Health Care

HSA-500 Health Care Organization

Health Care

The pharmaceutical market by 2020 is expected to more than double to the US $1.3 trillion dollars. Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey(E7) will account for one fifth of the global pharmaceutical sales. Chronic conditions in these developing countries will increase. It is predicted by 2020 the E7 will have a larger economies than the G7 countries. The G7 countries are the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Germany, France and Italy.

By 2020 the global markets will need to make changes in order to operate efficiently. With growth coming forth they cannot afford to operate in the old. New and improved business models will need to be implemented and the focus of health care will change. In the near future pharmaceutical companies will have health care packages. The direct distribution to wholesalers will be diminished.

In recent years the pharmaceutical industry has faced major turmoil. There has been revenue losses as patents has expired on blockbuster drugs and a flood of mergers and acquisitions has become disappointing. For several years there has been a decline in employment.

When addressing health issues the development of new medicine can act as an inhibitor to generalized solution. There are three stages for the development of medical technology beginning with the science phase, then product development phase, and ending with acceptance. During the first phase, significant amounts of science based research is performed that eventually comes together into the establishment of an idea for new treatment, medical device, or medical equipment. However, depending on the idea to be developed, it can take several years in some instances even generation to put the visualized concept into motion. Monetary funding is necessary for the carrying out of the scientific research needed for the manufacture of a new drug. The National Institutes of Health is a government agency with the aim of aid in the expansion and growth of enormous basic science research schemes. Throughout the years since its formation following the end of WWII; the NIH has provided millions of dollars for the organization of research facilities, institutions, in addition to academic centers. The NIH has been key sponsor for research furthermore; it will continue encompass an influence en route for future researches.

The second phase reflects the turning of the scientific ideas in to deliverable technology. This is also known as the developmental phase. During this stage three important questions must be answered in order to proceed with the actual development of the product. First question being what is the need of the product? There must be a market for the product, hence addressing its need. The second question is can a product be developed for what the science suggested? The final question answers inquiries regarding outcomes of necessary clinical trials and tests. These series of evaluations obligations is to gain acceptance required for important regulatory approvals. If this prerequisite is not meet, then product cannot be disbursed.

The third stage is developmental process which emphasizes taking the scientific initiative transforming into it an accepted product for diffusion. Under this phase, clinical trials are carried out by reputable clinicians using the most accepted research methodologies. Acceptance is imperative because without it all forward movement will come to a halt, therefore leading to the disapproval of product making.

Just as the United States has an international influence on many other countries, other countries healthcare system seems to have impact on ours. When looking back at the pandemic that occurred in 2009 with the Swine flu. This flu rapidly spread from Mexico through America and over to some of the European countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) was responsible for spotting this outbreak through its regional alliances and the global surveillance. The WHO regional office located in Washington, D.C., monitors for outbreaks throughout North America and South America. This shows how the United States Healthcare system contributes to the wellbeing of people at the international level. Furthermore as an active member of the WHO; the United States also contributes monetary funding to countries in need which adds to our contribution at the global scale. The pandemic outbreak of the Swine flu is a prime example of how healthcare at the international level will impact the United States healthcare system. This event further signifies the importance of our awareness and participation in the global community.

Research has shown that prescription drug prices in the United States are the higher than anyplace in the world. Citizen in the United States pay much more for prescription drugs than any other country. The pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable businesses in the U.S. and has a return revenue of 17%. In 2003 pharmaceuticals national expenditures accounted for 12.9% of the total health care costs, compared to an OECD average of 17.7%.

In the United States, the developing of a new drug is high but the cost of manufacturing is low. When drug prices are high this allows the pharmaceutical industry to invent a disproportionately high share of all drugs. Clinical trials can cost millions and can add up to billions with the combined cost of manufacturing and clinical testing. Although the United States comprises only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for 36% of worldwide research and development of pharmaceutical drugs. Pharmaceutical companies argue that the prices they set are necessary in order to continue to fund research. 11% of drug candidates that enter clinical trials are successful and receive approval for sale. Critics of pharmaceutical companies point out that only a small portion of the drug companies’ expenditures are used for research and development, with the majority of their money being spent in the areas of marketing and administration.

Brand name drugs in the United States are significantly higher than in Canada, India, the UK and other countries. Other countries have price controls but the United States does not. Canada generic drugs are much higher. Since brand-name drugs in Canada is cheaper Americans spend billions of dollars purchasing from Canadian pharmacies per year.

Drug companies in Canada have a cap or a ceiling on the amount that can be sold to drug companies and other distributors. This cap is controlled by the Canadian government. Throughout Canada this cap causes a five percent reduction in the wholesale cost of medication for most organizations. Canadian drugstores pay less for their medications so they can sell their medicine for less. Drug company’s liability costs are lower in Canada than in the United States. Canadians do not sue healthcare provides as much as Americans do and if they do their damages are a lot lower than the United States.

The United States healthcare system has undergone several trends and changes throughout twentieth century. These trends range from the rapid growth of health professionals to the decline of some their occupations as well. One of the developing issues within our healthcare system is the increasing shortage of physicians. There are many reason for the future shortcoming of physicians, however I will only focus on three motives.

The first reason for the growing shortage of physicians is the loss of autonomy. Manage care organizations is becoming more involved with the delivery of healthcare to patients and its more restrictive elements has been having a direct impact with the limit of choice for both patient and physician. Medicine’s distaste of tightly controlled reimbursement and of non-physicians’ attempts to control their work fuel much of this back lash (Lesser, Ginsburg, & Denvers, 2003). As a result, the loss of autonomy add to issue of the growing shortage amongst physicians.

Another reason for the shortage is due to the rapid growth of the United States population because of immigration. Since the mid twentieth century immigration has dramatically increased so that almost one-third of the U.S. population growth in the decade of 1990- 1999 was due to net legal migration (Philip & Midgley, 2006). This increase affects the demand of physicians by the balancing of supply and demand. As the population increases the need for physicians in addition to other healthcare professionals will increase as well. Consequently, this effect leads to the dilemma of physician shortages.

The last reason I will argue for the scarcity of physicians is the increasing of the elderly population. Within the general increase in the US population, there exists the ever-increasing life span of Americans, with their attendant levels of chronic conditions (Williams/ Torrens, 2010Ed, p. 270) In 2000, 12.4percent of the US population was 65 years of age or older, by the 2050 it is projected that more than 20 percent of the US population will be of the senior citizens group. With these projections approaching in the future, the need for physician’s services will be in demand. This also stimulates the effect of inadequate amounts of physicians.

Lately some physicians have being feeling unhappy because they feel overworked and under supported. They feel like doing their best is not good enough for some patients. Doctors have been faced with many malpractice lawsuits which have caused insurance prices to rise. Distraught families members are not blaming God any more they are blaming the doctor for the death or disability of their love ones. Of course there are doctors who are the blame for some deaths but not all. There are other physicians who are careful and caring but still find themselves fighting legal battles to keep their practice going. One mistake can cost a facility millions of dollars.

There are some doctors who are not heartless and they do their job with respect and dignity. Our society expectation today is sometime too much for doctors to bear and in all reality no one is perfect. I think that maybe every six months or a year a team of doctors should get together and discuss things that have happened in their offices or their place of practice. Their concern should be number one how to cope with the issues that are at hand and how to make thing right. Rather it’s about death or a disability they should try to find what went wrong and why. So that the next time they are faced with the same problem they will not make the same mistake. While attending this meeting they should come up with strategies to help with their daily routine in ensuring that they are prescribing and administering the right meds. It can also be group therapy for them because they will have a chance to talk about what and how they are feeling. Talking about things that has happened in your life will sometime ease the pain that you are feeling. So hopefully they will walk away with some relief. They should also attend seminars and workshop to learn about new treatments and new medicine that is on the market.

Health policy is defined as the decisions, plans, and actions that are used to achieve specific health care goals within a society. There are many categories of health policies, including personal health care policy, pharmaceutical policy, and policies related to public health such as vaccination policy, tobacco control policy or breastfeeding promotion policy. These policy are used to help make our society to stay healthy.

Throughout the existence of the US healthcare system changes has been made to face different trends and issue as they occur. The public health sector is one of those areas that as manifest in many areas serving many roles in our healthcare system. One role that public health professionals contribute to is disease preventive and health promotion. Public health professionals’ primary concerns deal with protecting the health of the entire population. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country. An example of this is immunizations. As it relates to disease prevention and health promotions this roles of public health professional aims is to keeping the public healthy before disease take effect on the public population. Therefore by prompting immunizations aids insuring the public remains in a health state before an outbreak can occur.

A different role of public health is environmental health. Environmental takes into account the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the interactions between human genetics as it all relates to our surroundings. This awareness assists public health professionals in the data collection process which can be used to show how natural environments influence our health and how we can reduce risk factors. These environmental risk factors can cause diseases such as asthma, cancer, and food poisoning. Specialists from chemistry, toxicology, engineering, and other disciplines combine their expertise to answer these important questions. Environmental health studies have a critical role by viewing how our surroundings can have impact on our health.

Lastly, one of the newer roles for public health professional resides in bioterrorism surveillance and prevention. Since the event of September 11, 2001, the public health professionals have been called on to develop systems of detection of potential bioterrorism events. This includes the releasing of biological and chemical agents into a many different environmental settings. This change illustrates how the public health field is always changing in additions to demonstrating how the US healthcare system evolves to combat the occurrence of new trend health issues and patterns.

There were several significant developments that occurred throughout my assignments. I was an executive of my very own facility and the prime minster of an island. I decided what services that I wanted to provide for my facility and on my island. I realized that is the role that our government play in our lives. They control how are health care plans are rendered. We have a choice in how much coverage we need but no control over high prices. There are guidelines that has to be followed and sometime those guidelines leave people without adequate care. Hopefully our new health care reform will help to care for citizens who are not able to pay for health care.

I have a better understanding of how the health care system work and how the government has control of our society. My assignments has helped me to look at different types of insurance plans in which before this class, I never really understand some key points that I needed to know. It also taught me that there should be some changes made in our society. I’ve learned that people with mental disabilities sometime their disability goes unnoticed. Diagnosing and finding the right treatment for them could take long time. In the meantime that person is still suffering. Better policy should be in place so they people with mental disabilities can be accommodated more. I know that it takes more than a doctor to help people with a mental illness. Family members play a key part in their wellbeing. If would help if family members at the early stages of a change in a person behavior would start to get a love one some help. Sometime mental illness goes unnoticed. It can start at young age and some people don’t get diagnose until they become an adult. I’ve learned that mental illness is costly and our government don’t fiancé their health care like they should. I do know that our country spend more money on health care than any other country but we still fall short in some areas.

The next time that I have to select a insurance plan, I will look at it more in depth to ensure that I will get the best policy that will suit my needs. I will look at how much deductible that I will have to pay and what is covered in my plan. Health care is such a broad spectrum and was hard for me to understand. Before I would take my medicine as the doctor prescribed it and not read the information that comes with it. I have since started reading the literature about my meds.

Clinical trials and testing was an interesting topic for me also. I learned that before a medicine is put on the market it has to go through a series of testing. Testing goes on in the lab and the consumers have a chance to participate in doing a study. Health care in depth and is a very expensive market.

References

Williams, Stephen J/Torrens, Paul R. (2010). Introduction to Health Service (Custom Ed.) New York: Cengage Delmar Learning

Barsukiewicz, Camille K. PhD, Raffel, Marshall W. PhD, & Raffel, Norma K. PhD. (2010). The U.S. Health System. Origins and Functions (Sixth Ed) New York: Cengage Learning