Proposal for New Health System
The health care system in the United States is in need of major reform. Even with major technological advances, the amount of citizens unable to acquire proper care is immense. “Between 2005 and 2006, the number of U.S.-born residents who were uninsured increased from 33 million to 34.4 million, and their uninsured rate increased from 12.8 percent in 2005 to 13.2 percent. The numbers of foreign-born who were uninsured rose from 11.8 million in 2005 to 12.6 million, and their rate was statistically unchanged at 33.8 percent in 2006” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007). Although this is not the most startling statistic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2007), “The number of uninsured children increased from 8
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Separating mental health and physical health care has dire consequences on the care for mentally ill. By separating mental and physical health care the patient does not receive appropriate care, whether physical or mental. According to The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (2004), “A recent study of adults discharged from psychiatric hospitals found 20% with chronic and serious conditions such as HIV infection, brain trauma, cerebral palsy and heart disease” (¶ 11). When examining this situation further we find “Despite such extensive medical needs, adults with serious mental illnesses often do not receive treatment. A review of 18 studies estimated that, on average, 35% of individuals with serious mental disorders have at least one undiagnosed medical disorder” (The Bazelon Center for Mental Illness, 2004, ¶ 15). The need to have corresponding care in both physical and mental aspect of a patient’s care is one area the new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system will address.
The new health system will institute a national Electronic Medical Record (EMR). By allowing the EMR system to cross reference through out the nation we will have better care and availability of records will not slow this process down. In today’s health care environment there are several systems collecting and managing patient records. By standardizing this system we will be able to provide
Despite the great accomplishments and many changes the United States health care payment system has made over the years, it is not a surprise that the system still continues to face serious challenges. Our country offers advanced technology and medicine, but it still has millions of Americans who do not have proper coverage to meet their medical needs or are uninsured and therefore cannot benefit from our advanced system. This raises a serious concern in population health, which makes us questions the country’s current system. The United States has commercial and government insurance options with different premiums and levels of coverage for its citizens. However, our complex system presents many flaws that lead Americans to live
Health care has been an area of discussion for some time now. In the United States, the current health care system is a private system that allows individuals to choose their own method of care. Despite the freedom that comes with the independent nature of this type of health care system, the true disposition creates more problems than it solves. The privacy of the health care institutions has caused affordability and access to become serious issues with this system. Additionally, those with lower socioeconomic status fall short of the ability to access the same pool of resources as everyone else. Due to the issues with affordability, access, and the poor infrastructure of the health care system, a universal health
The U.S. health care system faces challenges that indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large gaps even for those with access to insurance coverage.
Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order
After decades of paper based medical records, a new type of record keeping has surfaced - the Electronic Health Record (EHR). EHR is an electronic or digital format concept of an individual’s past and present medical history. It is the principle storage place for data and information about the health care services provided to an individual patient. It is maintained by a provider over time and capable of being shared across different healthcare settings by network-connected information systems. Such records may include key administrative and clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider. Examples of such records may include: demographics, physician notes, problems or injuries, medications and allergies, vital
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
One of this health care’s programs objective is to limit the number of uninsured (Shi & Singh, 2015). This controversial healthcare plan incorporates a privately funded insurance which is paid for through employment and solely by the patient and a publicly funded insurance by the government. Medicare is provided for senior citizens 65 and older, and Medicaid is provided for low income citizens. The federal government and state government both partake in the funding of Medicaid. Although insurance is provided to the low income through Medicaid, the United States continues to suffer from cost escalation spending 17.1 percent of GDP on healthcare in 2013, a 50 percent more than the second nation (Commonwealth, n.d.) The high cost and limited coverage continues to spark up the conversation for a
The rising healthcare cost is an issue that affects many working class Americans. Experts have tried to come up with different ways to make health care more affordable and easily accessible to all. Despite all the efforts and even after the Affordable Care Act, there are still millions of Americans without health insurance coverage and therefore unable to access the necessary medical care. According to a 2015 report by the U.S Census Bureau, there are over 33 million uninsured Americans. (“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 - p60-253.pdf,” n.d.) The Affordable Care Act has unquestionably made healthcare more accessible and reduced the number of uninsured Americans. However, there are still millions of
The U.S. health care system consumes a huge amount of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, and is a massive system that provides essential and world-class care to millions of people (Niles, 2016). As a result of this huge burden of cost associated with it, the U.S. healthcare system has been critiqued, and has played a major role in sparking debates about changes to the way the U.S. healthcare system is run and organized. Thus, healthcare has been on the forefront of many American and politician minds over the last decade and beyond, and many proposals and attempts have been made to change and adapt the complex and influential U.S. healthcare system. One such attempt, that brought about incredibly influential change to the U.S. healthcare
The Medicare, Medicaid, and other types of public funded health insurance programs are the other major sources of insurance in the United States. These types of insurance programs target some particular populations of people and most Americans don’t fall into such populations. This mode of healthcare coverage left over 50 million American (17.6 of the population) including about 7.5 million children, without any form of health coverage in 2009. (Lapierre,2012)
This year being an election year means that the American people are confronted with many issues and disparities that plague our nation. One of these hot button topics is that of healthcare. The United States is the only developed nation without a universal healthcare system, but spends the most for health services. With so many Americans lacking the adequate care needed or facing bankruptcy due to piling medical bills, one must look at the health disparities that are causing this super power nation to inadequately serve its citizens.
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is a computerized database that stores all of the personal and medical information of the patient’s care and billing information by the health care providers. Today, only the providers and medical practices can implement these systems. Also there are neither known national central storage systems nor regional sharing of information between the networks on a regional level or the national level. This is something that needs to be changed because it is important to be able to see this information globally. This
US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of
Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a rapidly changing and often misunderstood technology with the potential to cause great change within the medical field. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers fail to understand the complex functions of EMRs, and they rather choose to use them as a mere alternative to paper records. EMRs, however, have many functionalities and uses that could help to improve the patient-physician relationship and the overall quality of patient care. In order for this potential to be realized, both the patient and the healthcare provider must have a deeper understanding of EMR purpose and function. In this paper will highlights the historical developments and its potential effects on the patient physician relationship in order to
The information technology is changing the world at deviate speed and evident in the healthcare system. The integration of new technologies within the system are emerging the change in nursing practice and improvement of patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on the implemented in nursing practice strategies and contribution of information technology to the development of new healthcare system.