American Well Case Study

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American Well: Decision-Making & Impact American Well is a major producer of telehealth technology in the health care industry. The company is faced with several ethical and regulatory issues that impact the decisions made in the organization. Ethical issues in telehealth pertains to the demand of American Well to develop products that improve health care quality and are acceptable to all stakeholders in health care. Regulatory issues in telehealth include concerns of the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). This paper will discuss the business decisions that need to be made in regards to regulatory and ethical issues of American Well and how the decisions impact the culture and stakeholders of the organization. In …show more content…

Stakeholders in health care include health care organizations, physicians, insurers, employers, consumers, and policymakers. The complexity of health care itself makes balancing the needs of all stakeholders and compliance with health care law a challenge for American Well. Ethical issues in telehealth include concerns of health care quality and buy-in from physicians and policymakers. American Well must use the ethical decision making process to ensure compliance with health care law while also developing products that physicians are willing to utilize and policy-makers are willing to support. Ethical reasoning, ethical principles and decision making are valuable tools that will assist American Well in aligning decisions with changes in health care …show more content…

American Well should consider the ethical principles of utilitarianism, universalism, rights, justice, and ethical virtues as a decision making framework that will filter through the ethical dilemmas of the complex health care delivery system. Each ethical principle can be used by American Well as guidelines to decision making regarding the development of telehealth products. For example, utilitarianism concludes that actions are right if they are useful and beneficial to the majority and if benefits over cost are greatest for all affected (Weiss, 2014, p. 2-2). American Well prides itself as being the leader in the development of a virtual health care delivery system that can be access by all stakeholders in health care. The Exchange is the first virtual health care delivery system alternative of its kind. Changes in health care laws have positively increased the demand for health care services in addition to the growing number of the elderly population. American Well is faced with remaining in compliance with health care law and the development of a health care product that can meet or exceed the perimeters of the law while also meeting the demand of consumers, policy makers, and physicians. In the end, the use of the principle of utilitarianism will assist American Well in determining the interest of internal stakeholders to

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