End Stage Renal Disease - Essay Example

End Stage Renal Disease Provision of healthcare services is an intensive and extensive practiceacross individual, organizational, and government contexts. Healthcare complications continue to increase, thereby necessitating the need for healthcare programs that address healthcare needs in the society. The situation has become even more critical for treatable but incurable diseases. End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) has increasingly challenged healthcare financing within and without the United States.

Amid the challenges, the situation has to be addressed in bid to save the lives of the ailing patients.A number of healthcare programs have come to the aid of ESRD patients in the United States, among them Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance (Sullivan 47). Through these programs, it is evident that healthcare provision is an expensive undertaking. As healthcare costs in this line exacerbates, the different forms of ESRD treatment do not seem to have a significant difference in terms of costs.

Hemodialysis and Peritoneal dialysis exhibit significant differences in the mode of treatment employed, but the costs incurred are roughly the same. This implies that the choice on the mode of treatment to use on patients remains a critical decision that nephrologists have to make.Another critical aspect to capture in addressing ESRD concerns is reimbursement. Despite the relative treatment differences in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis (CAPD and CCPG), the reimbursement structure is the same (Sullivan 49).

The government, through its various healthcare programs, and insurance companies continue to direct funds and resources to the coverage of qualifying patients and subscribers respectively. The reimbursement structuring has remained relatively the same, characterized by an ever rising trend in healthcare costs. Both nephrologists and ESRD patients have had substantial decisions to make regarding the reimbursement structure and the various treatment options available.There are a number of economic concerns that revolve around ESRD patients and their daily lives.

To start with, these patients can hardly maintain permanent employment, meaning that their income earning continuity is relatively curtailed. This translates to a financial challenge to the patient and his/her dependents if any. Secondly, government healthcare programs and insurance companies do not necessarily provide 100% coverage. This means that the patients have additional costs to meet, especially in terms of acquiring ancillary drugs. Resulting to dialysis or kidney transplantation does not offer any cure for the disease.

Rather, both are treatment options for the ESRD. As a result, expenditure on ESRD is a continuous undertaking that only come to end upon the death of the patient. For a patient with ESRD, the disease is an economic hardship in all aspects.The cost and treatment of ESRD is a complex issue that patients, the government, insurance firms, and other healthcare providers have to deal with. Increase in healthcare funding by the government is a welcome move to patients, but on the other hand taxpayers air their concern on increased government expenditure.

Allocations to Medicare, Medicaid, and related programs direct substantial budget amounts to ESRD program (Sullivan 49). The need to balance these concerns for all the involved stakeholders often results in ethical implications. Each stakeholder strives to undertake socially acceptable practices.Works CitedSullivan, John. “End Stage Renal Disease Economics and the Balance of Treatment Modalities”. J. Service Science & Management, 2010, 3: 45-50.