Economic Principles in Staffing Shortage in Health Care
Overview:-------------------------------THE HEALTHCARE ISSUE IS STAFFING SHORTAGES
In this assignment you apply economic principles and tools (cost, demand, and market demand curves) to the economic issue that you chose in the Week 2 activity. You are also asked to complete a brief description of health care financing payment models.
Instructions:
-Consider the health care issue that you identified in the Week 2 activity and address each of the following in a 3–4 page Word document:
-Explain how economic principles can be applied to this issue to effectively guide decision making.
-Demonstrate how supply and demand curves are used to accurately assess the issue.
-Analyze how the cost curve can be used to assess the issue. Provide an example.
-Compare capitation, fee for service, and pay for performance financing payment models to accurately reveal their similarities and differences.
-Use at least three sources to support your writing. Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and appropriate. Cite each source listed on your source page at least one time within your assignment
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
-Analyze health care issues using economic decision-making principles.
-Evaluate health care cost and efficiency issues using economic tools.
Economic Principles in Staffing Shortage in Health Care
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Economic Principles in Staffing Shortage in Health Care
Staffing shortage in healthcare is more than an inconvenience, it is a public health crisis. Since before COVID-19, this crisis has been there and it has greatly contributed to poor patient outcomes, increased chances of death, and hospital-acquired infections as established by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. There has not been enough staffing in healthcare facilities for emergency care, delivering babies, and treating chronic diseases. The issue is considered the biggest challenge and it has affected the industry for decades. It must be solved but it needs a reapproach in a different dimension.
Approaching this untenable crisis in the health industry from an economic perspective will help establish a better solution and guide decision-making (Parkin, 2017). Some of the key economic principles that can guide resolving the healthcare staffing crisis include scarcity, cost, market and demand curves, and supply and demand. Scarcity in healthcare staff has been there for the longest time. Therefore, the choice must be made to partially abandon some of the scarce resources needed and pay better attention to the staffing shortage. Understanding the underlying economic concept of opportunity cost can guide overcoming the scarcity crisis. Providing a scarce good or service means that you must use scarce resources thus you have to abandon other goods and services.
In the demand and supply principle, health provision is a fundamental commodity that demands improvement. Health staffing has an effective demand whereby when the health service is improved, its demand increase too. If resources were to be allocated based on the demand for health, this would occasionally lead to improved supply (University of Southern California, 2022). Even though the supply has been there, it is considered not substantial to withstand the demand. An increase in demand leads to a higher demand for supply. As the population grows, the demand for health grows too. The demand for staff in healthcare facilities, therefore, grows day in and day out.
Expenditure on health gradually increases. Recently the margin got bigger, especially after COVID-19. OECD data indicate that the average annual growth per capita health spending is 3.4%Cost-wise, the better the service the more the customers are willing to pay (Themes, 2016). The willingness to pay extra cost is triggered by the satisfaction or previous experience a client has. The health industry must establish a customer satisfaction-oriented structure. This can only be achieved by having adequate staff to meet the demands of the fast-growing population.
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