Hcs 449 Healthcare Industry Paper

Health Care Industry Paper

Kayla Lysak

HCS 449

December 15, 2014

Steve Linerode

Health Care Industry Paper

This paper will be addressing how health care has changed over the last ten years as well as what this author thinks will be the biggest change over the next ten years. It will also talk about the role that this author plans to have within the industry and how I will adapt my skills to evolve along with the health care industry’s needs. It will talk about my perceptions of the health care industry have changed over the course of my program and which part has had the most significant impact on this author. Lastly it will discuss the role that technology will play in health care organizations over the next decade and what financial and economic issue will affect the health care industry over the next ten years.

 There have been many improvements in the health care industry over the last ten years. These improvements include numerous advances in technology and the creation of the Medicare Part D program to help provide coverage for drug costs for our seniors and disabled people. According to Pruchnicki (2014), "The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) will eventually increase coverage for those on Medicaid, or requiring mental health care, along with individuals with low incomes or poor insurance. How extensive these benefits will be cannot be determined until the government’s website is fully implemented and resistance from Republican dominated states is overcome.” But even though there have been these positive trends there have been negative trends as well. The total costs of health care in the United States is now about three trillion dollars and 18% of the gross national product which is much higher than any other nation. Then there is the fact that employer-based insurance has either increased significantly or deteriorated. Health insurance privatization has expanded with approximately one third of all Medicare recipients, some Medicaid recipients and all of those who are on Medicare Part D being enrolled in private, for-profit insurance plans. What this means is that the marketplace basically controls medicine and the services that are considered profitable.

When it comes to what this author things will be the biggest change in health care over the next ten years there is one thing that stands out to me. This is the fact that there will be the need for a need for a new health care delivery system. This is because the baby boomer generation is now considered the driver of what is happening in health care services now and in the future and there is going to need to be a highly educated health care staff to care for them. There are approximately 76 to79 million baby boomers that are now reaching 65 and older and they are going to need advanced care made available to them. According to Marberry (2012), "Because of this, we’ll see more hospitals and clinic spaces that support the physical challenges faced by the over-60 crowd. Although no geriatric EDs were submitted for review, jurors acknowledged that these types of facilities are already being designed and built.” This is why we are going to need a more advanced health care system that recognizes the needs of the older generation as well as the needs of the younger generations as well.

The role that this author will play within the health care system will be being an administrator of a long term care facility. The plan that I have to adapt my skills to evolve with the changes in health care is to make sure that I am always up to date on the new laws that are being passed within health care as a whole. I will also need to take whatever courses that are available to me to keep my administration skills current with the times and make sure that there are no discrepancies in the way that I run my facility. Another aspect that I will make sure that I maintain is to talk to my residents to see if they have any needs or problems that need to be addressed. By making sure that I do all that I can to stay current with the laws and regulations governing health care and addressing the needs and problems that my residents are facing I feel that I can make a difference as a health care administrator.