Health care providers discussion Read the discussion post 1 and the discussion post 2 uploaded below and provide a response to each one. Each response shou
Health care providers discussion Read the discussion post 1 and the discussion post 2 uploaded below and provide a response to each one. Each response should be at least 150 words with at least one reference. There is a concerted effort to provide quality services at a price that is fair to both
organization and facility. Hospitals are competing to win patients because they are essential to
operation. Minimum standards of care are required; lowering the standards inevitably incurs a
cost on the back end of delivery. Quality involves a variety of investments that range from
competent providers to protocols for care delivery. The costs that result from these
investments are a factor in what the patient will ultimately be charged. Leger (2013) states
that hospitals exists to satisfy stakeholders. Employees, patients, doctors, nurses and the
community are a few of the entities that require responses to demands. Khullar (2018)
suggests that although ACOs have been focusing on reform by reducing unnecessary services
and shifting spending, they have not been able to produce substantial cost savings. One
reason is that to optimize profits, hospitals attempt to provide all care in their network. This
effects quality that can be obtained from specialists at a lower cost. Higher quality and better
outcomes will produce more profits in the end.
Hospitals are businesses and should strive to make a profit. The setting provides a
conglomerate of professionals in one place to diagnose and treat acute and chronic disease
processes. This fact alone lends a convenience to hospitals that do not exist in other
businesses. Hospitals also employ professionals who in many cases, amass a considerable
amount of debt in order to practice in their field. Still others go on the specialize in certain
fields. These people should be paid for their skill, which comes from the profits secured from
the services provided. An article by Kacik( 2018) says that hospital employment for doctors
has risen by sixty three percent since 2012. Although this incurs higher costs, doctors are
more likely to refer to facilities in their network than anywhere else. This is especially true in
the skilled and long-term facility markets. In my region, all the big three hospitals have
several LTC and skilled facilities. The hospital feed the facilities, which account for over fifty
percent of the admissions. Our medical director refers all his hospital patients to us which
results in a win win situation. The patient enjoys the continuity of care from being seen from
the same doctor they had in the hospital and our admission rate stays well above the amount
we are budgeted for. Of course, our part is to maintain certain quality metrics, produce good
outcomes and keep return to hospital rates low. Hospitals need to give quality service and
produce a profit to pay all the well-deserved people who are committed to healthcare.
Competition among health care providers can enhance patient choices, stimulate
innovation, improve quality and efficiency, and reduce costs (Pita-Barros, Brouwer,
Thomson, and Varkevisser, 2016). In today’s day in age, I believe that hospitals are
competing on the basis of both price and quality. There is probably a much greater
competition that exists about the quality of organizations than there is about price. Improving
quality is of great importance and focus, with most if not all organizations making great
strides to improve the quality of care that they provide. Quality improvement and the
reduction of hospital-acquired conditions result in higher reimbursement and the avoidance of
penalties for organizations (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS], 2017).
Patient satisfaction and hospital ratings get publicly reported, which is a driver for them to
make them as desirable as possible as this could attract or deter people from seeking their
services. The better the quality of care, the more people would want to go there and so this
would drive competition between providers and organizations. Organizations may also
compete on price as lower prices may attract consumers to utilize their services, but I do think
that quality influences the decision of consumers in those situations. For instance, if an
organization has a reputation for providing poor care quality, one might not want to utilize
their services. If providers have equitable care quality, then attracting consumers could be
done by making prices more attractive.
Health care facilities are places of business and should be able to make a profit. While
I believe this is true, I also believe that their profit should not come at a great expense to the
consumer and the employees who work there. For example, a profit should not be made by
cutting back staff and making the facility a potentially unsafe one. As long as the facility is a
fair, equitable, and a safe place; it should be able to reap financial rewards.
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