Three of the Most Difficult Issues Facing Health Care in the U.S.

Each product must go through a progression of approval, clinical trials, and post market observation protocols in order to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Stages in the development of medical technologies are scientific background and development of idea for a product, product development, approval, and distribution, diffusion, adoption and utilization of the product. Health care professional, patients, families, and policy makers all struggle to understand how health is affected by behavior, economic and social

One technological change that may have the largest effect on our lives today is the rapid growth of medical technology development. Three main effects that medical technology has impacted our modern society are prolonging lifespan, improving quality of health care and promoting nation’s economic growth. The three stages of medical technology are review by regulatory agencies, technology assessments by insurance carriers, and review by purchasers, clinicians, and consumers. Review by regulatory agencies is the most recognized of the three stages and is administered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health by regulating pharmaceutical products and medical devices. Each product must go through a series of approvals, clinical trials, and post market surveillance protocols in order to ensure its safety and effectiveness. www.nap.edu

It is amazing to note that when most Americans when asked what they think the most important health care issue facing the United States the cost and access to care remains the most common response. (Newport, Jones, & Saad, 2012).

Health care reform and health care itself has been a debatable subject for quite some time. Health care is a major issue that is found not only in the United States, but around the world. Controversy has gone around this subject due to the causes and effects of the reform and the matter of not being successful as many hoped. The World Prosperity Organization and the Institute of Medicine have two intriguing viewpoints about health care reform and what is needed to be done. The World Prosperity Organization touches bases on medical negligence, premedical education, money, mindset, medical school and the health care system itself. The Institute of Medicine focuses on the need for healthcare to be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. As the viewpoints are noticeably different, they still wrap around the idea that health care reform has room for improvement to be more successful and not have a negative impact on people around the world. The both agree that something needs to be done and done soon.

Identify and describe at least three of the most difficult issues facing health care in the United States today.

The American healthcare system is an ongoing ailment that is at the forefront of issues plaguing America. Unlike the rest of the world, the American healthcare system is a combination of several models that caters for distinct classes of people. Other countries, such as China and Switzerland, have adopted a one-size-fits-all model in which everyone falls under. This model is a more straightforward as well as cheaper approach to America's healthcare system.

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.

Medicaid is a vital lifeline for some 72 million Americans. Two-thirds of all Medicaid spending supports senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Cutting Medicaid would jeopardize the quality of healthcare, long-term services, and nursing home care for tens of millions of Americans. There are significant cost issues in America’s healthcare system that must be effectively addressed, but these challenges will not be remedied by benefit cuts to vulnerable

This paper will breakdown the difference between clinical and institutional ethics. How this can cause conflict between healthcare and society. Thus, providing an example of how healthcare professionals can be conflicted when trying to provide the best quality care or a compassionate treatment outcome.

MS. Washington is facing with ethical dilemmas which may affecst her decision and question her virtues if she were to choose between which funding to eliminate. If she chose between eliminating funds for adolescent well child screening or eliminating funds for a single costly program that provides catastrophic assistance she may be faced with challenging questions by staff, families, and patients. She is ambivalent in making the decision to cutting funds because she feels like she has a responsibility to provide autonomy, moral justice, and she also values the patient’s decision and feelings. Therefore, this makes it more difficult to make changes because she would probably face with many disagreement and questioned why chose one instead of

“If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing”. –Henry Kravis - The American healthcare system delivers some of the finest care in the world. However, despite the high level of achievement delivered from the American healthcare system, it is afflicted with problems. Ethical issues that occur in the healthcare delivery system are indeed common. Almost every decision that is made in a healthcare organization has ethical implications. These ethical implications are towards the patient, provider and the leader of the organization. Ethics tend to determine which actions will contribute to an individual fulfillment of happiness. Ethics are very powerful and tend to presuppose freedom and responsibility in the organization. In my current place of employment the care of patients is integrated with medical research, which in return allows for the healthcare practices to continuously be studied and improved. As a healthcare leader or worker, decisions will be made when the common good of both the patients and organization must be taken into consideration. As an effective healthcare leader one must practice adhering to the ethical standards and codes of conduct for his or her individual place of employment. According to Rae (2009), there are 7 steps in making moral decisions. The seven

Third, because the rising cost of healthcare, the current healthcare system is “poorly positioned to respond to growing demographic and lifestyle issues that promise to exacerbate healthcare cost and create barriers to access”. The Washington-based Association of American Medical Colleges said “the U.S. faces a crisis of access, cost, and quality that needs immediate action”. The AAMC is hoping the six principles for healthcare reform will be considered and factored into any legislative equations. The principles call for affordable and continuous coverage that’s available to all; promotion of wellness and disease prevention as well as palliative care, and quality diagnosis and treatment of illness; sustainable and equitable financing that promotes efficiency and quality; maintenance of existing programs that serve defined populations until they can be replaced by better alternative; investment in the expansion of the healthcare provider supply;

When medical care providers are forced to make decisions and these decisions “violate one of the four principles of medical ethics” so that they can adhere to

The United States Healthcare system is one of the largest out in the world, we currently spend approximately 22% higher than the next country in the world. The US healthcare system currently spends about $2.6 trillion each year, and estimated 30% of that is wasted (Meritage Medical Network). Those staggering numbers comes from multiple facets of issues that are currently present in the US healthcare system. There are currently five factors that can be attested as the primary reason why spending is high, and the waste of money is also high. They are care coordination, lack of information, readmission rates, patient to nurse ration, and finally healthcare coverage. If each of these factors is limited or ultimately eliminated, we can see

Yes, the financial complexity of the health care system can lead to many ethical challenges. Private health care insurance gradually demands moral and ethical issues of consequence to both employers and workers. Federal health care legislation has made the situation worse by emphasizing governments moral decisions over those of employers and workers who purchase private health plans. One of the bigger issues in health care funding are those that operate on the principles of specific treatments or plans. There are still many differences over what should be considered necessary care, or when doctors should prescribe a specific therapy or incorporate a delicate plan (Haislmaier, 2013).