that is growing faster than the economy (“New Technology”.) Furthermore, health insurance premiums are also increasing at a rate five times faster than American salaries, which makes it difficult for families to afford health care coverage (Zuckerman 28). Therefore, it has become an obligation to address why the cost of American health care is soaring and to seek out a solution to lower the cost. Many would jump to the conclusion that the United States simply charges too much for their medical services, but there are deeper influences that need to be analyzed. The causes of the rising cost of health care are people not using preventive health care, the development of modern technology, and the treatments being overprescribed. A possible solution is to have preventive health care services available in clinics of low-income areas.

The United States is the only remaining industrialized nation without some form of universal access to medical services (Light, 2002). As an industrialized nation, it is shameful to see so many people suffer on various levels due to inadequate access to appropriate health care (Rashford, 2007). Research will show that with equal access to healthcare for everyone in the United States, there would be much more preventative care and therefore the cost for treating chronic diseases could be greatly reduced. The New England Journal of Medicine states that they believe a requirement, in the United States, is broad access to wisely designed programs of health promotion, in which the concept of health promotion is expanded to include a goal of cost reduction. This expanded concept directly addresses the challenge of preventing illness as well as that of reducing health care costs (New England Journal of Medicine, 1993). Did you know that preventable illness makes up for approximately 70% of the burden of illness and the associated costs (New England Journal of Medicine, 1993). Many Americans feel that universal health care is not a role that the government should be involved in however; Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs have been shown to improve health for

Health care costs are a longstanding concern to policymakers. For years, health care spending has been rising faster than the rate of economic growth, raising the question of what factors are responsible for rising health care costs. This paper explores published articles that report results from research conducted on technological innovations in health care and its relation to rising health care costs. The cost increases have a significant effect on households, businesses, and government programs. Health care experts indicates the development and diffusion of medical technology as primary factors in explaining the persistent

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

n the rush to fix the “broken health care system” too many have become enamored with the idea that with a handful of digital solutions we can somehow change 1/5th of the world’s largest economy and quickly lower costs, improve access and raise quality. In this, the first of a series of articles dancing around this concept, we will make the case for a different perspective on the issue.

Historically the United States has focused on the loose concept of prevention while the private sector focused on treatment. Prevention is to keep something from occurring while treatment occurs after the fact and can increase cost. There are three types of prevention- primary (averting occurrence), secondary (halting progress) and tertiary (limiting impact) that could result in reducing the need to provide costly treatment that could have been avoided (Williams & Torrens, 2008). In addition, the history of the health care system has not been supportive of preventative measures for chronic conditions but paid physicians on a fee-for-service model that did not progress the need for long-term preventable health metrics (Williams & Torres,

A small portion of the patient population accounts for a disproportionate amount of health care expenditures primarily due to chronic illness (Shelton, 2002). Because of this, and the overall rise in healthcare costs, stakeholders have been searching for ways to target this small but expensive group of people. One way is through disease management programs. It is a common belief that education and preventive measures make it easier to manage chronic illness and reduce adverse outcomes including lengthy hospitalizations (Shelton, 2002). Although these programs are fairly new and there isn’t much data to support or refute their success, this is an area worth exploring to potentially curve skyrocketing healthcare expenditures.

Healthcare began well over 100 years ago. According to Williams and Torrens (2008) “ the year 1850 marked the development of the first hospitals in the United States and marked the beginning of formal organization of healthcare in this country”. When considering the timeline of the healthcare industry it is important to know and understand the many developments that have driven our country to where it is now and where it will go in the future. When there was not much organization and government structure for healthcare, individuals were responsible for the wellbeing of themselves and their families. Although there were not many remedies for infections or sickness, people also did not have to worry about the financial aspect of obtaining healthcare

Currently, the most prominent form of professional development is traditional professional development. But technology- enhanced professional development is becoming more readily available. There are many benefits to technology- enhanced professional development such as convenience, diversity, and social aspects. There are also benefits to traditional professional development such as face to face learning and being involved in the local community. Most strikingly there are very few disadvantages to traditional professional development, while there are many disadvantages to technology- enhanced professional development. Many of the disadvantages currently surrounding technology- enhanced professional development are due to the only recent development of the programs. Also, many of the disadvantages only affect certain people, such as people who cannot direct themselves. Many people are able to function as well if not better in online courses and forums as they do in traditional classes (Ramage, T.R., Introduction section, ¶1). Moreover, most of the advantages of technology- enhanced professional development outweigh the disadvantages. Ultimately it is up to the employee to decide what they are the most comfortable with. The process of ensuring personal and professional development is critical in the personal as well as professional levels of doing things and interactions. It is through such plans and their assessment of progress that one can conclude as to whether or not there is real progress or need for progress. During the process of implementation, we will realize that the best ways of achieving such goals are engaging in interactions with different people at different forums, conducting extensive research, learning from people and conducting continuous progressive practice. Through this, we will be able to achieve a great deal of our goals and look forward to developing more which will benefit both

The “American Board of Preventive Medicine,” states that preventive medicine has been around the U.S for 60 years, but only .08 percent is comprised of the workforce. Funding is limited and medical centers are only contributing a fraction of dollars to preventive medicine compared to acute care. The goal of preventive medicine is to educate citizens about diseases, the causes of the diseases, and provide information on how to prevent them. Talking about the leading causes of deaths cancer, heart disease, and lung disease that contribute to the prevention of those diseases. The rate of illness in the U.S will continue to grow and preventive medicine can be a good return on investment if the government focuses on education of proper nutrition, exercise, and elimination bad habits that contribute to the leading causes of deaths in the

There are many driving forces for the need of innovation in healthcare. The traditional encountered-based care delivery system is being overwhelmed because of the growth in demand and the rapidly increasing prevalence of chronic diseases. The Department of Commerce Advisory Committee has defined innovation as, “the design, invention, development, and/or implementation of new or altered products, services, process, systems, organizational structures, or business models for the purpose of creating new value for customers and financial returns for the firm” (Haughom, n.d.). Ms. Arlette mentioned that disruptive innovations are the way to deliver care. Disruptive innovations help create a new market and value network, eventually replacing earlier technology. More disruptive innovation in healthcare is needed; however, to do that, the excuses for why healthcare is different has to be done away with. There are two things needed to increase disruptive innovation: technology and a disruptive business model that can profitably deliver routine solutions to customers in an affordable and convenient way (Grossman, 2008). Disruptive healthcare steps outside of the norm to provide services that are more economical. As hospitals and health systems develop their strategies, it has to be determined how to adapt to these changes to be successful in an environment moving from a fee-for-service payment to a pay-for-performance models. An example is Teledoc services, which allows the doctor to diagnose over the telephone as via facetime as opposed to coming into the

Technology plays a key role in the world today, it has integrated itself into society in so many ways. It’s true, the question isn’t whether technology will change the health and medical care in the U.S. but where the line is drawn. It all depends on how much technology is relied on. Medical technology should be used as a major tool, and not the ultimate decision maker. If that fine line isn’t crossed then technology can have a major positive impact on the health care in the United States and around the

Not only do chronic diseases affect the health and quality of life of the human population, but it also the actual cost of health care and the economy. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic disease make up 75% of the nation’s total healthcare spending. This mean approximately $5,300 is spent per person each year. As far as public insurance, the treatment of chronic diseases accounts for an even larger amount of the spending. For Medicare patients, it’s 96 cents per dollar and for 83 cents for Medicaid patients (Young, Saunders & Olsen, 2010). Patients with a chronic condition pay five times higher for health care than those without chronic conditions.

What good is a technological enabler that no one uses? The second lesson is business model innovation. This disruption aims to build upon the first lesson. It delivers cheaper and simplified solutions. When used to its full capacity, technology can definitely fuel this business model. It can create faster turnaround, make organizations and users become more involved and also create a user friendly source of supply and demand. All competition is not bad competition. If simplicity leads to lower costs and less medical procedures being repeated the patients are truly the winner. The final piece of the puzzle is value network. In this case, it is not enough for the healthcare industry to innovate, they must also force its supporting drivers to mutually reinforce the changes. This is where I feel we are lacking both historically and presently. As long there is a need to use so many third party ventures, even with technology and proven business model there is no way that we will drive down the healthcare costs. Christensen place a large emphasis on the archaic business model, but I truly believe that insurance and pharmaceuticals keep health care in the stone

The premise at the beginning of this project then is represented by the belief that technology is becoming more demanded and more necessary within the modern day health care sector. In order to prove this point, emphasis would be placed on the assessment of a specific situation in which