Question

Question: How would you as a healthcare executive or policymaker increase the efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system?

To answer this question, consider that there are reasons for the current high U.S. healthcare expenditures:

1. The USA does not regulate the price for healthcare services – using, in most cases, a free-market approach to determine prices.
2. The demographics of the U.S. population is skewed towards the elderly and age and cost increase together.
3. The U.S. population as a whole is a nation of people with multiple chronic diseases like HTN and DM and obesity. The consequences of several lifestyle choices contribute to the high cost of chronic care.
4. The U.S. healthcare system does not seem to work as well as other healthcare systems in the world.

Answer 1

Tips to increase the efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system as a healthcare executive or policymaker

• The establishment of a collaborative and powerful system to evaluate the existing health care system which may incorporate external researches, new research studies as per necessity, analyse the findings and provide valuable feedback for the policy makers, consumers, health care workers and the general population.
• Comparing and identifying the cost-effectiveness of oraganisation and delivery of preventive and curative services. The comparative value should be analysed by accessing to the datas from the health care department to that collected from care providers, care receiveres and researchers in health sector.
• Make sure that policies and programs pertaining to reimbursement are based on previous outcomes and announcing incentives to those who adopts the best practices, including integration of care, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of services.
• Collaborative approach with the state and public health agencies(local) and the community based organizations as service providers as well as consumers may increase the public awareness about health related polices and rights.
• Governmental agencies should provide informations based on recent evidences, in simple and understandable language, to the public, regarding the preventive and treatment options available to them.
• Universal adoption of electronic information services for administrative and clinical reasons which includes the electronic health records,may help to assess accurately the overlall performance of the American Health care system and the current health status of the general population.