Health Care

Write a 1,500-word paper on the following:

Describe the current health care environment in the United States from both the health care administrator and the patient perspective.
What are some recent changes in legislation and how do these changes influence the way that an administrator would operate within the health care system?
How can administrators account for the value and dignity of individuals and groups when creating legislation?
What current trends are emerging in health care? Using the current trends, speculate on the future of health care risk management from the perspective of both the health care administrator and the patient.
Support your position by referencing four or five academic resources. Incorporate the research into your writing in an appropriate, scholarly manner.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

ANSWER

Healthcare Environment in the United States

Introduction

The healthcare industry in the United States has evolved from simple home remedies to a complex, technological, scientific, and bureaucratic system. Many factors have led to the enforcement and implementation of change in the healthcare industry. Considerably, the slow to change and complex regulations and the technological and environmental factors have contributed to the healthcare changes. This paper will focus on the current healthcare settings in the United States, latest changes in legislation, and the present-day trends in healthcare in United States.

Current Health Care Environment in the United States

The healthcare environment in the United States consists of many hospitals, clinicians, and other healthcare facilities, patients, and insurance plans. The healthcare sector also includes some regulators who play a significant role in the healthcare delivery system. In the current years, the healthcare system in the United States has had some significant changes. This is partly due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, making it mandatory for Americans to purchase health insurance. The main objective of the ACA was to offer affordable health insurance to all Americans, despite of their income (Song et al., 2021). The ACA is a federal law, but some aspects of the law are up to individual states to implement. However, every state has expanded its Medicaid programs for low-income individuals and families under 65. The goal is that there would be fewer uninsured Americans to free up costs such as uncompensated care.

The Affordable care act also made it possible for those who cannot afford health insurance to receive coverage through federal aid programs. This has created a need for different types of healthcare workers to provide the services needed within these programs. The ACA works on many levels to address these issues. It requires insurance companies to cover certain services with no co-pay by the patient while requiring all people to have health care if they do not get it through their employer, Medicaid, or Medicare (Patrick and Yang, 2021).

New rules and policies have been implemented in the healthcare system to reach the main goal of the Affordable care act. Among the most important changes is that people can now purchase health insurance through government-run marketplaces, also known as exchanges. People who cannot afford coverage are provided with subsidies when purchasing their plans. Proper protocols have been put in place to ensure that the patients are safe and that safe practices are being used. Practitioners, policymakers, and payers have led to changes in clinical practice, health policy reforms, and demonstration programs. Delivery of patient-centered care has been on the rise, with the healthcare system focusing on providing responsive and respectful care, thus improving individual health outcomes and responding to individual values, needs, and preferences in clinical decisions.

Patient-centered care has been a priority in the United States healthcare system. A patient’s satisfaction with their care is an important part of their overall experience. Studies have shown that patients who are content with their care have better health outcomes and are less likely to return to the hospital (Carthon et al., 2020). Patient contentedness is an important factor in improving healthcare outcomes and reducing costs. Hospitals and healthcare systems have focused on creating a culture of-centered care to improve the patient experience.

Changes in technology have also played a great role in improving healthcare services. The availability of technology such as information systems, telemedicine, administrations, and data storage have ensured compliance in the healthcare environment. The healthcare professionals have been at the front line to ensure that high quality and standard care is offered and deal with changes in the healthcare environment, thus remaining focused on the patient’s well-being.

Recent Changes in Legislation

The most recent change in legislation is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act (PPACA), introduced in 2020 to make healthcare more affordable for Americans and improve the quality of healthcare they receive. The PPACA amends the Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed in 2010. The ACA requires all citizens to have health insurance, makes preventative carefree for Americans, and permits children to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are twenty six years old (Van, McGarry, Jutkowitz, and Grabowski, 2020).

The PPACA is important because it would make healthcare more affordable for all Americans, including undocumented immigrants. The act also proposes a public health insurance alternative that would rival with private insurers. The goal is to make healthcare more affordable for Americans and improve quality. This act would have allowed those with pre-existing conditions to get affordable healthcare, cap premiums for those with chronic illnesses, and increased the number of eligibility for Medicaid.

The patient protection and affordable care enhancement act is an important piece of legislation because it addresses some of the problems with the current healthcare system. The general idea behind this law is to provide people with insurance rather than paying out of pocket for all their medical expenses upfront. The act’s coverage will include every American citizen that wants it with no co-pay or deductible. Even though they aren’t legal citizens yet, this also includes undocumented immigrants because studies have shown that about half of illegal immigrants are uninsured.

The patient protection and affordable care enhancement act is an amendment to the affordable care act. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 and created a law that required everyone to have health insurance, made preventative care free for Americans, and legalized children to be on their parent’s insurance up to 26 years old. There has been a problem since the Affordable Care Act was put in place in 2013. Since then, medical expenses have been skyrocketing with no end in sight. In 2020 when this legislation was introduced, premiums have reached an all-time high per year which makes it unaffordable for most people. The patient protection and affordable care enhancement act are trying to fix this problem by increasing the number of eligible people for Medicaid and offering a public health insurance (Tilhou, Huguet, DeVoe, and Angier, 2020). This legislation is important because it makes healthcare more affordable for Americans. It also improves the quality of healthcare available to those who need it.

The PPACA influences how a health administrator operates by increasing health coverage which enables them to offer more quality care to health professionals. The patient protection and affordable care enhancement act improve the ACA by making healthcare more affordable for Americans, improving the quality of healthcare they receive, and being a step in the right direction to fixing the current healthcare system. Therefore, healthcare administrators can understand and comply with the PPACA when it was enacted in 2020.

Legislators need to respect all individuals and groups when creating new laws. To do this, legislators must consider various factors, such as the history and culture of the people being affected by a law, current social and economic conditions, and public opinion. If legislators create laws with these considerations in mind, they will be more likely to respect the value and dignity of all individuals and groups. For example, a law designed to protect the environment may have a different impact on a tribe with a strong spiritual connection to nature than on a group that does not have such a connection. If it appears that most people in a community oppose something, then it is unlikely that the legislation will be passed. Legislators need to create fair, equitable laws and avoid any appearance of discrimination between groups or individuals.

Current Trends

The current trends in healthcare have been facilitated by technology in many healthcare ways, such as treatment, detection, precaution, monitoring of diseases, and the healing process. Through the combination of predictive analysis, hardware, and mobile apps, wearable technologies have redefined disease management, patient diagnostics, and preemptive care techniques. Telemedicine has steadily become a popular alternative to visiting doctors. Telemedicine has allowed the provision of care and treatment of patients via digital technologies.

Healthcare professionals have increasingly communicated with patients using phones, emails, and webcams. This form of interaction has allowed better collaboration and more informed decisions. For instance, patients can get treated for minor ailments without visiting a doctor’s clinic or hospital. This is especially beneficial for patients who live in rural areas with a shortage of doctors. Patients can receive timely treatment for serious medical conditions (Haleem, Javaid, Singh, and Suman, 2021). Patients can receive consultations from specialists who may be located thousands of miles away. This can be helpful for patients who cannot afford to travel to see a specialist or those who do not have any specialist near their vicinity.

With the fast-paced growth of AI and the ever-growing datasets, healthcare providers are looking to use AI for various purposes such as diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient monitoring. One of the main advantages of using AI in healthcare is that it can help increase the accuracy of diagnosis (Rong et al., 2020). This is because AI can learn from data and identify patterns that are not easily identified. Machine learning, a type of AI, has been used for numerous tasks like diagnosis, treatment planning, patient monitoring, and follow-up care.

Healthcare risk management comprises processes and systems that mitigate, uncover, and prevent risks in the healthcare settings. The current trends have improved healthcare risk management, which comprises clinical and administrative systems, reports, and practices used to assess, distinguish, mitigate, and prevent risks. For instance, Artificial Intelligence has been used to assess the patient-specific risks and measure the risk factors linked with the disease. Healthcare risk management has primarily focused on the significant role of patient safety and lowering medical errors. The expanding role of healthcare technologies and the current trends in the ever-changing regulatory have maintained high clinical quality, which improves healthcare risk management.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry is expected to continue growing with the rising healthcare expenses, health technology and health insurance industry are key contributing factors. The healthcare industry in the United States has placed priority on technology, innovation, research, and legislation to facilitate changed and improved healthcare processes. The healthcare industry has been influenced by current legislation and changes such as the Affordable Care Act and the Patient Protection and affordable care enhancement act, which have facilitated shared responsibilities and shared coverage. The current legislation changes and trends have impacted quality of care, life expectancy and the healthcare cost. From both a healthcare administrator and patient perspective, the current healthcare environment in the United States has changed with recent legislation and current trends shaping the future of the healthcare system.

References

Carthon, J. M. B., Brom, H., Poghosyan, L., Daus, M., Todd, B., & Aiken, L. (2020). Supportive clinical practice environments associated with patient-centered care. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 16(4), 294-298.

Haleem, A., Javaid, M., Singh, R. P., & Suman, R. (2021). Telemedicine for Healthcare: Capabilities, features, barriers, and applications. Sensors International, 100117.

Patrick, J., & Yang, P. Q. (2021). Health Insurance Coverage before and after the Affordable Care Act in the USA. Sci, 3(2), 25.

Rong, G., Mendez, A., Assi, E. B., Zhao, B., & Sawan, M. (2020). Artificial intelligence in healthcare: review and prediction case studies. Engineering, 6(3), 291-301.

Song, J., Kim, J. N., Tomar, S., & Wong, L. N. (2021). The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Dental Care: An Integrative Literature Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(15), 7865.

Tilhou, A. S., Huguet, N., DeVoe, J., & Angier, H. (2020). The Affordable care act Medicaid expansion positively impacted community health centers and their patients. Journal of general internal medicine, 35(4), 1292-1295.

Van Houtven, C. H., McGarry, B. E., Jutkowitz, E., & Grabowski, D. C. (2020). Association of Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with use of long-term care. JAMA network open, 3(10), e2018728-e2018728.