Health Care Policies in a Hospital Unit - Essay Example

Health Care Policies in a Hospital UnitAbstractThere are several policies that are constantly being applied in the health care sector. The rate of spending in most health care institutions is rapidly augmenting. According to various sources, the cost of health care facilities has increased significantly, hence, posing a considerable burden to most individuals. Therefore, this paper will discuss some of the health care policies. This essay will also discuss some of the possible solutions to the problems faced in billing and retrieving of payment in health care institutions.

Lastly, this essay will focus on some of the possible outcomes of the changes made by the policy. This paper will address a required change in billing and retrieving of payment from insurance companies and patients in a hospital unit.In health care, a health policy can be defined as an action that is usually undertaken in order to achieve a certain health care goal within the society (Feldstein, 2011). There are several categories of health policies in the health care system. These policies are usually reviewed in order to improve the services provided through the health care system.

The health care policies are aimed at solving or addressing an issue within the health care institutions. Researchers assert that the expenditure in health care is slowly outpacing the GDP in most countries. This paper will employ a possible policy that can address the issue of billing and retrieving of payment from insurance companies and patients in the hospital unit.The creation of a policy usually encompasses three main steps. These steps include the formulation stage, legislative stage and the implementation stage.

In the formulation stage, the policies are usually reviewed by professional experts in the medical field. The legislative stage is the most essential phase in the creation of a policy. This is the stage whereby the policy is enacted through the support of the legislators (Feldstein, 2011). Lastly, the implementation stage is the last stage whereby the intervention of the policy is performed. In this case, the predicament lies within the billing department which also deals with retrieving of funds from insurance companies.

The payment system in a health care institution deals with processing the payments for the services offered in the health care institution.In order for the health care institutions to address this predicament, they should apply the pay per performance policy. This policy is one of the emerging trends in health insurance (Forman, 2008). Pay per performance is employed to outdo the fee for service payment procedure. This policy is quite effective since it also includes rewarding of the healthcare providers, the physicians and the hospitals when they are able to meet the set criterion.

This strategy has significantly increased the outcome in the quality of health care. In billing and retrieving of funds, there are several problems that can arise in the system. For example, there can be a miscalculation that usually arises from human error. This miscalculation can lead to an enormous setback in the billing department. Therefore, the staff members in the billing department are supposed to be extremely cautious when dealing with the funds. In the near future, the health care system is supposed to establish an efficient and affordable method of providing health care services to the citizens of a nation.

This is because the programs applied in the health care systems are increasingly growing at an alarming rate. Thus, the health care policies should be applied in order to address most of the issues that are prevalent in the health care system (Feldstein, 2011). In conclusion, if a health care system does not include the pay per performance policy, then, there is a high possibility that the billing system may prove inefficient. Numerous errors can arise from this issue. Therefore, health care systems are supposed to include the pay per performance strategy to avoid a complicated setback in the institution (Harman, 2011).

Over- utilization of healthcare services also poses a radical threat to the health care institutions in most countries. Therefore, more health care institutions are supposed to be established to cope with the increasing number of patients. ReferencesFeldstein, P. (2011). Health policy issues: An economic perspective. New York: Health Administration Press.Forman, H. (2008). National health care expenditure update: A new threat or an opportunity? American Journal of Roentgenology, 190(3), 557. doi:10.2214/AJR.07.3670Harman, L. (2011). Ethical challenges in the management of health information.

New York: Aspen Publishers.