Peer Review Articles: 1. Aaron, H. J. (2003). The costs of health care administration in the

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 implications and effects on patients waiting long hours to be seen in the ED are immense. In a recent study done over five years in Ontario hospitals showed the risk of adverse events and even deaths increased with the length of stay in the ED (Science Daily, 2011). When EDs become overcrowded the quality of care changes and declines; which is extremely dangerous. Authors of the study calculated that if ED length of stay was cut by only an hour that 150 fewer Ontarians would die each year (Science Daily, 2011). Wait times can also negatively affect patients financially, untreated medical conditions can lead to reduced productivity and inability to work leading to increased financial strains (Fraser Institute, 2014). As well as delayed access to care can result in more complex interventions needed. Therefore an initiative is needed to provide patients with timely, efficient care when accessing

With patients today using the threat of reporting low satisfaction rates in the hopes of receiving faster or higher quality care, they seem to have taken the upper hand in some of the decision making of what will take place in the healthcare world (Sullivan). But is it really the survey results that will make the drastic changes that are needed?

T.R. Reid uses cost, quality, and choice to fully evaluate healthcare systems all around the world. As an American citizen, I have always thought our system was unfair. The poor suffer more than the rich for going to see a doctor for the same reason. In chapter one of The healing of America, T.R. Reid comments on how many Americans have also started to notice that the American healthcare system is not as great as we once thought. Not only is it unfair, but it is also expensive and unsuccessful (9). By looking at all the other countries’ healthcare systems, Reid would then be able to better pinpoint how America can better its health care system by taking portions of those health systems.

However, prior to the existence of the ACA, the American healthcare system left a lot to be desired and still today leaves room for improvement. The basic issues underlying efforts to improve the United States (US) health care system remain, as they have for decades, concerns for costs, access, and quality (Sultz, 2006). Even though knowledge, technology, and

The increase of expenses - As politicians continue their dissension amongst each other, the situation is worsening in our healthcare system. According to the World Health Organization, to achieve universal health coverage, countries need a financial system that enables people access to all types of health services without incurring financial hardship (Carrin, Mathauer, Xu, & Evans, 2011). This idea would be the foundation of innovative ideas that the U.S. could reform its healthcare system, but too many ideas are sabotaging any valid efforts. In the mean time, the U.S. healthcare system continues to deal with issues such as the increasing uninsured Americans (over 49 million), expensive administrative procedures and the inability to measure the accuracy of quality of care, access of care, and the increasing healthcare spending and financing that limit our ability to efficient utilize resources.

Healthcare in the United States has reached a level of complexity which has perplexed Presidents, Congressional members and private industry for over a century (Palmer, 1999). While the healthcare system has evolved over the last century, policy decisions which have attempted to effectuate changes to cost, quality and access have been

Trends indicate the administrative complexity in the U.S. health care system requires that American hospitals employ far larger staffs to handle billing requirements (Anderson & Squires, p. 1-2). Furthermore, despite enormous innovation and investments in technology, the U.S. is failing to achieve improvements in life expectancy. The return on investment has been low; therefore, examination into other methods to increase quality of care, and decrease costs has become compelling. The U.S. has known for quite some time that health care costs, and therefore spending have gotten out of control. There have been several Presidents who have unsuccessfully attempted to help alleviate the nation of this issue. However, with the implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, we have begun to notice a positive trend, in the said decline in spending. There have been methods implemented to begin helping providers and organizations monitor their progress, reward them for proper adherence, and now there are

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,

Another issue that loyalty wraps itself around is the wait time in doctors’ offices, including the time between a call-in and appointment and the time spent in the waiting room. Studies show that America generally has some of the longest waiting times among other countries. Studies show that 26 percent of Americans wait six days or more for an appointment after calling, which is better than only Norway and Canada (Rosenthol). Because people find spending relatively long periods of time in waiting rooms unsatisfactory, they seek to find the healthcare provider that has little to no waiting room. If the efficiency of the medical staff proves to be poor, then the waiting time a patient experiences could be incredibly long. This could cause dissatisfaction towards the specific practice, harming a reputation and resulting in fewer patients in the future.

Health care spending has grown rapidly over the past four decades, more than any other sector of the economy. Increases in the cost of health care in the United States is evidenced by per capita expenditures and by measuring health care expenditures in relationship to the Gross Domestic Product (Conklin, 2002). The rapid growth in expenditures is caused by a variety of factors. Initially, growth in the United States

Steven Brill’s, America’s Bitter Pill, finds that there is a common theme among all factors of healthcare: access is restricted, the cost is unwarranted, and quality is disproportionate to the costs.

Timothy Stoltzfus Jost’s article “Eight Decades of Discouragement: The History of Health Care Cost Containment in the USA” is a comprehensive overview of how the American government attempted to control health care costs throughout the entire history of modern health care system.

Emergency room overcrowding is a major issue throughout not just the United States but in many countries. There have been many strategies on how to combat this issue as patient satisfaction is often being a major variable on hospitals being reimbursed, which interventions are most helpful? One intervention that is gaining more and more popularity is advertising wait times. Through a PICO search with key words of “ED triage” and “patient satisfaction” or “wait times” provided some great original research over the past five years that has been peer reviewed in the Journal of Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. While multiple research papers came up, the methodology and potential of taking this particular study further was of great interest.

It can be difficult for a patient to find a health care provider that they trust. Once they find one, they tend to stick with them for the long haul. If the patient is satisfied with the organization they will spread the word and encourage others to seek the same organization. It is not unheard of complete families seeing the same physician for generations. According to Richard Blizzard, D.B.A. (2002) “People tend to equate the concept of physician… loyalty with repeat use and trust or confidence in the provider”. The reason why people are loyal to certain physicians is the quality of care they receive during the visit. That quality of care starts from the moment they step in the door and greeted by the receptionist and continues during