Competing needs impacting cost of care Essay Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Competing needs impacting cost of care Essay Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Introduction

In the healthcare setting, truly in any economic setting, there are resources and uses they are to be put to. Resources are scarce in that there is not an infinite supply and the use cases compete with each other in their demand for the limited resources. Care staff and finances are limited resources that are critical inputs in healthcare provision. In determining what use resources are to be put to, decision makers find themselves balancing trade-offs where a gain on one side means a loss of benefits or value on another side. Such balancing acts in an environment of strict regulatory control and demand for quality care impact the costs of care. Cost of care is the national healthcare issue that I selected for discussion.

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Competing needs impacting cost of care

One of the needs impacting cost of care is demand by patients for high quality care. Provision of high quality care requires an organization to have a highly skilled, well-remunerated highly motivated workforce in optimal nurse-to-patient ratios (Kelly & Porr, 2018). Hiring highly skilled nurses capable of delivering quality care takes resources. Remunerating the staff and providing benefits also requires resources as does hiring nurses for optimal nurse-patient ratios Competing needs impacting cost of care Essay Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices. Without optimal nursing ratios, the quality of care would be compromised by errors and staff with low morale. Such expenditures on staff are passed on to payers, thereby driving up the cost of care.

Providing high quality care in today’s world requires the use of technology. Technology in healthcare has both a capital and recurrent cost element to it where capital expenditures are incurred to acquire and implement technological tools and aids, and recurrent expenditures for its maintenance and support. These expenditures are ultimately passed on to clients thus increasing the cost of care.

Another need impacting cost of care is regulatory pressure. Regulatory bodies and insurance providers put pressure on healthcare organizations to adopt policies and practices geared at standardizing elements of the care process for compliance purposes and to facilitate insurance payments (Hovland & Moltu, 2019). Such policies entail the adoption of specific technologies, and creating and hiring for job positions that would otherwise not be needed. This places a demand on organizational resources and the provider shifts the burden to payers. This is facilitated by the fact that healthcare has a largely inelastic demand curve as it is a basic need. Providers understand this, and employ it to pass on additional costs of care provision to clients.

Policy to influence cost of care and ethical considerations

One of the factors contributing to healthcare costs is medications. A provider can introduce policy to lower the quantity of medications prescribed and administered to patients by using data analytics to arrive at the optimal medication or combination of medications to treat patients whilst being cognizant of the costs. Over medication is a problem in the healthcare system in the United States (Gellad et al, 2017). Competing needs impacting cost of care Essay Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Notably, there is over-prescription of medications that patients do not need to improve their health. There is also simultaneous prescription of different types of medication to treat the same disease without it being established that the illness is resistant to a single type of medication. Such use of drugs is what led to the opioid epidemic where over-prescription of opiate painkillers ended up burdening patients and the larger society (Gellad et al, 2017). Given the over-use of medication, reducing the quantity of drugs can significantly lower the cost of healthcare.

In terms of ethics, the policy to lower medication usage by using data analytics can be analyzed in terms of impact on patient outcomes and other participants in the care process. Physicians prescribe medications to treat patients based on their knowledge and analysis of patient’s condition with the goal of returning the patient to a state of wellness. By introducing data analytics as a second layer in medication prescription, it could be argued that the provider is eroding the authority of physicians to make decisions on the best treatments and care paths for patients. As a result, physicians may be resistant to the introduction of such a practice. Conversely, it is acknowledged that over-prescription is a concern and many care providers are open to ways of achieving similar care outcomes using fewer medications.

Recommendation on policy to balance competing needs while addressing ethical shortcomings.

Shifting care provision from in-patient to out-patient can help address competing needs of workers, resources, and patients. Out-patient care provision is considerably cheaper than in-patient care and the shift can serve to lower the cost of care provision. For out-patient, resource use is largely on consultations, tests, and medications as needed. In addition to these, the in-patient setting uses nurse and physician time, which are significant demands on organizational resources (Korownyk et al, 2017). Notably, there are numerous cases where care provision has to be done in the in-patient setting. However, there are similarly numerous opportunities to shift patients to out-patient and home care. Home care does not equate to poor quality care. Home care indeed helps to address the ethical concerns related to hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and staffing shortages.

 Conclusion

From the above, it is evident that competing needs of quality care and regulatory standards affect the decision making processes of hospital management as they seek balance. However, given the nature of demand for healthcare, these needs culminate in increased cost of care to patients. Introducing policy to prevent over-prescription of medication can help lower the cost of care. Even though there are ethical concerns as to infringing on the independence and practicing authority of patients, this as a strategy that can significantly lower the strain on the healthcare system. Notably, shifting some patients from in-patient to out-patient care can address competing needs of care providers, patients, and manage the ethical implications derived from the issues of HAIs and staffing shortages that are most evident in in-patient care settings Competing needs impacting cost of care Essay Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

 

References

Gellad, W. F., Good, C. B., & Shulkin, D. J. (2017). Addressing the opioid epidemic in the

United States: lessons from the Department of Veterans Affairs. JAMA internal medicine, 177(5), 611-612.

Hovland, R. T., & Moltu, C. (2019). Making way for a clinical feedback system in the narrow

space between sessions: navigating competing demands in complex healthcare settings. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 13(1), 1-11.

Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to

enhance RN practice. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1).

Korownyk, C., McCormack, J., Kolber, M. R., Garrison, S., & Allan, G. M. (2017). Competing

demands and opportunities in primary care. Canadian Family Physician, 63(9), 664-668.

 

Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

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