Implications of Economics and Policy for Health Professionals

Getzen, T. states, health is irreplaceable, and any change in health can strongly affect the value of many other goods. Health is more precious and time more limited than money. Managed Care is a system of health care that combines delivery and payment; and influences utilization of services, by employing management techniques designed to promote the delivery of cost-effective health care. Insurers/managed-care organizations controls health care in the United States today because nowhere are the changes in the U. S. health services system more evident and more constant than in area of managed care. The shift from fee-for-service to manage care was the need to reduce costs for care and was embraced by various payers as the solution to the unchecked rise in health services expenditures (Barton 2007). The current health care system in the United States is failing. Health Care costs are increasing at a pace which far exceeds inflation. Managed care organizations were established as a cost effective alternative to traditional fee for service. A constant and constantly changing factor that influences the delivery system is the strength of this economy (Barton 2007). When jobs are at stake in a weak economy and the housing market is also at its lowest, insurance premiums steadily increasing, individuals aren’t focused on maintaining health coverage they are more concern with maintaining their homes and trying to pay the mortgage. Health Care Administrators will be challenged with a number of different types of health decisions and choices can be distinguished from a wide range: individual decisions, health policy decisions, health action decisions, regulatory decisions regarding the health system, micro-level health decisions and decisions made outside of the health sector. PubMed suggests, with regard to health-related matters, decision-making is characterized by the level of uncertainty, the complexity of the health system and its structure, the role of urgency and the obligation to act; however, there is a significant emotional factor in these decisions and the supremacy of the individual in the decision-making process. On the policy side, health-related decision-making poses questions concerning the role of expertise and necessitates the development of public debate. As for the matter of health financing, namely through social security and insurance, it calls for a re-examination of the economic analysis of health decisions and policy and the development of a more coherent position on the right to health versus the right to universal coverage. Healthcare is changing in terms of how and where care is delivered, who is providing those services, and how that care is financed. Healthcare Administrators require trained staff to manage the changes taking place. Healthcare Administrators have an opportunity to make a significant contribution to improving the health of the communities their organizations serve. Health Care Administrators plays a key role in keeping cost at a minimum and oversee the delivery of quality care. It is a must that Administrators make effective decisions, they need to be open to different opinions and good at analyzing contradictory information. They must understand and incorporate the best business practices. Also their focus is integrating medicine through the highest quality, the most access, for the best economical method. (Linden 2010)