The Concept of Health Care Innovation - Essay Example

? Health Care Innovation Affiliation This paper deeply describes the essence of innovation in health care. It expresses innovation through new and improved health care infrastructure that relies on process and product novelty. Technology innovation takes the core to facilitate change in care givers functions and patients accessibility of health records. Changes in equipments in heath facilities provide better and easier health care to the patients. The document includes the benefits of the new U.S health care bill; affordable health care, discounts on Medicare and primary care boost to the society, how it improves their health and reduces cost in the public health spending. It finally discusses Obama Care as part of innovation and its possible future trends. Keywords: Innovation, Product Innovation, Process Innovation, Medicare, Technology, Equipment, Health Care, Drugs, Stakeholder, Cover, Cost. Health Care Innovation Health care innovation is a wide concept of either radical improvement, or newly introduced functions, ideas and services in health systems. Through innovation, defined procedures and products are applied on the organization structure and its roles. It comes with changes in technical, leadership, management and technology sectors. However, Technology plays an important role to bring about this novelty, where it ether leads to an orderly or disruptive process. For the case of disturbing procedures, it mayhems the previous existing system, interrupting the existing markets and the key participants. The innovation make’s credible use of technology in holding, processing and disseminating information for all stakeholders’ sake. Active implementation of the advanced, electronic operated hardware facilities in health structure, allow easier accessibility of records that could be in risky paper works. It does enable wider and easier doctors and physicians consultation, to offer the patients reliable services. It involves the patients, care givers, governments, regulatory agencies and other involved organization; all having different needs and desired expectations. Since the focus is on patient needs, heath care practitioners and suppliers, according to Einspruch and Omachonu (2010), the health care organization while allocating “treatment, diagnosis, prevention, education, research and outreach …… must effectively manage quality, costs, safety, efficiency and outcomes” ( p. 10). In health care innovation, technology can comfortably use product and process innovation. The process novelty, facilitate the use of better routines on product and delivery to meet customer needs through changes in machineries, techniques and operating systems. For product, the changes on goods or services will be influenced by the anticipated use and traits. In the new U.S health bill, the innovation in Quality and affordable care act has proved beneficial to the health care of many families in the society. Every individual, patients and wide range of families are now in charge of of their health care besides having an advantage to save on their expenses. The savings result from the abridged premium costs where the society can now choose which insurance premium to adopt with respect to their financial income. The innovation of this act has seen many less earning families without cover acquire it at a low cost securing their life continuity The role of public programs in the Obama Care removes the rigidity of states indifferences in medical programs and instead, broadens the equality in Medicaid programs among the states. Through the affordable act, Medicaid programs allow drug prescription coverage more within people’s means through the closure of the gap in drug coverage (donut hole) (“Medicare Drug Discount” 2012). Through this, citizens can purchase drugs inexpensively from any pharmacies that have access to electronic database, to check the validity of the buyer’s insurance cover at any location. The citizens take this advantage in health care innovation, and as a result the patient can receive reliable treatment and reduced cost in drugs purchase till 2020 A boost on Medicare is also possible through payment to primary care physician act. The primary care could use the additional money to hire more practitioners and nurses increasing the work force in the health organization. In the end the care givers will attend to many patients at a lower cost. There is a possibility that families will be able to hire physicians, to cater for their health providing a wider service to many. In this support, primary care students, telemonitoring, mobile nurses and care givers can increase their quality of service delivery, reducing the cost of extra in sourcing experts from outside. On the broader side, the incorporation of Information Technologies as part of innovation has raised public awareness concerning health issues. People receive free education on health and hygiene matters so that they are responsible for their diets, preventive measures and the general health resulting to quality life improvement. The health IT – enabled reforms facilitate electronic exchange of health information (Sebelius, n.d) across health facilities in a private and secure manner. The working conditions, environment and equipments used in the hospitals have been kept up to date to avoid compromising the health of the care givers in their duties. Technology innovation range from: electronic clinical health record systems, use of robotics in rehabilitation and therapies, advancement of surgical systems into 3-D visualization among others. All this effort is to improve the health care quality and efficiency. Health care innovation will decrease health care spending in the long run. It may be practically impossible to tell the situation the U.S is currently in, but what holds with the fluctuating health sector imbalance, is that changes in some sectors will influence others. Innovation in the workforce is hard to predict since we would be dealing with performance which at times may be better. The stronghold of cost-reducing innovation lies on drugs, test and devices, substituting highly trained expensive healthcare staff, with less trained, yet sufficient competent workers and restructuring insurance market to increase competition (Robinson & Smith, 2012). Hence possible by acquiring safe medications from other developed countries and less spending on the services rendered. Health care innovation trend in the U.S future is live and possible. The economic status may fluctuate but it always responds boldly to the situation. More needs facing the health sector will force progress on the current built health care foundation. It is not just a matter of investment, but it requires maintenance and renovation with the changes in political power, economic stability and technology. So far the innovation already began and it is the role of every stakeholder in health care to fuel it onwards. Health is the core center of human labor and with the investors digging out of their pockets to support the innovation, we expect much more advancement. Reference list Einspruch, Norman. G & Omachonu, Vincent. K (2010). Innovation in Healthcare Delivery Systems: A Conceptual Framework. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Volume 15(1). Retrieved from http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/omachonu_healthcare_3innovate2.pdf Medicare Drug Discounts. (2012). HealthCare.gov. Retrieved 18 October, 2012. From http://www.healthcare.gov/law/features/65-older/drug-discounts/index.html Robinson, J.C. & Smith, M.D. (2012). Cost-Reducing Innovation in Health Care. HealthAffairs.org. retrieved 18 October, 2012. From http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/27/5/1353.full Sebelius, Kathleen (n.d.). Objective F:  Promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. HHS.gov. Retrieved 18 October, 2012. From http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/about/goal1.html Read More