Question

Why is healthcare described as a "complex system" and what are the implications for the introduction and spread of global health innovations?

Answer 1

HEALTHCARE AS A COMPLEX SYSTEM

Complex system means difficult to manage because of its many of the interacting fields but it is not impossible only hard to manage. Health-care professionals understand the nature of complexity in health care, as it is important for preventing adverse events.

The system of Health care is complex because of:

1. Variety of tasks involved in the provision of patient care,

2. Healthcare providers are dependant to one another;

3. Diversity of patients, and staff;

4. The large number of relationships between patients, carers, health-care providers, support staff, administrators, family and community members;

5.The vulnerability of patients;

6. Differences in the physical layout of clinical environments;

7. Lack of regulations;

8. Arrival of new technology;

9. The diversity of care pathways and organizations involved;

10. Increased specialization of health-care professionals while specialization allows a wider range of patient treatments and services.

There are 3 types of innovations which can make health care better and of low cost.

1.Consumer focused.

Innovations in the health care can result in more convenient, effective, and less expensive treatments for today’s time-stressed and increasingly empowered health care consumers. For example, a health plan can involve consumers in the service delivery process by offering low-cost, high-deductible insurance, which can give members greater control over their personal health care spending. Or a health plan (or service provider) can focus on becoming more user-friendly. Patients, after all, are like other consumers: They want not only a good product quality care at a good price but also ease of use.

Technology.

New drugs, diagnostic methods, drug delivery systems, and medical devices offer the hope of better treatment and of care that is less costly, disruptive, and painful. For example, implanted sensors can help patients monitor their diseases more effectively. And IT innovations that connect the many islands of information in the health care system can both vastly improve quality and lower costs by, for example, keeping a patient’s various providers informed and thereby reducing errors of omission or commission.

Business model.

Health care is still an astonishingly fragmented industry. The medical device and biotechnology sectors are made up of thousands of small firms. Innovative business models, particularly those that integrate health care activities, can increase efficiency, improve care, and save consumers time. You can roll a number of independent players up into a single organization—horizontal integration—to generate economies of scale. Or can bring the treatment of a chronic disease under one roof—vertical integration—and make the treatment more effective and convenient. In the latter case, patients get one-stop shopping and are freed from the burden of coordinating their care with myriad providers (for example, the ophthalmologists, podiatrists, cardiologists, neurologists, and nephrologists who care for diabetics).

The health care system erects an array of barriers to each of these valuable types of innovation. More often than not, though, the obstacles can be overcome by managing the six forces that have an impact on health care innovation.

The Forces Affecting Innovation

The six forces—industry players, funding, public policy, technology, customers, and accountability—can help or hinder efforts at innovation. Individually or in combination, the forces will affect the three types of innovation in different ways.

Conclusion

Through innovations and the development of partnerships, critical medical product development can be accelerated and public health services can be provided in a more sustainable manner. Furthermore, the extraordinary advances in information technology have the potential to revolutionize global health and bypass the necessity of costly brick-and-mortar health services.