Scribd
Upload
152 views

Healthcare Trends and Issues

Medical costs in the US have been steadily increasing in recent years and are projected to continue rising significantly if costs are not managed. Chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, which require long-term care, are major drivers of higher costs. Prescription drug prices have also increased dramatically. However, Americans still do not receive all necessary healthcare and care is not well-coordinated, leading to poorer health outcomes despite higher spending. To address rising costs, healthcare leaders need strategies like chronic disease management programs, health IT adoption, and negotiating drug prices.

Uploaded by

Alex Munyao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
152 views

Healthcare Trends and Issues

Medical costs in the US have been steadily increasing in recent years and are projected to continue rising significantly if costs are not managed. Chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, which require long-term care, are major drivers of higher costs. Prescription drug prices have also increased dramatically. However, Americans still do not receive all necessary healthcare and care is not well-coordinated, leading to poorer health outcomes despite higher spending. To address rising costs, healthcare leaders need strategies like chronic disease management programs, health IT adoption, and negotiating drug prices.

Uploaded by

Alex Munyao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

1

Healthcare Trends and Issues

Name:

Institution:
2

Healthcare Trends and Issues

Medical costs have been increasing in the past years, and there is no sign of these growing

costs to slow down. According to the PwC, these costs are expected to increase by about 6%

if no cost management adjustments will be made and by 5% if there is the adoption of cost

management initiatives such as alternative network models. The driving forces behind these

increased costs are related to the prices rather than utilization in the medical cost trend (PwC,

2019). Major inflators are spending on prescription drugs, management of chronic diseases,

and mental health services. Consumers need to ensure they get the best value for their money

spent on healthcare, while healthcare providers have to ensure they meet consumers' needs

and expectations.

The United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. In 2018,

healthcare spending reached 3.6 trillion dollars and was estimated to rise to 6 trillion dollars

by 2027. The rise in these medical costs is contributed by factors such as the aging

population, chronic disease prevalence, increased drug prices, healthcare service costs, and

administrative costs. Our focus in this paper is majorly on chronic disease management and

drug pricing. Six out of every ten adults in the U.S have a chronic disease. The typical

chronic conditions include stroke, cancer, diabetes, heart, kidney, and pulmonary diseases

(Buttorff, Ruder & Bauman, 2017). Chronic conditions require long-term medical attention.

Some may even limit the patients' daily activities calling for the use of home health care. All

these make it complicated and expensive to care for chronic disease patients. Spending on

prescribed drugs has also been increasing, causing a significant increase in medical costs due

to the continued emphasis on precision medicine and specialty pharmaceuticals. The complex

nature of these drugs makes them very costly to develop and distribute.

In the United States, patients do not get the needed care even though they spend more

money on health care. Higher spending on advanced and complex diseases are as a result of
3

underutilization in preventive care. Patients with chronic illnesses do not receive effective

treatments to manage their conditions. These problems are worsened by a lack of care

coordination for these patients (Kaplan & Porter, 2018). Therefore, many patients do not

receive the necessary care, while others may receive harmful or unnecessary care. Lack of

effective treatment procedures and failure to detect and reduce errors in the U.S healthcare

system affect patients' quality and efficiency to lower-income consumers and people of

diverse demographic groups who often face health care disparities.

Healthcare leaders should be aware of these cost issues affecting the healthcare industry.

Inadequate cost management systems have disastrous consequences. Service providers do not

understand costs, and therefore, they cannot link value to process improvement, which

prevents them from making sustainable cost reduction plans (Kaplan & Porter, 2018). The

remedy to the cost crisis does not require new governmental regulation or medical science

breakthroughs, but it merely requires accurate measurement of costs and compare them with

outcomes.

Reforming the healthcare delivery system will improve the quality and value of care,

which addresses increased medical costs, low-quality care, and the increased number of

consumers without health insurance coverage. Programs such as Chronic Disease

Management, Health Information Technology, and Primary Care Coordination need to be

incorporated into the healthcare executive's future strategies. These programs improve quality

and health outcomes as well as lower the total cost growth. There is a need to be a

streamlined drug approval process on drug spending, importing prescription drugs, and

negotiating drug prices in terms of cost per unit.

As the medical costs continue to rise, strategies need to be implemented to monitor and

help reduce these healthcare costs. As a future healthcare leader, I would observe these

medical cost trends by tracking operational costs, classifying them, and reducing operating
4

expenses that do not contribute to better care. I would also ensure there is an application of

efficiency practices from other industries. These may include optimal utilization, low storage

costs, and comprehensive knowledge of stock quantities and the production resources'

location. Making better use of Information Technology, engaging staff members in efforts,

and streamlining bureaucracy would also help monitor these healthcare issues in the future.
5

References
Buttorff, C., Ruder, T., & Bauman, M. (2017). Multiple chronic conditions in the United

States (pp. 1-33). Santa Monica, CA: Rand.

Kaplan, R. S., & Porter, M. E. (2018). The big idea: How to solve the cost crisis in health

care. 2011. Harvard Business Review, http://hbr. org/2011/09/how-to-solve-the-cost-

crisis-in-health-care/ar/1.

PwC. (2019, June). Medical cost trend: Behind the numbers 2020. Health Research Institute.

https://www.pwc.com/us/medicalcosttrends Accessed 8 November 2020.

You might also like