Healthcare Trends

Healthcare Trends

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Healthcare Trends

For healthcare professionals, the only change they should expect is changing trends associated with technology. The state of economy, law, competition and technology are some of the factors that will affect the work of healthcare workers. Healthcare is set to take a new shift in the next few years, and some of the trends that will shape health care in the coming future include the following.

Medical reimbursement

Reimbursement is already a topic among the American population and is set to develop Medicare in the next few years. The change will have an effect on administrator services. Medicare as an insurance policy is used by the elderly, and those disable earning it is widely employed by a section of the population to access medical services. It, therefore, means that the government pays doctors and hospitals for treatment of these persons. The impact of medical reimbursement is huge, and it is set to affect the regular programs of medical administrators (Kopp et al., 2012).

Prescription drug costs

There is an increasing change in the costs of prescribed drugs since it is configured to affect patients who need them and doctors giving the prescription. Prescription drugs vary regarding brand and its generic. It means that medical practitioners should understand the costs dynamics as well as the intended use of the drug in disease treatment. The changes of costs have been brought up by changes in the law that tax pharmaceuticals are increasing the final price of the drugs. Medical practitioners should be in a position of understanding changes in costs so as to offer a precise prescription (Thakur, Hsu & Fontenot, 2012).

Healthcare technology

Technology is rapidly changing, and each business requires technology. The case of health care is not an exception since technology has been able to shape doctor services. Technology helps to speed up diagnosis and help doctors to make decisions. Medical administrators also use it for billing. Technology smoothens operations and is set to improve ways of making diagnosis and communication between physicians and patients who are geographically separated, technology has the potential of allowing patients to carry tests on their own and just send results to doctors for interpretation.

Consumer control of Medicare

The increasing costs of Medicare have been pushed to customers through increased deductibles in health care plans. It, therefore, means that users now involve themselves in the decision making of their projects. The consumers are set to demand more records and transparency from healthcare providers. Consumers are set to demand accountability of their funds through the provision of quality health care services (Kopp et al., 2012).

Medicare is set to undergo rapid change not excluding an entire overhaul depending on political realignments and policy. Doctors should be prepared to adapt to change that is scheduled to occur as a result of emerging trends.

References

Kopp, B. T., Wang, W., Chisolm, D. J., Kelleher, K. J., & McCoy, K. S. (2012). Inpatient healthcare trends among adult cystic fibrosis patients in the US. Pediatric pulmonology, 47(3), 245-251.

Thakur, R., Hsu, S. H., & Fontenot, G. (2012). Innovation in healthcare: Issues and future trends. Journal of Business Research, 65(4), 562-569.