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Outline Workplace Safety: OSHA and OSH Act
Outline Workplace Safety: OSHA and OSH Act
Contemporary issues with osha
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In the United States alone there is 257 Federal Regulatory Agencies. Each one having their own set of standards, regulations and compliance laws. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in one such agency that exist under the United States Department of Labor. Even healthcare giants like Kaiser Permanente have to be within complain with OSHA regulations or face fines for violations. While there are many things that could harm you in a work environment, OSHA has rules in place to make sure that the likelihood of harm is controlled through proper training, protective measures, and worker’s rights.
The purpose the Kaiser Permanente serves is summed up well in the “Our Vision” portion of their web portal. They state that their
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main vision is to, “…Be a leader in total Health by making lives better”. They list four ways that could be considered their short term goals meant to achieve their vision statement of being a leader in health.
The first step is evaluating the quality of care that members receive from Kaiser followed by making sure members have their safety ensured (Rabrenovich, 2013). The last two steps that Kaiser takes is protection of member privacy by preventing fraud and making it easy for members to heard in terms of the quality of care they received as well as being able to report any safety concerns they may have (Rabrenovich, 2013). The type of healthcare organization Kaiser Permanente is considered is an Integrated managed care consortium. This means that it an association of many different smaller companies and organizations that all fall under a parent holding companies. Because of the wide spread nature of managed care consortiums, the communities served are just as extensive as well. The Kaiser network’s largest community case is in California standing at a strong 8 million members (Fast Facts About Kaiser Permanente, 2013). In addition, their member’s communities consist of …show more content…
Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Oregon, and Washington in order from greatest to fewest members (Fast Facts About Kaiser Permanente, 2013). One of the most important parts of Kaiser is its stakeholders that make it up. Kaiser Stake holders can be summed up into four parts. These parts begin with the Kaiser Permanente as a whole, followed by the staff member that actually provide the service, then the member who Kaiser serves, and lastly is the policies makers and regulatory bodies that the guidelines through which they operate are established (Kaiser Permanente – Stakeholders, 2011). In the United States, all business need to operate within the guidelines of regulatory agencies.
Because healthcare provides such a specialized service to its customers, It is subject to most regular regulatory agencies, but in addition, agencies that are specialized to deal with healthcare and the quality of care provided. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is one regulatory agencies that organization like Kaiser is expected to abide by. These regulatory organization perform and essential function in healthcare. OSHA being one of the largest regulatory agencies has a big say so in what guidelines need to be meet or exceed in healthcare. Organization like OSHA are necessary components to ensuring compliance and making sure that patients have a safe access to care. OSHA does this through a few methods. One way OSHA helps providers and patients by promoting an organizational safety structure (UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, n.d.). Creating this culture in a healthcare organization cover all four stakes holder for companies like Kaiser Permanente. This is because organizational safety help tapper off the burden of cost associated with poor patient safety (UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, n.d.). By having regulations that prevent this, the staff member have better outcomes, which in turns means the member gets a higher quality care. This then lends to the credibility of both the regulatory bodies like OSHA, and Kaiser Permanente as a whole covering
all four stake holders. That is why these policies and regulatory agencies are so important in healthcare. In healthcare work place hazards are a common issue faced by staff on a daily bases. In 2011 the healthcare industry reported the highest rate of amount of work related injuries and illnesses of any business sector. They had 653,900 cases in 2010 with the manufacturing industry trialing by 150,000 cases. These cases represent a large amount of lost productivity and worse off can be meet with legal action and fines for violation of health policies if necessary. If an organizations like Kaiser Permanente failed to meet these regulations, it could have serious impacts on the organizations success and financial stability moving forwards. Kaiser it well suited for handling issues of this nature. The Kaiser Family has founded a labor partnership that aims to eliminate on-the job injuries (MAKE THE WORKPLACE SAFER, n.d.). Kaiser believes that by working in union and allowing workers to help determine the best means to prevent and minimalize work place hazards. Part of the way they accomplish a safe working environment is by providing workers with a toolkit that help identify threats and hazards to patients and providers and also proposes potential solutions (MAKE THE WORKPLACE SAFER, n.d.). The business model in healthcare will always be confine to the guidelines set by regulatory bodies at the federal, state, and even local level. Even industry giants like Kaiser Permanente are expected to operate while in the confines of these regulatory agencies. This I for the best for all the stakeholders involved. By having these regulations in place, the staff, patient, and health organization all have the best likelihood of good outcomes when all the regulations are met. Kaiser has shown being able to meet and exceed these guidelines set, allows them to have better outcomes across the organization
Kaiser Permanente (KP) started from manufacturing healthcare for construction, shipyard, and steel mill workers in the late 1930s and 1940s. The healthcare plan was available to the public in October 1945. The ideology behind prepayment healthcare started during the Great Depression with a surgeon and a twelve hospital bed in California. Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care group, founded in 1945 by Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. KP is made up of three distinct groups of body: the Kaiser Health Plan; Kaiser Hospitals; and Permanente Medical Groups. As of 2014, Kaiser Permanente are in eight states and the District of Columbia, and is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States. According to the fast fact from its own web site, “Kaiser Permanente has 9.6 million health plan members, 174,415 employees, 17,425 physicians, 38 medical centers, and 618 medical offices. For 2011, the non-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals entities reported a $56.4 billion in operating revenues” (Fast Facts about Kaiser
Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to provide care assistance to those in need. As a health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente provides preventive care such as prenatal care, immunizations, diagnostics, hospital medical and pharmacy services. Also, they take responsibility and provide exceptional training for their future health professionals for better clinical performance and treatment for the patients. The organization is to ensure fair and proper treatment towards their employees for a pleasant working environment in hospital and to provide medical services especially in a growing population in suburban communities, such as Tracy and Stockton in California.
Managed care is one of the leading form health care in the United States. It has become very popular and many people in the United States have taken advantage of it. There are a few different types of managed care programs: Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs, Preferred Provider Organizations or PPOs, and Point of Service Plans or POSs. Each one of these types of managed care plans has its pros and cons (Cyrene, 2015). If you would ask a few people what types of insurance they have, they are more than likely going to name off a managed care plan because it is more common to find someone with a managed care plan than not. Managed care has changed the healthcare system in many ways, some for the good and
Healthcare in the U.S. has recently been affected by implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. The intent is to create a healthca...
Occupational Safety and Health Administration also known as OSHA is a U.S. regulatory agency that is used to implement the safety of employees, patients and the enviro...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was formed as an agency of the federal government that is charged with protecting workers from recognized safety hazards within the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created as a result of passage of the “Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in response to dangerous working conditions across the nation and as a culmination of decades of reform” (Walter, 2011, para. 5). President Richard Nixon signed the act into law on December 29, 1970 and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was officially established on April 28, 1971 (Walter, 2011). During the 41 years on the job, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified and addressed numerous work hazards, as well as provided solutions to mitigate and/or avoid placing workers in unnecessary danger. OSHA regulates as enforces regulations throughout the country, however the agency does declare that “states can run their own safety and health programs as long as those programs are at least as effective as the federal program” (http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-osha.htm). The states that choose to implement their own version of the occupational safety and health plan are referred to as OSHA states, whereas those who implement no plan are required to follow the federal regulations, as set forth by OSHA. OSHA effects all workers and employers in the United States, as the desired effect of the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act is “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources” (Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970). OS...
There are several issues concerning the uninsured and underinsured patient population in America. There are many areas of concern the congressional efforts to increase the availability of health insurance, the public image of the insurance industry illustrated by the movie "John Q", the lack of good management tools, and creating health insurance coverage for all low income Americans. Since the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 43 million from 37 million in the flourishing 1990s and could shoot up even more severely if the economy continues to decrease and health care premiums keep increasing (Insurance No Simple Fix, 2001).
The OSH Act gave OSHA the authority to come into work places and inspect facilities for health and safety risks. Due to shortages in personnel, OSHA inspects accidents and safety complaints that are filed, and those facilities that have a high volume of accident rates. If an individual state has an approved safety and health enforcement plan, than they may be exempt from yearly inspections by OSHA and have their own state personnel conduct the inspections. The Act sets a maximum penalty for safety and health violations, but OSHA has the authority to calculate fines. If an industry objects to the citation or fines, they can go before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. OSHA has been criticized on both ends, by industries for being too strict, and by unions for not being strict enough. In the 1980s, OSHA had instituted a policy that would exempt some workplaces from a complete inspection if they had a lower than average injury rate. However, that policy was abandoned when an employee died from a workplace that OSHA had not fully inspected. OSHA has implemented new procedures that have set higher penalties and increased the maximum fine for all types of infractions.
Medicare was designed as a universal healthcare program for individuals 65 years old and older. This program is funded by Medicare taxes and general federal funding withholding taxes. Medicare is a partnership between federal and state with the goal to provide medical insurance to the elderly that is poor and disabled. Generally all people who are 65 years or older and qualify for social security will automatically qualify for Medicare.
One being the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), which was first proposed in the 1960s by Dr. Paul Elwood in the "Health Maintenance Strategy”. The HMO concept was created to decrease increasing health care costs and was set in law as the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, after promotion from the Nixon Administration. HMO would, in exchange for a fee, allow members access to employed physicians and facilities. In return, the HMO received market access and could earn federal development funds. An HMO is a integrated delivery system that combines both the delivery and financial aspects of health care for consumers. Under the HMO, each patient is appointed to a primary care physician (PCP), who is essentially accountable for the long-term care of the members that she/he has been assigned and any specialists that a patient needs to see should be referred by their PCP. Some examples of HMOs are Kaiser Permanente and Humana. HMOs are licensed at the state level, under a license that is known as a certificate of authority. A pro of an HMO is that treatment for a patient can begin prior to their insurance being authorized; A member may benefit from this because there would be little to no treatment delays. A con of an HMO is that in order to save cost, most HMOs provide narrow provider networks; A member may not benefit if in an emergency because their “in-network” emergency room might be far or there are “quick-care” in their
Many residents in the United States receive healthcare through various forms, such as insurance’s, Medicaid or Medicare. Medicaid is health care for the low income including children, pregnant women, disabled, blind and elders (Adams). According to the Congressional Budget Office there are about 51 million people that are covered by Medicaid and also it the largest drain on state budgets (Adams). Most countries have some type of form of health care they provide, for example, Japan is a democratic country that provide health care, but is different from other countries. There are also many interest groups that either agree or disagree with expanding Medicaid. The New Hampshire (NH) Community Behavioral Health Association and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are two of the many interest groups that are in favor of expanding Medicaid’s spending, as well as RTI International. However, Ohio Right to Life and Cleveland Right to Life are interest groups that oppose the expansion of Medicaid.
Medicare is a national social insurance program, run by the U.S. federal government since 1966 that promises health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older and younger people with disabilities. Being the nation’s single largest health insurance program, covering a large population for a wide range of health services, Medicare's funding is a fundamental part of it sustainability. Medicare is comprised of several different parts, serving different purposes, some of which require separate funding. In general, people at the age of 65 and older who have been legal residents of the United States for at least 5 years are eligible for Medicare. Same is true with people that have disabilities under 65, if they receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Medicare involves four parts: Part A is hospital insurance. Part B is additional medical insurance, that Part A doesn't cover. Part C health plans, also mostly known as Medicare Advantage, are another way for original Medicare beneficiaries to receive their Part A, B and D benefits. Medicare Part D covers many prescription drugs, some of which are covered by Part B. Medicare is a major operation, not only needing adequate administering but the necessary allocated funds to keep this massive system afloat.
Access to health care refers to the ease with which an individual can obtain needed medical services. Many Americans face barriers that make it difficult to obtain basic health care services. These barriers to services include lack of availability, high cost, and lack of insurance coverage. "Limited access to health care impacts people's ability to reach their full potential, negatively affecting their quality of life." (Access to Health Services, 2014) Access to health services encompasses four components that include coverage, services, timeliness, and workforce
...ue to numerous medical errors. With the amount of medical errors that currently do occur which is a current health care issue it cost the health care billions of dollar each year to fix the mistakes that were made.
Health care has always been an interesting topic all over the world. Voltaire once said, “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” It may seem like health care that nothing gets accomplished in different health care systems, but ultimately many trying to cures diseases and improve health care systems.