Health Care Delivery in America

Health Care Delivery in America
Name
Course
Lecturer
Date
The shock of medical technology on growth in health care expenditure has long been a subject of essential interest, more so in the context of long-term projections of health spending where issues of historical trends to present times are discussed. This paper seeks to guesstimate a rough range for the input of technological change to growth in health, its historical perspective and how technological advance has affected the public opinion of the change in health care system.
If one is to look at the health care delivery in America, it would be fundamental to have an overview of the history of how health delivery was before. The US was used to a Family medicine system and Cumming up with a brief history of family medicine in US medicine history will help up examine future challenges as well the future of medicine projects (Stephens, 1982).
It is true to say that most of the people in US undergoes training and practicing medicine without getting any prescribed education concerning the history of medicine in the US more so that of Family medicine. Knowing where the health delivery system came from, what forces and people have influenced to the specialty, the struggle, accomplishment and disappointment that the discipline has faced is some of the vital issues to be considered.
We are the products of the history and one can say that we situate in the shoulders of many who made family Medicine possible. This history does not only explain the past but also provides a framework for understanding the present and enables us to move forward. According to Dr. Stephens the great founder of our specialty said , "medicine is always the child of its time and cannot escape being influenced and shaped by contemporary ideas and social trends"
Historical perspectives
It was in the 1800s when the US was still settled in small towns, and their economy was that of farming and products of goods. During this period, health care was unstructured, and doctor used to visit his patients in a horse and buggy. At this time, most doctors never have formal training and therefore some learned the job as novices working with older physicians or attending smaller courses and workshops since at this time there were no schools, no organized training nor organized medicine as well systems to guarantee quality care (Canfield, 1976).
In most cases, the doctor the doctor went to visit patients and took care of all the members of the family. Though there were no records, the doctors always knew their patients well and could help the deliver babies, treat a multitude of illness, help those who were dying and even did surgery and took care of trauma. Many of the doctors were perceptive clinicians with great knowledge and potential who committed themselves in serving their people.
During this time, payment was a fee for service but in many cases, goods were brought to doctors as payment. Though many doctors were outstanding physicians, the group of doctors had several who claimed implausible healing powers; there were so many quackery and no principles of care to which doctors were held.
As cities grew, physicians got the need to have organizations that would enable them address on a large scale which was a vital need for the growing society. This resulted to the establishment of formal medical education standards which was considered a priority thing and in 1846 AMA was established where its aim was to organize and regulate medical education, and later in 1900, they had other objectives like purifying the profession from quackery, established an orthodox medical science based on natural science, promote standards of public health like sanitation and food and standardize medical education.
How has the technology and the la...