students entering medical school
students entering medical school
Reply to the following posts. In your reply, include new information about the attributes you utilized in your original assignment (The one you did for me). Each reply should be at least 200 to 300 words.
I will also attach the original assignment you did for me.
Post # 1: Jacqueline
The United States health system is built upon the three pillars of quality, cost and access to healthcare. These three pillars have been a focus in policy and healthcare reform in recent years and will continue to be in coming years. There are many attributes that contribute to these three pillars and their continued progress. Upon completing the readings by Shi and Singh (2014), some of these attributes include number of students entering medical school, prescription drug cost and the effects of research on healthcare. The number of students entering medical school, cost of prescription drugs and research are all related to the three pillars of quality, cost and access to healthcare.
The number of students entering medical school is determined by several variables. A major variable effecting the number of students entering medical school is their ability to obtain a government grant to help cover the cost of medical school (Shi & Singh, 2014). With the help of government grants, more students may be more likely to apply to a medical school. The increase in number of students going to medical school will result in more providers. Currently, there is great demand for primary care physicians and with more students attending medical school due to government grants, resultantly a greater number of providers will be available and will increase the populations access to healthcare (Shi & Singh, 2014). The attribute of the number of students going to medical school relates to the access to healthcare in the United States.
The next attribute of healthcare identified it the readings of Shi and Singh (2014) is the cost of prescription drugs. The cost of prescription drugs impacts individuals overall cost of healthcare. The cost of prescriptions drugs can greatly increase in a short period, and in 2014 and 2015, there was a twelve-percent increase on overall spending on prescription drugs (Shi & Singh, 2014). The cost of prescription drugs has also been a hot topic in politics. The president of the United States has claimed that the cost of prescription drug prices went down last year for the first time in 51 years (Rizzo, 2019). In the report by The Washington Post, it was found that the statement and claims made by the president were skewed and in 2018, there was an increase in 4,412 brand-name drugs and a price cut to only 46 brand-name drugs in the first seven months of the year (Rizzo, 2019). The cost of prescription coverage effects the overall cost of healthcare to individuals and has been a topic of focus politically. The third attribute identified in the readings is the effect that research has on healthcare. Research is directly related to the quality of healthcare. The effect of research on healthcare includes reducing “the risk of harm from healthcare services by using evidence-based research and technology to promote the delivery of best possible care” (Shi & Singh, 2014, p. 558). Research also transforms practice of healthcare by increasing access to effective services and “improves healthcare outcomes by encouraging providers, consumers and patients to use evidence-based information to make informed treatment decisions” (Shi & Singh, 2014, p. 558). Research is responsible for evidence-based practice and ultimately increasing the quality of healthcare in the United States. The combination of these three attributes of number of students entering medical school, cost of prescription drugs and the effects of research are all related to the three pillars of healthcare. The three pillars of healthcare provide a solid foundation to healthcare in the United States and will continue to be improved upon through policy and healthcare reform. Quality, cost and access to healthcare effect the health of the United States population and will continue to remain a focus of opportunity for improvement.
References
Rizzo, S. (2019, July 15). Are prescription drug prices going down? The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/15/are-prescription-drug-prices-going-down/ Shi, L., & Singh, D. (2014). Delivering Health Care in America (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
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Post # 2: Emily
Quality, cost and access are the three main pillars of the U.S healthcare system. While we strive as a nation to maintain these three pillars, there are many other attributes that contribute to the system as well to consider. According to Shi and Singh (2019), one of the biggest characteristics of the U.S healthcare system that separates it from other developed nations is that it is a private system of financing and delivery and not controlled by a single department or agency (p. 11). This system avoids the use of global budgets, which is defined by Shi and Singh (2019) as “allocation of pre-established total expenditures for a health care system or subsystem”, and allows private businesses to finance health care expenditures independently from the government (p.11). Having no central agency also allows for lower taxes. Former Vice President Joe Biden, in the most recent democratic debate, argued that use of a central agency, or Senator Bernie Sanders proposal of “Medicare for All”, to control the healthcare system would cause taxes to “skyrocket” (Huetteman, 2019). While access is certainly a goal of the U.S health care system, there are other characteristics that could effect the American people as well to consider.
Another characteristic of the U.S healthcare system is that access to health care services is based on insurance coverage (Shi & Singh, 2019, p. 10). There are multiple ways Americans can access health care services, however there are barriers if patients are uninsured. One of the main barriers to safe health care delivery to the uninsured is the lack of access to primary care services (Shi & Singh, 2019, p. 12). Because of these barriers, Americans are encouraged to insure themselves either through their employers or through a government health program. According to a report by Wolfson (2019), California will begin issuing tax penalties to those who are uninsured. Lastly, research and innovation in the medical field is one of the reasons the U.S has some of the best hospitals in the world and one of the characteristics that contributes to quality health care delivery (Shi & Singh, 2019, p. 16). However, balancing these new advances and providing cost-effective care can be a challenge (Mawali, Pinto, & Hinai, 2018, p. 442). According to Mawali, Pinto, and Hinai (2018), government systems must regulate “assessment, planning, and budgeting to formal evaluation, procurement, warehousing, distribution, utilization, maintenance, replacement, and disposal” in order to meet the needs of developing processes while also maintaining a budget (p. 442).
Providing high-quality, cost-effective and accessible care is a challenging task effected by multiple factors of the U.S healthcare system. This issue directly impacts every American and leaders are consistently presenting new ideas to effectively reach these goals to satisfy citizens. With diseases growing more complex and technology advancing to diagnose, treat and prolong the lives of many, the challenge of maintaining these pillars is becoming more of an issue. References
Huetteman, E. (December 20, 2019). Democrats Debate Whether ‘Medicare For All’ Is ‘Realistic’. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved from
https://khn.org/news/democrats-debate-whether-medicare-for-all-is-realistic/ Mawali, A. A.-, Pinto, A. D., & Hinai, A. T. A.-. (2018). Medical Equipment and Healthcare Technology: Health Vision 2050. Biomedical Instrumentation and
Technology, (6), 442. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.563952593&site=eds-live Shi, L., & Singh, D. (2019). Delivering Health Care in America (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Wolfson, J.B. (December 13, 2019). Californians without health insurance will pay a penalty — or not. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved from
https://khn.org/news/californians-without-health-insurance-will-pay-a-penalty-or-not/
