Cost Containment Analysis

Controlling the cost of medical care is an essential element of health care reform. Without adequate cost control measures, ensuring widespread access to care may become unsustainable. Cost containment approaches should not compromise value in health care; however, cost containment efforts should focus on reducing redundancy and waste, improved care management, and improved delivery of excellent value in health care. According to Jessup (2012), containing the costs of care can be useful to government, employer, and household budgets, but it may have a detrimental impact on innovation since health care costs are the main source of revenue for medical innovators. One of the health care treatment that is controversial and is costly is the patient

on prolong life support. There are many patients who sustain a massive cerebral vascular accident (CVA) and these patient become brain damage. Life and health depend upon the efficient function of the different organs of the body. If vital organs such as the heart, lungs or kidneys fail, death is imminent. Life support refers to techniques and procedures to artificially replace the function of vital organs. To keep these patients alive, they must be on prolong life support. The care management for these patients is very costly. This kind of care management is very controversial because there are pros and cons in that subject matter. According to Wilkinson (2011), the concept of a life worth living is controversial and sometimes confusing. The positive or benefit aspect from this type of treatment that may be noted, the patient may become back to normal life which is very rare. “Today, it has been established that patients report equal quality of life on average regardless of whether the damage was in the left or right hemisphere of the brain” (Landau, 2011, 7). The potential harm that anyone can be noted, these patients may be suffered with skin breakdown, multiple risks for infection such as ventilator acquired infections, prolonged agony, and devastating side effects that can be affected this kind health care treatment. Also, there are many ethical, moral, and monetary issues surround the decision that the family makes when they decide if it’s time to end life support. Whatever is good in the benefit of these patients, family members, and the community should be used as part of the strategy. The strategy that can be used if these patients have written a living will, it should be granted to these patients. However, the healthcare institutes should go according to the patient family wishes if there was any living will that was writing by the patients