Cost Access And Quality In Healthcare

887 Words2 Pages

Cost, Access, and Quality Cost, access, and quality are important concepts in the health care system in the United States. These concepts are interrelated and can pose as barriers to individuals in the quest of receiving health services. Throughout the years, the government has tried to manage each concept to provide low cost and easier access to quality health care services. As a nation, we spend more on health care than any other thing in our budget. Cost can be defined in varies ways in health care. Consumers and financiers defined cost is the price of health care. This includes doctor’s bill, prescriptions, and health insurance premiums. Cost can also be defined as the amount of money a nation spends on health care. The increase of prices …show more content…

One strategy is supply-side controls which provides restrictions on capital expenditures such as new construction, renovations, and buying new technology (Shi & Singh, 2015). Price control is another cost containment strategy that converted reimbursement from cost plus to a prospective payment system. The prospective payment system is based on diagnosis-related groups which have fixed payments for the treatment of certain acute illnesses. Peer reviews are also a strategy used to contain cost of health care services. The purpose of peer reviews is to monitor the utilization of services and quality of care that physicians provide to patients. This is to ensure that care that patient receive is reasonable and necessary. Cost sharing also helps control cost. This concept helps individuals control the utilizations of unnecessary services. Competitions can help control cost of health care. Employers can shop around for the best price for premiums for their employees. There are also antitrust laws that prevent business practices that interfere with competition among …show more content…

Access is defined as the ability of an individual to receive affordable, convenient, and acceptable health care services when needed (Shi & Singh, 2015). Access to care has five different concept which are availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability, and acceptability (Shi & Singh, 2015). Availability is the fit between service capacity and individuals’ requirements (Shi & Singh, 2015). Accessibility is the locations between providers and patients. Accommodation is how resources are organized to provide care and the individual’s ability to use the arrangement (Shi & Singh, 2015). Affordability is the ability of an individual to pay for services. Acceptability is the attitudes of patients and providers and the compatibility of these attitudes. There are three levels to measure access. The first level is the individual. This measure the utilization of services that an individual plan to use and the patient’s opinion of the interaction with the provider (Shi & Singh, 2015). The second level involves the health plan. This includes the plan characteristics that affects enrollment, the practices that affect access, and the measurement of quality (Shi & Singh, 2015). The last level of measurement is the health care delivery system. Surveys are used to gain data for conducting access to care

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