Recent orders
Difficulty finding a new provider
SEPTEMBER 8, 2018
TO: LEGISLATORS BELONGING TO THE MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE COMMITTEE
FROM: DIAMOND MARIE BRELAND
SUBJECT: BUIDLING BRIDGES TO ACCESSIBLE MENTAL HEALTH CARE
CC: DR. NANDAN KUMAR JHA
Introduction
The inaccessibility to Mental Health has become problematic in the United States. Each year, millions of Americans with mental illness struggle to find care. Nearly half of the 60 million adults and children living with mental health conditions in the United States go without any treatment. People who do seek treatment must navigate a fragmented and costly system full of obstacles. Many people cannot access mental health care when they most need it. Despite the passage of federal mental health and addictions parity law in 2008, significant barriers exist in obtaining mental health treatment and support. Barriers include high rates of denials of care by insurers, high out-of-pocket costs for mental health care, difficulties accessing psychiatric medications and problems finding psychiatrists and other mental health providers in health insurance networks. In 2016, NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, conducted its third nationwide survey to explore the relationship between health coverage and access to mental health care. The study found that people with mental illness continue to experience significant barriers to finding affordable, accessible mental health care. These barriers exist whether the person is covered by private insurance or by a public plan such as Medicaid.
Specific Challenges
1. Difficulty finding a new provider
In the United States, getting psychiatric care has been harder than it should be, patients around the country have challenges booking appointments for outpatient care. Besides, the mental health patients face significant hurdles concerning the provision of the inpatient psychiatric care. Various reasons can be attributed to this difficulties:
a. Current Providers are overwhelmed
The number of the psychiatric patients in the United States are limited. With the limited supply of the psychiatric therapists and more people are obtaining insurance coverage under the Affordable care act. A large number of the psychiatric doctors are not taking new patients as they are already overwhelmed with the current number of people with a mental health condition, and this makes it harder for the new patients to obtain care from the doctors. According to Dr Renee Binder, the immediate past president of the American Psychiatry Association, there is a shortage in the number of psychiatrists, and the number gets to be more limited when it comes to those that deal with child and geriatric psychiatry. Per the American Medical Association, the numbers of the children and adult psychiatrist only increased by 12 per cent since the year 1995 to 2013, that is from 43,640 to 49,079. The number lags far behind the 45 per cent increase in the total number of physicians as well as the general population growth in the United States.
Despite the efforts by the Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act that was enacted in the year 2008 to ensure that the mental health services got covered in level with the medical and the surgical health insurance benefits. Psychiatric experts articulate that the coverage of mental health in the United States still lags, and this compels a large number of the mental health patients to pay out of pocket for the psychiatric services or even forgo the coverage. A large number of psychiatrists, on the other hand, don’t accept the private insurance or even the Medicare, while others have decided to opt out of insurance plans or networks, as they cite what they perceive as the unfavorable reimbursement levels.
b. Not enough providers to meet demand
The demand for the mental health services is on the rise nationally, and this can be attributed to the rising number of mental health patients both adults and children and the limited number of the psychiatric health providers such as the psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors as well as therapists in the United States. As a result, the comprehensive mental health legislation is gaining momentum in Congress for the first time in many years. According to Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, More than half of the United States counties have no mental health professionals and therefore do not have any access to the mental health services.
According to statistics, nearly one out of five individuals in a population of about 43 million people had a diagnosable mental health condition within the past year. To almost 10 million individuals, the situation was more pressing to affect their ability to carry out their daily activities. Millions of adolescent struggle with a debilitating mental disorder making the demand for the mental health services to rise in a significant proportion. A majority of the people as well have become eligible for coverage of mental health following the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Despite the high number that is eligible for coverage, finding professionals to deliver the much needed mental health care has increasingly proven to be tough.
c. Providers are not located in areas of high need
According to a research conducted by Merritt Hawkins a physician search firm, among the list of 20 most in-demand medical specialist, psychiatry trailed only the primary care doctors in the list. According to the Patient Advocacy group Mental Health in America, the states with the lowest access as well as the highest rates of mental illnesses are in the south and west, with the rural areas experiencing the highest deficits. The lack of psychiatrists, as well as the other mental health providers, are part of the overall shortage of the physicians in the United States. A study conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges indicated that the nation would be faced with a deficit of between 46,000 and 90,000 doctors within a decade. Besides the shortage in supply of the primary care health providers, the largest deficit will be among the specialists caring for the elderly and to whom the psychiatrists are included. Thus an implication that the demand of the mental health providers will be on the rise, but on the contrary the demand will not be met due to the shortage of specialists.
d. Providers are not responding to inquires
The mental health professionals are already overworked as they are understaffed. Besides, the demand for the mental health care has been on the rise, a fact that can be based on the significant increase on the number of people who are eligible for mental health services under the Affordable care act. With the demand for the psychiatrists and other mental health providers being very high, it is unfortunate that there is not enough number of the mental health care providers to cater for a large number of people with the condition. Due to the high demand and understaffing of the mental health professionals, a large number of queries often go unattended as it is impossible for the limited workforce to cater for the high demand appropriately. On the other hand, the mental health services as earlier observed are not provided in all the regions that they are needed especially in the rural areas where people have limited access to the mental health specialist. In these regions, it is rare for the mental health professionals to be deployed and therefore any queries relating to mental health services and care remain unanswered.
2. Out of Pocket Costs are too high making it unaffordable
The cost of obtaining therapy for the people with a mental health condition has proven to be too high with the patients being forced to pay around 200 dollars a session. Mental illness being mental illnesses being a critical condition that demands immediate care to avoid harm such as suicide and to which has affected a large proportion of people around the United States and besides there are insurance covers to cater for the treatments, should not cost the patient too much. On the contrary, the cost of seeking mental health services has proven to be too costly keeping in mind that the mental health professionals do not accept the insurance services citing the reimbursement problems from the government. Due to this, the patients are required to pay for the services from their own pockets of which it is too costly taking up to 16 per cent of individuals’ income. The demand for the mental health services is on the rise, but the number of mental health providers has been limited over time increasing at a prolonged rate, and this has resulted to the high cost of getting psychiatric services. It is not worthy for a single therapy to cost more than 200 dollars as very few individuals can afford to take into consideration that a significant number of individuals live just below the poverty line and this makes it harder for them to pay the amount.
Spotty coverage for the prescription drugs can be another reason as to why the treatment of mental illnesses could be termed as being too much expensive. After therapy, a patient is advised to purchase certain medications that aid them through recovery and therefore these are essential drugs. Unfortunately, these drugs are too expensive and require good money to buy them, proving to be costly for a majority of the patients. Some of the conditions that require to see a psychiatrist are not diseases, but the policy or notion for the coverage that requires a diagnosis before one can pursue a mental health treatment may prove to be not only time-consuming but as well expensive. The reason is that an individual has to seek a physician before being attended by a mental provider.
3. Lack of inpatient mental health care facilities
There is a severe shortage of the inpatient care for the individuals suffering mental illnesses, and this has amounted to a public health crisis. The reason behind is that the number of individuals who are struggling with a range of psychiatric problems is still on the rise. According to Dominic Sisti, the disappearance of the long-term care facilities as well as the psychiatric beds has escalated over the past decade, as a result of deinstitutionalization of the people with a mental health condition in the 1950s and 60s. A report by the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization of the year 2012 found that the number of psychiatric beds had decreased by 14 per cent from the year 2005 to 2010. The organization works in the elimination of treatment barriers for the individuals with mental illnesses. In 2010, there were 50,509 state psychiatric beds and the reduction meant that there was only 14 bed available per 100,000 individuals. Dominic continues to state that a majority of the individuals relying on intensive psychiatry care find themselves homeless or more while others in prison. Much of the mental health care for the individuals have now shifted from hospital-based to the correctional facilities.
4. The stigma surrounding mental health treatment
Any person who had previous experience with mental illness can attest that despite the advances in the field of psychiatry and psychology as well, there has been a great deal of the role of stigma inhibiting a person from seeking medical attention. The mental health field has made tremendous progress, but despite all this, the issue of stigma has continued to be a reality. There are two types of stigma that includes the social stigma that involves the prejudiced attitudes that other people in the society have concerning mental illness. Self-perceived stigma is another type of stigma that involves an internalized stigma to which a person with the mental condition tends to suffer from. Both kinds of stigma are real and affect the individual in various ways.
A review of the studies regarding the public stigma of mental illnesses indicates that it is still widespread, despite the public being more aware of the nature of the various conditions related to mental health. While some people accept the medical or the genetic nature of the mental states and treatment, a significant number still possess the negative view towards those with the mental condition. The perceived stigma leads to an internalized shame of having the mental illness, and it has been found that the internalized stigma leads to poorer treatment outcomes leading to stigma being the primary challenge that hinders the treatment of mental illness due to relapse.
Future Challenges
If the inaccessibility to mental health services isn’t resolved, this can lead to complicating and detrimental challenges in other sectors of society.
1. An increase in homelessness
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness. In comparison, only 6% of Americans are severely mentally ill (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). In the year 2006, Markowitz published data regarding 81 United States cities, the correlations between the decreasing availability of psychiatric hospital beds and the increase in crime, arrest rates and homelessness. It was reported that as the state hospital bed capacity reduced, the number of mentally ill homeless individuals increased. Besides the crimes and arrests associated with homelessness also increased. The results are consistent with a similar study conducted in Massachusetts, Ohio and New York in the late 1980s with findings that within six months, 27 to 38 per cent of patients discharged from the mental hospitals were homeless or had no known address homes.
The individuals with psychiatric disorders had been swept into the tide of homeliness that was due to macroeconomic shifts that included the loss of unskilled industrial employment, the rise on the service economy as well as the emerging shortage of low-income housing. The homeless epidemic among the people with a mental health condition was the unforeseen by-product of deinstitutionalization. People from the mental illness left the state-funded institutions to return home, nursing homes and other community-based homes. However, nearly half of the proposed community-based dwellings that were to replace the hospital facilities were never built and among those completed, ran into financial distress rendering a large number of the mental health patients homeless. It is projected in the future that the prevalence of the homeless psychiatric patients will be on the rise and this will be a massive problem in the treatment of the people with a mental health condition.
2. An increase in incarceration rates
As a result, 2 million people with mental illness are booked into jails each year. Nearly 15% of men and 30% of women booked into prisons have a severe mental health condition (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). Mental health conditions among the prisoners have consistently exceeded the rates of the disorders in the general population. Despite the court mandate for access to adequate health care in prisons, the treatment depends on the availability of resources available, and therefore the treatment for mental health conditions has been sporadic. The lack of sufficient community-based health treatment options has resulted in the drastic increase in the number of incarcerated individuals with mental illness. For example, the correctional facilities in New York Chicago and Los Angeles are currently among the most significant psychiatric facilities in the United States. The number of hospitalized individuals with severe mental illnesses decreased from 550,000 in the 1950s to 70,000 in the year 2012. On the contrary, the population in prison increased from 178,000 in the 1950s to around 5.6 million currently. The proportion of individuals with severe mental illness in the prisons increased from 0.7 per cent in the year 1880 to 21percent in 2005. The number of incarcerated individuals with psychiatric conditions is also on the rise, and the biggest problem is resulted due to homelessness.
3. An increase in avoidable emergency room visits
Mental conditions in the United States are common. Between 2007 and 2011, the rate of ED visits related to M/SUDs increased by over 15 per cent (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). ED visits involving M/SUDs are considered potentially avoidable—if these conditions were adequately managed through appropriate outpatient care, then ED visits should be rare (Owens et al. 2017). The rate of emergency department visit per 100,000 population related to mental and substance abuse use conditions increased between 2006 and 2013, with the highest increase being evident among the mental health disorders with 55.5 per cent being on depression, stress reactions and anxiety; 52 per cent was for psychoses or the bipolar disorders while substance use disorders accounted for 37 per cent. Between 2006 and 2013, an increase in the population rate for the emergency department visits involving the M/SUDs was more common among the lowest income communities with an increase of about 40.8 per cent substance use disorders to 79 per cent for the mental disorders such as depression, stress reactions and anxiety. The trends on the EDs that are preventable are on the rise, and therefore this possesses a significant challenge in the treatment of the mental disorders.
Implementation
Policy Analysis on the problem of mental health care being inaccessible needs to happen fast as people are falling victim to their untreated mental health illnesses. Mental health illness is a contributor to other negative events that are occurring in our country. By addressing the mental health of our citizens, we are giving people the ability to continue their pursuit of happiness in this country. Inaccessibility to Mental health in a public health crisis where the cure can be found through policy analysis. We ask that you allot funding to research the best practices to address the challenges outlined in this memo. Exploration and implementation cannot be done without support from your legislation.
Crossfire reflective statement
Crossfire reflective statement
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As an artist, my way of communication is through what I draw. Many people communicate through verbal words, some through action, and others through singing; through art as well, one can express themselves. Through a cross fire debate, one gets to learn how to look at one particular thing, specifically what personally one believes in, through various angles. The arguments make one view a certain issue more intensely or make one look at it at a new angle. The topics on modernism, postmodernism, authorship, globalization and responsibility were the burning issue. As an artist one tries to fit in each topic, despite it not being clear, on one’s line of work disregarding facts about them.
Modernism, which was a period that flourished in the 20th century whereby different forms and styles of art were initialized, that brought disagreements between Christianity and art (Foster, 2007). As an artist modernism is a constant aspect that carries on day by day. As artist we constantly ask ourselves what is new and how can we make something new? As artists, as we express ourselves through drawings and as we try to communicate with the world often mistake that we are creating something new. In real sense most of the artists reference what has already been developed. Majority of the people think that they are coming up with something new but truth is that the minority are who come up with new and original form of art. Modernism is essential as it enables one to come up with new ideas and innovations hence allowing artists to come up with variety forms of art.
Post modernism on the other hand is any form of art that reacts against an earlier modernist movement. Doubts emerged about the efficacy and goals of modernisms so artists decided to come up with a new form of art that developed from the process of deconstruction (Calinescu, 1987). Deconstruction was the disintegrating of modern art. It involved the coming up of new forms of art that oppose the previous modern mode of art. After modernism, postmodernism is an artist second nature that manifests itself constantly as he or she is proceeding in the line of work. Drawers instinctively disintegrate the various concepts about a piece of art and try to create something new out of it or an improvement of the original; one is advised to think critically about art. Through debates and comparison of each groups ideas, all artists come to on converging point that dictates that reworking or redoing a piece of art helps develop new and improved forms of art. This creates efficient and easy communication of the message to the people or audience. Through this, artists also become aware of their own personal position instead of them creating a piece that is specifically generated for the public. Post modernism is important as it removes past flaws and gives a clearer picture on drawings and makes them more communication efficient.
Authorship refers the characteristic of being an author, someone that wrote, sang, drew or painted something. Many are times artists fight for recognition as they want to be identified as the producer of a certain form of art. In today’s world of art, most people advertise their work through mass advertisement hence hiding the real author. Advertisements aim at giving the message of the piece of art rather than who made the painting or drawing. This helps in putting more emphasis on the work rather than on who made the drawing. This has brought a number of controversies among the artists as some want both them and their work be recognized. Personally I view authorship as an essential thing in art, getting to appreciate the person who has come up with a certain drawing or painting is essential. However, artists should not forget the real intention of making the drawing; it is not for their own personal interests only but also as a form of embodiment for other people’s feelings.
Globalization, this refers to art being recognized all over the world. Globalization is an extension of authorship as it involves the recognition and identification of art together with its author or designer. According to art globalization refers to the fact that art can be shared among different people; people can use the same tools and be able to come up with the same piece of art or a close but different version of the original piece. This has lead to the controversial aspect that nothing in the world is considered as art since most of it is not original and has been repeated over and over again. Through globalization authors are less recognized and art has lacked originality. But on the other hand globalization has lead to the spread of art throughout the world allowing people to embrace and appreciate it. The meaningfulness of art being globalized is that ideas get passed on into different generations that are able to come up with better things. Globalization also builds a network that allows efficient communication through art.
Responsibility, in this topic about responsibility the discussion refers to the roles which artists play. The debate on responsibility acts as a summary to all the other topics discussed, modernism, postmodernism, authorship and globalization. Modernism creates the responsibility of an artist to be an innovator and that they should come up with new things. Post-modernism on the other hand advocates that artists should come up with new and improved ideas from modernism; this is the only way that new and quality art work will be developed. As an artist one should stand and fight for what effort one has made but on the other hand; one should not forget the main goal, communication and expression of the mind and body. The responsibility of globalization in art is to ensure that what one has created or drawn, people should learn and get a message from it. As people of vision and people who can bring meaning out of a drawing, artists are required to be composed and creative, this is their hugest responsibility. Taking responsibility in what one does enables that person to give the best and also allows one to produce quality results. The essence of being responsible as an artist is that one is able to show the audience what life and the environment means to them.
Throughout the reflective debate we are able to view the five topics based on art and the meaningfulness of each and every one of them relative to art. Every aspect discussed is relevant and it acts as an anchor to protect and improve art and the life of an artist; it will also enable communication and appreciation from the audience.
References
Foster, H. (2007). Art since 1900: modernism, anti-modernism, postmodernism (Repr. With corr.ed). London: Thames& Hudson.
Calinescu, M. (1987). Five faces of modernity: modernism, avant-grade, decadence, kitsch, postmodernism. Durham: Duke University Press.
Differentiating the Organizational & Operational Benefits of the Following Software Applications
Differentiating the Organizational & Operational Benefits of the Following Software Applications: Patient Care, Administrative, Strategic Decision Support, and Managed Health
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Executive summaryThere is a believe that utilization of technology in health centers will lead to significant healthcare savings, less medical errors, and improved health that will transform the world healthcare systems. With all these benefits, the adoption of health information technology is still slow with developing countries lagging behind that make them record high death rates. The computer-based applications have found great use in healthcare due to their implications, and benefits they bring into the health sector. Most healthcare centers all over the world make use of health information technology in carrying out their daily operations. There are a number of software applications that have been designed by technology experts that have different benefits in organizations and operations. The most common applications that will be discussed are; Patient Care, Administrative, Strategic Decision Support, and Managed Health.
This discussion gives an analysis of these applications stating its functions and differences in organizational and operational benefits it possess. Moreover, a positioning statement is provided that clearly indicates the writer’s position towards the issues of technology in healthcare centers. The positioning statement is then supported with providing the prevailing barriers, available stakeholders, and facilitating factors that inhibit achievement of that position. Finally, the concluding remarks are made giving the reader the future direction to follow in healthcare system regarding technology. The discussion below will enable a reader develop a positive attitude towards utilizing technology not only in health organizations but also other sectors. In addition, people planning to visit healthcare centers will be in a better position to determine the type of services they should seek since the discussed benefits guides a person into characteristics of most appropriate healthcare center.
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TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive summary PAGEREF _Toc331974761 h 2Introduction PAGEREF _Toc331974762 h 4Differences between organizational and operational differences of these software applications PAGEREF _Toc331974763 h 5Patient care PAGEREF _Toc331974764 h 5Administrative PAGEREF _Toc331974765 h 7Strategic Decision Support PAGEREF _Toc331974766 h 9Managed Health PAGEREF _Toc331974767 h 11Positioning statement PAGEREF _Toc331974768 h 13Supporting information for positioning statement PAGEREF _Toc331974769 h 13Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc331974770 h 16References PAGEREF _Toc331974771 h 18
IntroductionHealth information system makes use of the data required in the improvement and protection of population health by the policy makers, physicians, and health service users. Presence of relevant information on human and health services (HHS) assists the decision makers detect and control the upcoming diseases; the individuals and society have access to health related information; the effective health policies are put in place, and government improvement in mobilizing of new resources and their accountability. There are a number of software applications used in health institutions that assist in offering quality and efficient services to patients. These software applications among others are; Patient Care, Administrative, Strategic Decision Support, and Managed Health. The health management and information system incorporates all the data required by policy makers, stakeholders, and health service users in protecting population health. Almost all nations all over the world are making use of these applications in order to come up with effective and comprehensive systems in their health institutions (Health & Development Information Team, 2005).
The above software applications differ in both organizational and operational benefits they create in a health institution. Various factors determine the effectiveness of these software applications. These determinants include the health risk factors, behaviors, genetics, and environment. Patient care application is responsible for storing patient’s health information in the hospital database that should be produced every time the individual visits the health centre. Administrative application keeps records of the available hospital staff and their professionals to enable quick identification of clinical specialists. Strategic decision support software application takes control of all operations in an organization that include gathering information from other health care centers, developing new programs, and making work schedules for staff members. Finally, the managed health software assists in quality management and maintenance of a health institution. The software is commonly used in management areas requiring keen observant especially the sensitive areas like Intensive Care Units (Shemer, 2010).
Differences between organizational and operational differences of these software applicationsPatient carePatient care provides nurses with access to patient’s information through the use of small handheld computers referred to Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). According to Stolworthy (2003), this new technology has not yet been adopted by many nurses although more than 60 percent of health centers all over the world make use of the application. Health care centers with ability to help their nurses gain knowledge on using PDAs are in a better position to achieve the benefits of efficient patient care, and improved organization quality. The advent of Patient Care application brought about a lot of progress in the health organizations and their operations because of its reliability. Patient Care application has contributed a lot in the health sector whereby doctors can easily access the patient’s health records through a click of a button. Introduction of Patient Care services enables physicians diagnose various diseases comfortably since they just ask questions and input data in the computer after which, they easily do the analysis.
Patient Care software application has many differences on the organization and operations it performs. On the organization bases, the application assists in the improvement of the organization since it enables nurses and doctors to attend to many patients and minimizes delays in hospitals. In addition, organizations that use Patient Care application improve on the health care efficiency, quality of services, safe and reduced cost of operation. Although it is a complex technology, it benefits the organization in transforming nursing care services that enable quick delivery of information to the health data base. On earlier days nurses relied on their senses in determining the type of illness an individual suffers from, and detect any changes in body operations. Patient Care software application has assisted in detecting physical changes in patient’s body. The organizational and operational benefits of the process differ because, it increases on operations, but the organization incurs a lot of cost in training nurses and purchasing the necessary tools for the service (University of Michigan Health systems, 2012).
Critically, the organization benefits from the Patient Care operations but at the same time, a lot of resources are needed in implementing the application. Most health organizations prefer outsourcing experts from well established health centers carry out the operations because they cannot afford its operational costs. However, the introduction of Patient Care technology has proofed to have both improved the health care services, and also brought problems in that some applications have errors leading to false information. In its operation, the application ahs a benefit of minimizing the impact of health center experiencing repeated cases by quickly accessing patient-ready equipments for disease diagnosis. Moreover, Patient Care application operations are of great benefit in reducing challenges to hospital staff through providing proper operational devices thus reducing the need for additional equipment training (Torres, Dutton, & Watson, 2010.
In addition, the Patient Care application reduces redundancies in workplace, enhances quick patient flow, and enhances work flow in organizations. The application benefits the organization in that its operations increase patient, staff, and physician satisfaction through improved quality of services throughout the organization. Even though the organization benefits from quicker and improved services, the operations provided by the application require keen observant and experienced nurses should make use of the PDAs (Torres, Dutton, & Watson, 2010).
Administrative
Most organizations use strategic administrative systems because they assist in increasing their production operations in order to offer best services to their clients. Strategic issues focus most on the development of an organization in relation to its internal and external environment that affect the organization’s performance. Strategic administrative tools are set of organizational schedules, routines, and processes aimed at perceiving, analyzing, and responding to strategic issues. They help an organization in learning and adapting to the prevailing market conditions in order to achieve better alignment with its environment (Duncan & Weiss 1979). Many health care centers face administrative issues due to poor management and hiring of inexperienced individuals. On the other hand, the stakeholders in any hospital should ensure all the administrative tools are put in place in order to improve the operations in the organization. Administrative software application assists in defining the operations of an organization through improved managerial activities, and increased patient flow.
Administrative application has a lot of benefits to the organization, but differs in many ways to those of its operations. From the research carried out in different health centers, the problems experienced are all related to the administration that made experts develop a tool that could ease the problems. Organizations using the administrative tool find it easier to carry out their health services in convenient and efficient manner. The operations and management of clinical trials has been accelerated by the establishment of the administrative tool in various health centers worldwide. Health centers have undertaken the role of recruiting their staff on information and technology usage in their offices. This approach has led to improved operations and more efficient employees. The management is responsible for monitoring and distribution of duties to the staff, but the application has eased the process since it automatically schedules the organization operations giving the managers humble time to carry out their specific duties.
The implementation of integrated e-commerce and proper supply chain management systems in the health care centers has seen many organizations improve their administration operations that enable them attract patients from different parts of the world. Perfect administration is composed of good cooperation between the organizational staff, stakeholders, and the society. The development of health administrative care information in both medical practitioners and patients benefits the organization to a big extent under different circumstances. In addition, the organization benefits from more development in the field of electronic prescription and other health support systems. The use of administrative software application creates many opportunities in the organization since it leads to significant reduced cost of operation, enhances service delivery, and encourages change of behavior among the medical practitioners and patients (Huston, 2001).
On the operations point of view, the benefits differ from those of organization view in various ways. A critical observation reveals that the administrative application is aimed at improving the operations within an organization. This indicates that whatever the benefit an organization gets, its operations improve automatically. However, this is not the case especially if the operations carried out require more experienced personnel’s. The organization has to experience extra cost in training its staff on the use of certain software applications. Alternatively they hire individuals from outside. This benefit the operations while at the same time is a disadvantage to the organization. Moreover, the administrative tools make operations easier to perform saving time taken by use of manual ways. This benefit differs from the organization in that the implementation of the program leads to loss of employment opportunities as the company cuts off its work force due to introduction of new technology. This creates a bad reputation for the organization although the patient flow increases and operations take place more efficiently (Manyworlds, 2001).
Stakeholders also play a role in defining the organization administrative system. Most organizations consult stakeholders when it comes to making decisions regarding management issues. Leaders should have the capability of integrating organizational behavior practices in carrying out their regular business operations, in order to achieve their specific organizational objectives. In every organization, people have the responsibility of providing leadership, stewardship, and follower-ship. People learn innovations and ideas through adopting new technologies that assist them transform their organizations into greater levels. Understanding the organization environment that composes of employees, patients, stakeholders, and the society are the engine and driver into understanding organizational behavior (Silow-Carrol and Dunchon, 2002).
Strategic Decision SupportThe use of computer-based decision support in the health care centers has received great attention due to the numerous benefits it offers with the application of simulation methods it uses. The European developed software application has received a lot of managerial and heath decision supports although die to its complexity many health care institutions have not yet adopted the program. E-health have created a big impact in many health services offering facilities due to the great access they great for patients in receiving health services. Organizations have seen many benefits that have resulted into improved operations, increased efficiencies. The innovation of ICT in health care units has come up with many applications like strategic decision support that enables managers and stakeholders keep the organization operations at recommended rates. The research conducted by the European people focuses on 3 health information aspects, namely; personal health systems, patients’ safety, and virtual human psychology (European Journal of e-Practice, 2009).
The computer-based modeling and simulation application have been applied in each of the following aspects in order to create a good environment for health care users. Moreover, organization stakeholders have been in the fore front to press the management adapts the computer systems that assist in making good health development strategies. The benefits of the above program and their differences in both an organization and operations are discussed below. First, the organization is saved from the traditional methods of carrying out diagnosis that were time wasting and tiresome. Due to the high demand for the health care in the present fast growing population, people are seeking for better health care practices. The introduction of the strategic decision support application enables the organization carryout outstanding services to the patients and encourages more people to visit the health center. This creates a competitive advantage whereby other health centers come up with more improved services. In so doing, the operational benefits of an organization go down. In terms of operational benefits, the program differs in organization view in that its operations can be used in any other organization apart from the health center.
Secondly, the organization gets an advantage of creating a significant impact on the quality of health service given through having excellent organization structure, quality processes, and good health outcomes. Using the operations benefit application improves health care processes that in return create good patient outcomes. On the other hand, the operational advantage related to the above shows that the system is time consuming and its automation enables all the operations to be carried out at the same time. This benefit also increases patient safety, and improves health care services in all operations carried out. The process assists in eradicating operation errors made by human beings enabling an organization to achieve positive results in a consistence manner. Operationally, the software offers many challenges to clinicians who are not familiar with its use requiring the organization to conduct training sessions for its staff members (Chassin and Galvin, 1998).
Thirdly, a number of factors facilitate the use of strategic decision support due to the benefits the organization acquires from its usage. The technological development accompanied by its implementation puts an organization in a higher position compared to others since it provides faster and reliable technology. Its installation has an economic advantage since the installations can also be used to run other programs there making it cost effective. Moreover, its operation is compatible with different computer applications that make it more reliant and effective in many health centers (Clinical Decisions Support Initiatives, 2009).
Managed HealthIn the recent years, health centers faced the challenge of operational inefficiencies. These in efficiencies resulted from ineffective support and staff scheduling, limited space to treat patients, ancillary service delays, and limited inpatient bed capacities. This challenge of operational inefficiency has resulted in crowding of patients at hospitals with patient flow to the facility being steady. Managed health uses both internal and external best practice to make changes on patient services in health care centers. The managed health software application has presented many benefits both to organizations and operations that use it. This health care technology is the leading in the United States since it enables those with health insurance policies get free health services from recognized health institutions. In addition, the managed health program has many providers that include; Point-of-Service Plans (POS), Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) (Insure me.US, 2012).
Many organization stakeholders in the health sector fail to understand the benefits of incorporating managed health services in hospitals. The agreement between the hospital staff, the stakeholders and the patients leads to development of the managed health program. To the organization the program has a benefit of reducing the costs of health care operations. The main aim of the program is to keep health costs as low as possible whereby every individual can afford. On its operation, the system benefit differ from organization benefits in that employees are in a position to enjoy easier services whereby there is lack of interaction between the patients and employees on issues of payments. Secondly, the program improves the organization communication network enabling employees, stakeholders, and patients to communicate effectively with lo disturbances. Moreover, the patient can request for home-based health care services at no extra cost from the hospital. On the operational basis, the program guarantees patients good health care services by providing them with daily updates in their profiles on any medical activity that takes place. Through this, patient is able to determine his or her medical needs and seek appropriate action from the doctor (PPOs) (Insure me.US, 2012).
The internal best practice involves utilization of knowledge management within the department. In this, communication, channels were open to all staff members and the staff had an equitable contribution to ideas generation. The staff also participates equally in data collection and analysis. This aids in development of individual responsibility from the staff members. The external best practices adopted by the department are innovation. In this, the department adopts the use of technology as a measure of predicting the effectiveness of the changes adopted.
In addition, managed health program assigns a patient to a particular doctor. This assists in reducing confusion in a health organization enabling activities to occur in a managed way. People are given contacts that they should use in case of an emergency. The operations are very effective since the providers named above are in a position to travel in all corners of the state to carry out medical care services. On the other hand, health practitioners can access patients at home and take samples to laboratories for observation while in their perfect state and order. Managed Health software application has been managing many organizations and as the years pass by, different innovations are coming up to improve it.
Positioning statement Following the above analysis, it is recommended that all those associated with a particular health care center should implement health information services and ensure they run accordingly.
Supporting information for positioning statementIt is important for all health centers need to adopt these software applications since they have shown great benefits in the way they operate. The growing recognition on the utilization of health information systems in hospitals has the great potential of improving health care quality, increase efficiency and also reduce costs of operation. These include the health practitioners, stakeholders, and patients. While implementing health information services, several obstacles are faced and managers should look for ways of eliminating them. First, implementing e-health technology services faces insufficient knowledge from users who always make errors while using health software applications. On the other hand, the technologies being utilized have not been proved to have good outcomes to patients. These obstacles are very common in many organizations. Health institutions in collaboration with the government are seeking for ways and means of eliminating these obstacles because there is high-rate of life loss among individuals due to lack of proper health facilities.
On the first issue, most hospital staff lacks the necessary knowhow on using these equipments. Some hospitals are forced to outsource external employees to use their equipments since they cannot afford to pay hired permanent employees. On the other hand, some software applications have very complicated designs that users find difficult to use. For instance, Patient Care application faced some drawbacks since many nurses were not used to the PDAs. It was later realized that training these nurses would be very appropriate. Eventually they learned how to use it, and even educated their colleagues. Still on the issues of difficulties in adopting the new technology some organization stakeholders who are stuck to the old manual methods find it difficult implementing the new technologies. Strategic Decision Support Program is very essential in enabling such individuals understand the need for having modern organization strategies in the health care centers.
The most important facilitating factor that ensures these obstacles are absent involves having a software design that is not very complex and whose cost is affordable by even small and medium sized health care centers. Design flaws affect the efficiency of a software application, which eventually reduce its reliability and ability to produce quality services to stakeholders, patients, and hospital staff. Some health care facilities ignore minor problems that eventually lead to a great loss of property and patients run away (Podolsky, Greene, & Jones, 2012). From research done by Podolsky, Greene, and Jones (2012), if a hospital has to emerge in the current environment they must adopt the most recent technology whereby patients will be fully satisfied by their services and operations. In addition, the hospital stakeholders should encourage staff to undergo Information and Communication Technology training so that they do not face difficulties in using some applications present in the health information systems.
The second factor that minimizes the utilization of health information systems is that some applications are not patient friendly. The condition of e-Health technologies being unproved is very serious since they can affect the individual’s health. The situation is still being researched since people have not yet come with clear evidence showing the risks associated with using some of the applications mentioned above. However, the situation leaves clinicians and the government policies in a dilemma on whether to utilize a certain technology, or use the manual means. From the position statement, health care institutions are encouraged to make use of technology in all their operations since it has a lot of benefits. A research on the review of health system technologies revealed that about 80 percent of technologies were unproven with only 20 percent proved to be commercially developed. This indicates that the health information systems are of great risk to an institution. In order to avoid such situations, the organization should ensure they get their technology systems from authorized dealers (Chaudhry, 2006).
Some factors have led to many people adopting health care information systems. First, developing countries lag behind in technology especially in their health centers. This makes them record high death rates as patients lack the necessary equipments to take care of their problems. There are many cases of people dying while on their way to developed countries to undergo certain treatment because they lack the necessary facility in the home country. Improving health care services in developing countries through the use of health information systems has received a lot of attention. Partnering with other countries has assisted many locals gain experience and realizes a better perspective on how to succeed in a health organization. Moreover, the World Health Assembly (2005) realized that the only way of achieving cost-effective and appropriate use of technology in health centers is through utilizing e-health system.
ConclusionUtilizing technology has an aim of making work easier and saving time in undertaking various operations. Software manufacturers are very competent in producing applications that have the same sense like human beings, and that are more precise and efficient. People attending the health centers where these facilities are used should have confident that they will discover their problems and solve them in a convenient manner. For example, Managed Health software application keeps medical records therefore saving people the cost of reproducing their information every time they visit a hospital. It is good to support technology in the health sector since the increase growth in technology and globalization leaves no chance for manual methods of carrying out operations (Austin & Boxerman, 2003).
On the other hand, there has not been a universally acceptable approach that describes how health information solutions should be utilized. This trend should increase to a greater level in future because of the increased number of users who apply health information services. Moreover, the current population composes of people familiar with computer technologies, which makes adoption easier and less costly. On the other hand, developing countries should start evaluating health information initiatives in order to teach people on how to utilize these applications because it is for their own benefits. As seen from the four discussed software applications, the differences between the organization and operation benefits are almost related. In addition, the benefits are related because when the organization gains its operations also improve.
The future direction of health care centers is promising and this shows how organizations have improved in providing quality health care services through the use of technology. Many organizations have already finished the approach while others are still implementing their projects. Those organizations that have not yet developed into e-health systems should follow the suit in order to have a developed and healthy nation in the future. Both public and private health institutions should utilize health information systems in all their operations in order to create a perfect competition and save more lives.
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