Drivers Behind The Healthcare Industry's Focus On Employing Resources In Effective Manner And Patient Satisfaction

The drivers behind the healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in effective manner and patient satisfaction are as follows.

Rising Cost.The cost of providing the healthcare facility is on the rise, it has never decreased in last five decades. For Example operational and administrative cost at hospital facilities like Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is soaring each year.

Uneven Quality of the healthcare service offered at different price is another driver behind healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in effective manner. For example the industry would benefit from Amazon and Apple’s involvement in healthcare because prices for medical supplies and technology will stabilize.

Shifting of focus from volume driven profitability of the healthcare industry to patient outcome approach in which focus is on maximizing value for patient by achieving maximum benefit at lowest cost. For example the better treatments and management of illness will prevent many people from seeking additional prolonged and costly consultations.

Payers are now demanding performance based reimbursement rather than old styled fee for service approach due to cost cutting measures. For example, the shift in how patients are billed and providers are paid will drive better customer satisfaction and future hospitalization. The benchmark for doctors would be based off of how many patients they treated successful versus how many they treated in general.

More and more integrated systems are coming up which treats not only a disease but also other complications associated with the disease. For example, this type of system can reduce patient admissions /readmission and provide a better platform for all around care.

Cost to health outcome studies are being performed more regularly and this has resulted in healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in an effective manner and patient satisfaction. For example, providers are getting better at addressing health issues directly with assurance without having to play around with ideas to find potential solutions.

With advancement of technology, the service coverage has increased over vast geographical area resulting in increase in customer base for some of major hospitals which has led to reduction of cost and efficiency of operations, which is passed to patient in form of reduced cost. For example, the hospitals that have adopted new innovative ways to provide care have also witnessed a decrease in overall cost of care.

Bundling of services has reduced the cost of healthcare and utilization of resources in most efficient and effective manner. For example, if a patient delivers a baby they don’t need a bill from labor and delivery triage, antepartum, postpartum, and NICU. One bill from perinatal services would be much better and less costly from an administrative perspective.

The ability of the healthcare providers to effectively communicate to other healthcare professional, the cooperation of the operating teams as one unit and the good support service teams has helped healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in an effective manner and patient satisfaction. For example, being able to communicate freely and openly with every member of the team that contributes to the overall care for patients.

Participation of healthcare givers and support team in forming policies and implementing them has helped healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in an effective manner and patient satisfaction. For example, gathering important information for the staff who work with the patients and support them will assure better response and patient fulfillment.

In conclusion, the stability of healthcare givers in hospital, the will to serve the community and differentiation of services due to increased competition and the internal pressure to reduce operating cost has resulted healthcare industry’s focus on employing resources in an effective manner and patient satisfaction. Many of these points can also end up shifting to patient centered care and the needed resources to improve on this area. Of course, a shift to patient centered care would also increase patient satisfaction as the specific care focuses on the needs of the patient. One article defines patient centered care as “a healthcare setting in which patients are encouraged to be actively involved in their care, with a physical environment that promotes patient comfort and staff who are dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients” (Charmel, & Frampton, 2008, 80). Although setting up an organization in such a manner can be costly; ultimately this will prove to be a profitable business model as patients demand more of this type of atmosphere for their treatment environment. The shift can already be observed in many healthcare settings in today’s competitive healthcare markets such as the one I live in located in the Longwood medical area in Boston.