The Quadruple Aim provides broad categories of goals to pursue to maintain and improve healthcare. Within each goal are many issues that, if addressed successfully, may have a positive impact on outcomes. For example, healthcare leaders are being tasked to shift from an emphasis on disease management often provided in an acute care setting to health promotion and disease prevention delivered in primary care settings. Efforts in this area can have significant positive impacts by reducing the need for primary healthcare and by reducing the stress on the healthcare system.
Changes in the industry only serve to stress what has always been true; namely, that the healthcare field has always faced significant challenges, and that goals to improve healthcare will always involve multiple stakeholders. This should not seem surprising given the circumstances. Indeed, when a growing population needs care, there are factors involved such as the demands of providing that care and the rising costs associated with healthcare. Generally, it is not surprising that the field of healthcare is an industry facing multifaceted issues that evolve over time.
In this module’s Discussion, you reviewed some healthcare issues/stressors and selected one for further review. For this Assignment, you will consider in more detail the healthcare issue/stressor you selected. You will also review research that addresses the issue/stressor and write a white paper to your organization’s leadership that addresses the issue/stressor you selected.
To Prepare:
Review the national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the Resources and reflect on the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for study.
Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post for the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected.
Identify and review two additional scholarly resources (not included in the Resources for this module) that focus on change strategies implemented by healthcare organizations to address your selected national healthcare issue/stressor.
The Assignment (2-3 Pages):
Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue
Develop a 2 to 3 page paper, written to your organization’s leadership team, addressing your selected national healthcare issue/stressor and how it is impacting your work setting. Be sure to address the following:
Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization).
Provide a brief summary of the two articles you reviewed from outside resources on the national healthcare issue/stressor. Explain how the healthcare issue/stressor is being addressed in other organizations.
Summarize the strategies used to address the organizational impact of national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the scholarly resources you selected. Explain how they may impact your organization both positively and negatively. Be specific and provide examples.
feedback from colleagues:
1:
Great post! I also talked about the out of control costs that we see in everyday healthcare, and this can pose challenges not only for patients, but for facilities to operate. The rising cost of healthcare has patients aggravated, and for a business to be successful they need a successful leader. As mentioned by Broome and Marshall (2021) it is imperative they know how to manage a “constrained financial market” (p. 36).
As you noted socioeconomic status is one of the social determinants of health that is impacted. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was successful in providing healthcare coverage to those in the middle and lower social classes and outcomes that were seen included “improve[d] health outcomes and reduce[d] disparities” (Broome & Marshall, 2021, p. 68). I have noticed similar actions at my workplace, in terms of working to reduce health related costs. By focusing on preventative care and education as a priority, healthcare organizations can begin to prioritize patient care with less worry about the financial burden. It is estimated that “the estimated cost of waste in the US healthcare system ranged from $760 billion to $935 billion, accounting for approximately 25% of total healthcare spending” (Shrank, Rogstad, & Parekh, 2019, p. 1506). Reducing the cost of waste will allow for the redistribution of finances to help eliminate health disparities.
2: your post was quite thought provoking. Currently in 2023 and the United States being on the brink of a possible default, one could infer that this is a true representation of how expensive healthcare services and resources are becoming. I agree that this often times leads to extremely poor healthcare habits resulting in a negative impact on one’s health and even the overall healthcare. (Rohatgi et al., 2021) We, as a country, could take a page from Canada’s book and solely do free healthcare. However, this would mean that one’s taxes would increase a generous amount in order to cover the needs and costs. I wonder, what do you think of this? Do you think the US should teeter towards emulating Canada’s healthcare system? Why or why not? The rising costs and inflation are other factors to be considered. In my facility, we have what is called a Benefit Alternative program. This is where one would opt out of receiving benefits for an additional $40 or more on to their base pay. Regardless of the pay, there have been times where one in this program was cancelled leading to a unit(s) having to be understaffed. The reasoning behind this was that it costs too much to pay BA nurses overtime so even if there aren’t enough available in the float pool, said units have to make due. This is how patient care tends to decline or provider (physician or nurse) burnout ensues and increases. (Kelly et al., 2019) Those working are forced to overexert themselves and work short due to a shortage, or lack thereof, of resources impacted by raising costs.