Many organizations departments and individuals provide healthcare to the US citizens. The complex nature of the US healthcare delivery system has driven much legislation for change over many years.

To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

 

Healthcare to US Citizens

Many organizations, departments, and individuals provide healthcare to the US citizens. The complex nature of the US healthcare delivery system has driven much legislation for change over many years. Using Scholastic Sources or the Internet, research about the healthcare organizations and their delivery of healthcare services in order to fully understand the magnitude of the US healthcare delivery system. Based on your readings and research, answer the following:

• What are the main objectives of a healthcare delivery system?
• Name some of the basic functional components of the US healthcare delivery system. What role does each play in the delivery of healthcare?
• Who are the major players in the US health services system? What are the positive and negative effects of the often-conflicting self-interests of these players?
• Why is it that despite public and private health insurance programs, some US citizens are without any coverage?
• What are the main roles of the government in the US health services system?
• Why is it important for healthcare managers and policymakers to understand the intricacies of the healthcare delivery system?

 

US Health Services (notes from class)

 

 

The health status of a population is attributed in large part to how its healthcare is delivered. Citizens who are not healthy cannot add to the productivity of their society, nor can they experience good health outcomes. As a result, the system that provides health should be all encompassing, efficient, and effective.

Activities of a health system include preventing disease, keeping people healthy, and restoring health when it has been compromised.

Key features of the US healthcare system include:

• Institutions: Institutions include those facilities that deliver care such as hospitals, nursing homes, community health centers, physician practices, urgent care centers, community clinics, and public health departments.
• Professionals: The distinct roles of those professionals that make up the system such as physicians, nurses, administrators, policy leaders, researchers, technicians, executives, and business leaders focused on technology and pharmaceutical endeavors.
• Medical technology: This includes electronic communication, new technologies and surgical procedures, and new drugs that encourage delivery system changes.
• Caring for the population: Caring for the population is the call for the “social good” of service delivery versus “big business.”
• Financing and payments: The healthcare system has always been expensive and growth in the population has only increased expenditures. The amount of elderly, coupled with the uninsured, burdens how care is financed and how payment systems function.

The healthcare delivery system is a complex system. As indicated above, many organizations and individuals are involved in healthcare ranging from educational and research institutions, medical suppliers, insurers, payers, and claims processors to healthcare providers. This massive system employs ten million individuals in delivery settings and 744,000 doctors, 2.2 million nurses, 168,000 dentists, 226,000 pharmacists, and more than 700,000 administrators (Shi & Singh, 2008).