Health Care Delivery Systems

Health Care Delivery Systems
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Introduction
Hospitals are part of the most crucial service industry in the economy. These are institutions that happen to play a very delicate social obligation regarding the health of the citizens. Diseases have been around for centuries, and their impacts are devastating to the economy (Slideshare.net, 2014). The ability of the hospitals to adapt and tackle the predicaments of any form ailment in the society directly connects to their financial management abilities. Every other health institution has to have the ability to adapt to the changing economic landscape and make the best out of it. Where the hospitals have managed to come up with the best financial strategies, consecutively there is also the element of effective health care development. The magnitude of proper financial management in any form of health care delivery system is underlined by the fact that health care does not have a margin of error. At the same time the health care delivery can not be late (Cms.gov, 2014). If any of these scenarios happens, fatalities take place and the level of motivation on the medical teams drops. As such, the health care systems have to keep vigil, by continuously learning the changes in the market and adapting, through definitive measures and financial strategies. The approach in this paper is related to understanding the health care delivery with respect to financial management characteristics. As such, the scope will be limited to the management of costs, human resources and revenues collected in the health care systems for the betterment of service delivery.
Outline
Introduction
Health care delivery systems
Characteristics of health care delivery systems
Cost management
Revenue cycle
Human resource management
The future of health care delivery systems
Conclusion
Cost Management
Cost management in the health delivery system is an aspect that resonates through all the management processes and is one of the corner stones of performance indicators. The aspect of effective cost management also highlights the profitability of the system. For effective cost management, the health care delivery systems have to come up with a methodology that addresses all the challenges, understand the key drivers and one that is in support of effective management. Cost management with close relevance to the level of profitability relates to several of the health delivery system dockets (Cms.gov, 2014). For the decisions to have effective cost management play out in the system, the executive management, underwriters, customer service, sales and marketing as well as the treasury have to work closely together. In the past most of the practices that revolve around profitability and cost management have just been confined to reports and analysis. After the analysis, the results have not had a place in the decision making process with reference to implementing strategic measures. In the future, however there must plans to integrate the results from the analysis into decision making. At the moment the USA is spending more than 13% of the GDP on health care delivery, astonishingly, access to quality health care even for the most basic medical needs is still more of a dream for many (Olsen & Yong, 2014). Majority of the citizens do not have medical cover, as they cannot afford to pay for their insurance cover.
Revenue Cycle Management
The revenue cycle is one of the other crucial facets of the financial characteristics that implicate the performance of the health care system (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2014). Most of the health care facilities are tied down by the fact there are too many clerical errors, administrative errors, using outdated information systems, and half of the time the facilities spend a lot of energies trying to correct these errors. At the end of the process, the costs increase, profit margins come down, lower motivation of the staff and the customers increasingly feel dissatisfied with the health care facilities offered. The backbone of the ability to increase the revenue lies with customer satisfaction. At the same time the currency of the information that the health care providers have to make their decisions, also weighs heavily. The more current and accurate the information is, the easier it is for the health care providers to make the right call. Currently, the revenue cycle is dependents on the pay for service billing. The near future is bound to experience some changes in the system, as more health care facilities rely on the strategies that aim at reducing the costs and increasing the quality of delivery (Cms.gov, 2014). Some of these strategies include application of, business data, electronic medical records, and population health management. These are strategies that have emerged in light of the variable affecting revenue and their ability to multiply.
Human Resources Management in Health Care Delivery Systems
As much as any health care delivery system relies on the revenue and cost management, the human interface is right at the middle. Every other aspect of the health care delivery system is pegged to the management of the human resources. If there are policies or strategies to be implemented, the human resources are going to be central to it. At the same time, it is the human resources that have the ability to formulate these policies and strategies in the first place. This is one of the subtle inputs to any health care system, and therefore defines the quality of health care delivery (Manzi, Schellenberg, Hutton, Wyss, Mbuya & Shirima, 2012). The level of satisfaction of the customers depends on the human resources, with close reference to the technical and sociocultural level of quality. If there is to be any changes in the health care delivery system, it has to start with the understanding of human resource management, as this is one of the major inputs other than consumables and the physical capital.
Annotated Bibliography
Olsen, L., & Yong, P. (2014). Excess Administrative Costs - The Healthcare Imperative - NCBI Bookshelf. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 26 May 2014, from /books/NBK53942/.
This article, relates to the excess administrative costs with reference to the United States health care delivery. The article deliberates on the fact that despite the fact that the cost of health care is rising, the quality on the other hand is going down. The article also goes into the excesses found in the billing system as well as the insurance costs. It also goes on to bring out a remedy to reduce the excess in the administrative cost and those costs related to insurance and billing.
Slideshare.net,. (2014). US health care system overview 1. Retrieved 26 May 2014, from /nithinmohantk/us-health-care-system-overview-1.
This article relates to the complex health care delivery system in the United States. It also dwells slightly on the insurance statistics in health care within the USA. According t the article, the USA health care delivery system is divided into, managed care, vulnerable population, military and the integrated delivery. It also brings out the characteristics that define the complexity of the delivery system, such as the imperfect market condition.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. (2014). Revenue Cycle Management: What’s Next in Healthcare. Retrieved from /url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.himss.org%2Ftransformation%2Fdocs%2FHTPRevenueCycleManagementWhitePaper2014.pdf&ei=vfmCU5PeCeek0QX02YGwDw&usg=AFQjCNFYYBJqjT1yZS_0Uv0k84jZegki6A&sig2=lU0gGI64ydFKtRuuisJaEg.
In this article, the author relates to the aspect of the changing environment in the revenue cycle. According to the article, the revenue cycle has bee restricted to pay-for-services, by there is a possibilities that there is going to be different approaches emerging. The paper tries to bring out, different approaches that have been used by some six different organizations. The different organizations are operating in different markets. The article reviews the different paradigms, from the technological implications, tracking of the returns on investments and the focus on the high costs associated with high volumes.
Cms.gov,. (2014). 2013-02-28 - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Retrieved 26 May 2014, from /Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-Sheets/2013-Fact-Sheets-Items/2013-02-28.html. ...