Problems in the Health Care Delivery System - Essay Example

Running head: Health care delivery system Problems in the health care delivery system Healthcare services is facing stiff challenges in mostof the countries because of the shortage of quality healthcare professionals, lack of facilities in the health care institutions increasing expenses and population. Moreover, therapists and pharmaceutical companies exploit the sick and needy people heavily so that the sick people were afraid of approaching the hospitals. The health insurance services were also not functioning properly and even though the US government spending on this sector is more compared to any other developed countries, it benefits only the private insurance firms rather than the sick people. This paper analyses the problems in healthcare delivery systems for mentally ill patients. Introduction “More than 20 million people in the United States live in areas that have a shortage of physicians to meet their basic health care needs. This lack of access to quality health care for many people, particularly those living in rural and urban underserved communities, is a serious health care problem” (AMSA Foundation) Population increase and lack of health care staff are some of the major reasons for the health care problems in America. Medical expenses are increasing everyday and the government policies in health care insurances are not adequate to meet the demands of the patients. Mental health care is one of the critical sectors in healthcare industry and it is perhaps one of the worst affected one as far as problems and exploitations are concerned. “One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nations mental health, published yesterday” (Weiss) Problems in American mental healthcare systems Talk therapy is one of the modern and effective treatments for the mentally disordered patients. It does not require any medicine and the therapists use different techniques to know the problems of the patient and to suggest solutions for that. Cognitive therapy (which helps to remove harmful ways of thinking), behavioural therapy (which helps to change the harmful ways of acting), and interpersonal therapy (which helps to learn to relate better with others) are the major areas of talk therapy. (An Overview of Talk Therapy) The major problem in mental health sector is the cost factor. Most of the ordinary mental patients may not approach the talk therapists. The problem with talk therapy was not the effectiveness, but the cost. Only the rich people were capable of bearing the high expenses of talk therapies because of the high cost charged by the talk therapists per an hour long counselling session. The talk therapists normally charge around $150 for an hour of counselling which may not be bearable to the poor and ordinary people. Because of the less number of qualified talk therapist across the country, the available ones charging heavily from the patients which prevent the ordinary patients from approaching these professionals. People coming from poor economic backgrounds may not approach the highly expensive specialists in order to receive medical treatment. Physicians were reluctant to send their patients to specialists because of the less number of specialists and also, the heavy expenses in meeting the specialists. Another problem in the mental health sector is the ineffective functioning of the health insurance system. Even though health insurance services are there, it is not functioning properly in America because of the upper hand of private organizations in these areas. “National surveys show that the primary reason people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage” (The National Coalition on Health Care) Though, public or government spending in health insurance sector is more in America (America is supposed to be one of the leading developed country where per capita spending in health sector is more), the effectiveness is less compared to other developed countries. Compared to general patients, mental patients in America experience more problems from the insurance sector. In recent years, concerns about the adequacy of insurance benefits and quality of care for individuals with mental illness have led the majority of states and the federal government to require equal coverage for both mental health and medical conditions. These parity mandates were designed to stop the erosion of insurance coverage for mental health care at a time when scientific research is yielding significant advances in treating mental illness, and to make it easier for the countrys mentally ill population to get help. However, the HCC data suggest that these goals are not being met. Privately insured people with mental illness report receiving different levels of care depending on how strongly the care is managed by their insurance plans. HCC data show that for persons in managed care the odds of receiving no care for mental health problems are lower than for those in unmanaged care. But the odds of receiving less care than desired, or delayed care, are higher for those in strongly managed care (Rand) High premiums and complicated procedures in filling the papers, force the general public to refrain from health insurances. Because of globalization, privatization is encouraged in most of the business areas, and the private organizations exploiting this opportunity to maximize their profit. Because of the global economic recess, the community income has come down a lot. Moreover, the government is trying to get back from the more expensive areas in order to reduce their expenditure. Public policy, market trends affect the health insurance coverage a lot. For example, the current economic depression has caused lot of damages to the private organizations because of the destroyed share values of their firms. These damages force them to implement more strict regulations in providing the services to the public. Out of the 35 nursing home staff members surveyed, majority of the nurses found to be not knowledgeable about psychiatric symptoms and do not seek out psychiatric intervention for their patients. (Caston) Lack of qualified nursing professionals is a major problem, America is facing. Though the number of immigrant nurses from other countries is increasing in America, most of them were not qualified enough and have no specialist knowledge in mental health nursing. “Some health care providers may believe treating older individuals is not worthwhile because elders only have a few years left to live” (Murray-Nash & Amanda). The attitude of some of the health care professionals is not so good as far as the old generations are concerned. Most of the health care professionals will not give enough care to the old patients compared to the young mental patients. For them, there is not much scope left for the old generation and treating them with advanced methodologies like the talk therapy may not be worthwhile. The main reason for the increased rush for antidepressant medicines is not because of the pharmaceutical companies’ advertisements, but because of the increasing volume of mental patients in America and the huge expenses in the modern treatment methods like talk therapy. Busy life styles and increased stress levels from family, workplace and society have destroyed the mental health of many people not only in America, but all over the world. People will not value the side effects of the antidepressant medicines much, when they compare the cost of other options available for them. Qualified health care providers are less in America, and the available professionals charging heavily for their services which prevent the ordinary people from seeking the expert opinion. Conclusions American healthcare industry is facing stiff challenges in general and the mental health area in particular. Failure by the government to control the private insurance organizations from exploiting the poor public prevented the ordinary people from seeking the health insurance protection. Mental health segment experiences shortage of qualified professionals and the available specialists charging heavily for their services which prevent the public from seeking their expert guidance or opinion. Mental patients know very well that the antidepressant medicines they are taking is harmful because of the partial effects associated with it; still they were forced to depend such medicines because of the huge expenses for other options. Effective governmental intervention seems to be the only option available at present as far as the mental health care industry is concerned. References 1. An Overview of Talk Therapy, 2006, Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.thehealthcenter.info/talk-therapy.htm 2. AMSA Foundation, 2009, Health Care Delivery: Rural vs. Urban Communities, Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.amsa.org/programs/gpit/ruralurban.cfm 3. Weiss Rick, 2005, Study: U.S. Leads In Mental Illness, Lags in Treatment, Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601651.html 4. Rand health, 2000, Are People with Mental Illness Getting the Help They Need?, Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB4533/index1.html 5. Caston, Richard J., 1983, EJ299140 - The Role of Education and Health Care Delivery Structure in Quality of Nursing Care for Mentally Ill Patients in Nursing Homes, Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ299140&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ299140 6. Murray-Nash, Amanda, 2008, Quality of care standards: oral health for the geriatric and mentally ill populations Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-176371607.html 7. The National Coalition on Health Care, 2009, Facts on the Cost of Health Insurance and Health Care Retrieved on 17 August 2009 from http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml Read More