Sociology of Medicine - Essay Example

Sociology of Medicine al Affiliation Criteria for assessing health websites Web sites offering health-related information arerapidly increasing as more are searching the internet for health information. However, of importance is the need to evaluate the quality of the content and the usability of the information. The evaluation of the websites is necessary due to the critical role they play in influencing healthcare decision making in the populace. Various criteria have been proposed to help in the assessment of the credibility of such websites. Still to date, the commonly applied criteria for the evaluation of the sites include credibility, content, design, interactivity, disclosure and links (Wall 2007). The credibility of the sources encompasses the consideration of the sources of the information used, the reliability of the information, its relevance and the existence of peer review processes. The source of health marks as the most vital criteria for the determination of the quality and the credibility of the site. The sources employed should be drawn from a reputable organization, with the name of the organization explicitly displayed. In addition, the authors of the information should easily be identifiable to the consumer. It should be easy for the product users to trace the qualification of the perpetrators of the information to ascertain their credibility (Kim, 2009). The information provided should also be up-to-date. A site that publishes outdated does not qualify as a credible source. As such, the date to which the data is intended should be provided on the website to enable the consumer know of the applicability of the information to the current situation. Additionally, it is advised that as a way of ensuring that the right information is provided to the populace, the date, of posting the content, must be displayed (Wall, 2007). Another aspect that creates credibility is the relevance of the information. The information embed in the site should correlate with the information is offered. Finally, an accredited body as a way of ensuring its credibility should approve the website. The site should be able to claim quickly that the information it provides has been reviewed for reliability (Kim, 2009). The second criteria relate to the content, which is supposed to be accurate and complete. A disclaimer statement to the use of the information provided on the website should be included. The accuracy of the content provided is evaluated in relation to various aspects. For one, the data that underlines the presented conclusions may need identification; such data clinical evidence is explicitly stated. The content should be structured with a framework provided to ease the consumption of the information. Also, experts cry for the provision of information that indicates that the available testimonials may not be used as evidence (Kim, 2009). The content of the website is similarly assessed via the availability of a disclaimer. The disclaimer is intended to describe the limitations, purpose, extent, and reliability of the information. The provided disclaimer should provide an emphasis that the submitted statements are mere information and not medical advice. Instead, it should encourage readers to seek the advice of physicians prior to making health decisions. The completeness of the information providers cannot be stressed. For instance, the website should not hesitate to offer negative results in the information provided (Littlejohns, 2003). Another criteria employed in assessing the information submitted by a site is disclosure. A health site should inform the readers of any move to collect data on their consumption behavior while using the site. As such, it is important for the site to provide the purpose of the site. Along with the statement of the purpose, is the description of the person collecting any user data (Littlejohns, 2003). Part of the criteria, for evaluating a health website, is the design of the site. It is advised that the design of the site should not interfere with any part of the information as it can severely affect the delivery and applicability of the information. In line with this revelation, as health site should be logically organized for easier navigation with the inclusion of search capabilities (Wall, 2007) Another criterion, of assessing a website, is the availability of links for the verification of the content on the site. The links are meant to direct the consumers to similar reliable sources of medical information. Specifically vital to the quality of a website are its external links to redirect the readers to alternative credible sources. The credibility of the contents of a site is considered worthy of its ability to provide high-quality links (Littlejohns, 2003). 3. The success of the Canadian health system The Canadians are described as being masochistic, with the UN ranking the country as the most livable nation globally. Of interest, however, is the element that creates such as a status quo. Reports indicate that Canada boasts of the most successful health care system globally (Jeanne, 2003). The Canadian health care initiative is effective in delivering health care to the Canadians, irrespective of their economic or social status. The most celebrated and prized issue of the Canadian healthcare system is the system’s universality. All Canadians are assured of access to a fundamental set of healthcare services (Clarke, 2012). Cross-border comparative surveys claim that though both the Canadian and the American system serves well the wealthy and middle-income earners, variations exist in the access to care and the outcomes especially to the destitute. For instance, it is approximated that over 40 million US citizens have no medical insurance cover. In addition, those with access have to part with large user charges The rapidly widening gap in life expectancy has favored the Canadians, an aspect that is portrayed across all the segments of the population. Canada applies a single payer health care system that has drastically simplified the administration cost of the system. It is estimated that on average, Canada’s healthcare cost has stabilized at 9 percent. The healthcare system in the country is a publicly funded insurance program with controls existing on the expenditures. The idea of the system lies in the fact that Canadians can seek medical services in any hospital or doctor in the country (Clarke, 2012). The single-payer system eliminates the possibility of an alternative system in the form of private health insurance, as it is the case of the United States. As such, persons from various economic classes have no option but to ensure the adequate funding of the system. Consequently, coupled with the carefully monitored cost, all individuals inclusive of the poor share the same medical system receiving the same quality of health care (Kwon, 2008) Typically, the country has relatively much more percentage of practitioners and fewer specialists. Despite the country’s physicians making about a third of their American counterparts, reports claim of their comparatively higher levels of job satisfaction due to the much time available to work instead of paperwork. The less paperwork is derived from the existence of only one player, which also makes it easy to set up and adhere to budgetary constraints. The system preaches for effective planning as a way of ensuring the elimination of duplication of service and the use of expensive yet unneeded technology (Jeanne, 2003). The economic merits associated with the single payer system are multi-faceted. Relative to other North Americans, the Canadians have longer life expectancies and are healthier. The introduction of universal preventive health care reduces costly medical care linked to undetected, untreated ailments. So efficient is the system that chances of litigation are reduced as it eliminates awards to cover forthcoming medical expenses since they are already covered. Savings are obvious because the need for health insurance components for vehicle or home insurance is reduced (Clarke, 2012). Another economic advantage is the fact that the Canadian single paper system ensures less loss of productive labor. Loss that could occur from absence resulting from sickness is carted since the practical, and cheap plan is less costly for firms to provide it their staff. Such has been the case to the extent that estimates indicate that on average, Canadian citizens produce American vehicles for over $700 less than the Americans do. The difference in production cost is linked to the variation in the cost of providing health care to the workers. The reduced costs have given Canada the much-needed competitive advantage in various industrial forums (Duffin, 2011). The single payer program has been applied in Canada for over 235 years and has significantly eased the associated administration expenses. For instance, in comparison to the Canadian system, the American system has been declared as slow. Prior to the enactment of the single payer system, Canada’s health costs were significantly large as that of the US. The program has seen the country’ values stabilizing at 9 percent relative to the 14 percent of the US (Duffin, 2011). 4. Alternative scenarios for the future of Medicare The United States federal government pays part of the medical care bills for more than 45 million elderly and disabled persons via Medicare. Currently, the program ranks third among federal programs after defense and social security, costing the American taxpayers in excess of $430 billion annually. Specifically, the program doubles up as one of the fastest-growing projects in the government budget, with projections indicating a doubling of the expenditure by 2030. In spite of that, various scholarships have suggested that over one-third of the expenses in the project is wasted. The rapidly rising Medicare costs have continued to be burdensome on the taxpayers. Typically, the fee-for-service payment mechanism, by which practitioners are paid fixed amounts for every procedure, is a garden for excessive spending. Since the system fails to ensure quality, an attribute that contributes to unwarranted costs and higher spending, an alternative scenario to the network is indispensable (Litan, 2013). The projection of medical expenditures is mostly governed by the annual payment updates to Medicare providers. Nevertheless, with the cries from the public increasing concerning the massive Medicare payments, amendments to the affordable care act to fast track a reduction in pay rates were enacted. Due to the long-ranging impacts on the productivity of adjustments, an independent panel of actuaries reviewed the assumptions and techniques employed by the trustees in projecting the financial status of the trust funds. The 2010-2011 Medicare technical review committee in their ultimate report recommended for the trustees to encapsulate a chart that shows a comparison of the current-law projections to two illustrative alternatives (Wittenburg 2000). Alternative one that constitutes of the projected basely scenario incorporates an adjustment to the physician’s payment reductions emanating from SGR scheme. The total explanatory option contains the physical payment update changes and adjustments to the cuts in remittances updates because of the increase in the economy. Part, A of the alternative projection, starts by phasing down the productivity adjustments stipulated in the ACA. The CBO alternative claims that the annual expenditure on Medicare is expected to hit the 6 percent mark of the GDO by the year 2030 and 15% in 2083. The results are in contrast with the analysis by the CBO under the Roadmap annual report. The report provides that Medicare would account for only 5 percent of the country’s GDP by 2030, later reducing to 4 percent in the year 2050. After a 75 year period, the expenditure projections are expected to turn significantly higher with the impact estimated to be modest in the short term. As such, the committee established that the under the alternative projection, the projected trust fund in the first alternative gets exhausted in the year 2029, one year before the projected baseline. Costs are expected to continue rising as a proportion of the taxable payroll in the long run and attain a high of 8.9 percent by 2088. The comparisons depict the powerful impact of the statutory productivity adjustments (CBO, 2011). The second alternative scenario is of the assumption that physician payment update cuts stipulated by the SGR program. They are to be placed with a 0 percent update for 2015 with an annual increase of 0.6 percent starting 2016 till 2022. The reductions are predicted to grade up from now on till average physician expenditure per beneficiary increases in proportion to the country’s per capita health expenditure. It also provides for the productivity adjustments for most parts of the alternative. The expected baseline scenario is inclusive of the physician payment update override premise. However, it does not provide an inclusion of the assumption of the phase-out of the productivity adjustments (Litan, 2013). In line with the projections, the prevailing Medicare projections may likely be an understatement of the future costs of Medicare. With the immediate physician fee cuts stipulated by the law being unworkable, the predictions emphasized throughout the 2014 report a reflection of the projected scenario that presumes an override to the SGR formula physician payment updates. On the receiving end are the Medicare prices levels in a gradual step are the productivity adjustments. In spite of that, an active likelihood exists such that with no significant transformational changes in the practice of healthcare, in the long run, payment rates may be inadequate. Consequently, actual medical expenditures may exceed the 2014 projections (Wittenburg, 2000). In as much as some of the modifications may address the adequacy of provider payment rates, other sections may be designed to impact expenditure levels of growth rates. The impacts may only be admissible in the long run. As a result, the current –law projections cannot be interpreted as the most probable expectations of the actual Medicare financial project tomorrow. The alternative projections rather are helpful in the quantification of the potentiality of the project. Despite the significant improvements in Medicare’s financial outlook, it is vital to temper awareness of the tough barriers that lie upfront in enhancing the quality of care. The significant variations in projected Medicare costs in the current system and alternative scenario depict the vital importance of soliciting ways to cut down on Medicare expenses. In addition, there is need to align them to the affordability of the society (CBO, 2011). References CBO confirms: GOP budget dismantles medicare, dramatically increases costs for seniors. (2011). (). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/860595900?accountid=1611 Clarke, J. N. (2012). Health, illness, and medicine in Canada. Don Mills, Ont: Oxford University Press. Duffin, Jacalyn,M.D., PhD. (2011). The impact of single-payer health care on physician income in canada, 1850-2005. American Journal of Public Health, 101(7), 1198-208. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/877968391?accountid=1611 Jeanne, S. S. (2003). Lessons from canada about a single-payer system. Healthcare Financial Management, 57(5), 36-36, 38. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/196372716?accountid=1611 Kim, P., Eng, T. R., Deering, M. J., & Maxfield, A. (1999). Published criteria for evaluating health related web sites: review. Bmj, 318(7184), 647-649. Kwon, Janice S, MD,M.P.H., F.R.C.S.C., Carey, Mark S,M.D., F.R.C.S.C., Cook, E. F., Qiu, F., M.Sc, & Paszat, Lawrence F, MD,M.Sc, F.R.C.P.C. (2008). Are there regional differences in gynecologic cancer outcomes in the context of a single-payer, publicly-funded health care system? A population-based study. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 99(3), 221-6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/232014665?accountid=1611 Litan, R. E. (2013). Fundamental change in medicare will come-eventually. Experience : The Magazine of the Senior Lawyers Division, American Bar Association, 22(3), 19-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1291075519?accountid=1611 Littlejohns, P., Wyatt, J. C., & Garvican, L. (2003). Evaluating computerised health information systems: hard lessons still to be learnt. Bmj, 326(7394), 860-863. Wall, A. F. (2007). Evaluating a health education website: The case of AlcoholEdu. NASPA Journal, 44(4). Wittenburg, D. C., Stapleton, D. C., & Scrivner, S. B. (2000, How raising the age of eligibility for social security and medicare might affect the disability insurance and medicare programs. Social Security Bulletin, 63, 17-26. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227821035?accountid=1611 Read More