Public Health Care: Policy and Budget - Assignment Example

Question 1. Workforce One of the main drivers of health care workforce shortage is inadequate public health funding (Hurley et al, 2008). Inadequate funding sabotages the objectives of health facilities to carry out human resource mobilization. Undermining the hiring capacity of institutions creates an obvious scarcity of staff working in those institutions. In other cases, the funding might be temporarily sufficient but quite inelastic to the increasing demographic changes such population surges. The government needs to prioritize health in its budgeting policy especially because of its linkage to mortality rates. More resources need to be allocated to the health sector in the annual budget allocation and a regular review done to accommodate changes. Another driver of health workforce shortage is uncompetitive salaries and benefits (Hurley et al, 2008). Given the amount of time invested in training medical personnel, their remuneration is a crucial factor to their retention in the field. If the compensation is not commensurate to the amount of training undergone, then the health system attracts fewer people thereby creating a shortage. The government and private stakeholders should review the salaries of medical personnel to ensure their satisfaction thereby attracting and retaining them. Finally, insufficient supply of trained workers remains a major setback in filling this void (Hurley et al, 2008). People may be available but their qualification may not be updated. Lack of skilled laborers creates an artificial scarcity of personnel with the requisite capacity. The government should gear up its training efforts by way of increasing the number of training institutions and tutors to facilitate the transfer of knowledge. In this way, the skilled health workers will increase and improve service delivery Question 2. Health Care Paradigm In a fee-for-service health care system, providers of health services tag cost to the services provided. That means that medical personnel and institutions charged set fees for the procedures undertaken. However, in a managed care system, a deliberate effort is made to hold down medical costs by shifting the focus from fee-for- service costing to a costing system of an agreed price. For example, the doctor can enter into an agreement to be paid a monthly flat rate for his services independent of the frequency with which the services are offered. Managed care is widely criticized because of the introduction of a profit motive to the health care sector (Zwanziger et al, 1996). Insurance companies have come forth to arbitrage low cost managed health care to patients. Individuals are denied sufficient access to certain services, and the discretion of health workers is seriously curtailed. The intended savings from the program thus ends up as profits for the companies whereas the citizen’s welfare is jeopardized. Question 3. Continuum of Care and the Integrated Delivery Systems Health care access is the ease with which medical services are availed to citizens in need. It is a measure of the remoteness of medical attention and services in a given locality. Measuring access to health care is extremely imperative because it measures the effectiveness of government to respond to medical emergencies or even ordinary cases that require medical attention and subsequently keep the mortality rate in check. The whole essence of medical access is to guarantee the health and wellbeing of citizens. Knowledge of access statistics informs the decision of the government’s efforts to step up its access indices. If the access rate is low, then the government will initiate programs to increase its penetration e.g. by way of building more health facilities. Question 4.Continuum of Care and the Integrated Delivery Systems A fully integrated delivery system (IDS) is significant in the sense that it provides a continuum of services and is clinically and fiscally accountable for the same (Laplante, 2005). Development of IDS has come about due to horizontal and vertical integration. The horizontal integration is when the physicians or providers come together and make a unified offering thus achieving higher satisfaction (Sinclair, 2001). The vertical on the other hand, is when the providers fuse efforts with other non-medical organizations such as insurance firms thus giving them a wider and more organized coverage (Sinclair, 2001). The integration of the two results in a single multifaceted entity that captures the fiscal and medical facets of health care delivery. Describe its development in terms of horizontal and vertical integration. With the reference to the premium dollars, the government requires the insurance firms to spend a minimum of the dollar premiums to be expensed as a medical cost thus the need to integrate the delivery system. The IDS has increased efficiency and delivery of services to customers by way of providing all the services under one roof. Question 5.Mental Health and Long-Term Care The commonality between mental health and long term care is the relative dependence between the two categories of services. The mentally ill are in a state of least consciousness and as such have to be guided to interact with their environment. Long term care, on the other hand, reduces individuals to the level of little children and are in a state of perpetual dependence (Margereson, 2010). The main challenge the two face is acceptance from society. In a way, the society does not fully appreciate the persons with an infinite dependency trait and perceived more like liabilities. Such kind of mentality has led to diminished efforts to sustain the unique group. Question 6: The Role of Pharmaceuticals in Health Care The pharmaceutical industry spends millions in the manufacture of drugs that are a key component of health care (Rhee, 2008). It is one thing to diagnose a condition and another to treat it. The pharmaceuticals bear the brunt of conducting research into ailments and coming up with drugs to free the citizenry from such ailments. A health care administrator works closely with drug company representatives to effect the health system. Most of the times, he will place orders for any drugs that may be in need. More than that, he also gives significant feedback to the drugs company in as far as the effectiveness of the drugs is concerned. The feedback can then be acted upon to add value to the drugs. Reference list Hurley, R., Draper, D., & Lauer, J. (2008, April 16). Center for Studying Health System Change. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/979/ Zwanziger, J., & Melnick, G. (1996). Can managed care plans control health care cost. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/15/2/185.full.pdf Rhee, J. (2008). ISPUB.com. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from https://ispub.com/IJAPA/7/1/10273 Margereson, C. (2010). Developing holistic care for long-term conditions. London: Routledge. Laplante, A. (2005). Integrated systems improve medical care, control costs, according to Enthoven. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/october26/enthoven-102605.html Sinclair, D. (2001). Health care reform: The effect of a vertically integrated health system on emergency medicine. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://www.cjem-online.ca/v2/n3/p154 Read More