Health care economics can be understood in terms of a number of different economic concepts. One of the most basic economic concepts is supply and demand. Essentially, supply is how much of something available that there is in a market, and demand is how much that people want. The concept reflects the idea that where there are no constraints, supply and demand will be roughly the same. In the real world, of course, there are always constraints. Demand has a number of drivers, and health care providers need to be aware of these drivers. Older people require more health care, so demand increases as the population ages. Sick people require more health care as well. Thus, when rates of disease or illness increase, that increase demand. As people reach end of life, especially at an advanced age, they become prolific consumers of health care. Thus, while the aging baby boomers will result in increased demand for health care in the near-term, the biggest impact will be as more of this generation enters its 80s and starts consuming health care at a much more rapid rate. In health care, something like the ACA increases demand because more people have health insurance, and therefore are able to pay for health care services.
For health care providers, increased demand needs to be met with increased supply. I tis not necessarily easy to increase supply -- you need to train doctors and nurses and build infrastructure in order to increase supply. Thus, when there is a shortage of supply, prices increase as those who demand health care compete to attract the attention of suppliers. For those in the health care industry, it is important to understand the different drivers of health care and then see how the supply in the industry is going to match up to that.
Scarcity is a related concept to supply and demand. Scarcity is a situation where the supply is less than the demand. Normally, scarcity reflects in a higher price, as those who demand the good bid up the price in order to acquire it at the expense of others who also want the good. The price is therefore determined by the relative supply and demand of a good. When the price rises, scarcity dissipates as demand exits the market.
This is also a way of understanding the difference between need and demand. Demand is basically the aggregate of need and want; as the price of a scarce good rises, the want will typically exit the market, leaving only the need. When speaking in general terms about health care, elective surgery can be seen as part of demand, but not of need; cancer treatment is a need and part of demand. However, when understanding the economics...
However, despite the development of these exemplary healthcare capacities, the UAE's system continued to suffer during this timeframe from a perception among the population that it lacked quality (Kronfel, 1999). It cannot be discounted that the public may perceive the UAE's healthcare system as lacking in quality because the system does in fact have many developmental issues left to resolve. For example, a study by Margolis (2002) found that as
Therefore in the economic sense many institutions have been viewed to lay back. Knowledge and Expertise in Telemedicine Another challenge has to do with the limited knowledge and expertise in telemedicine as well as the need for enhanced and modified telemedicine systems. In this sense, little knowledge currently exists among medical practitioners on how to effectively and practically use various forms of telemedicine. This knowledge gap on insight into telemedicine, in
(Menzel, 1990, p. 3) Fisher, Berwick, & Davis alude to the idea of integration in health care, with providers linking as well as creating networks of electronic medical records and other cost improvement tactics. The United States and other nations over the last twenty or so years, have begun a sweeping change in health care delivery, regarding the manner in which health information is input, stored and accessed. Computer use
There are a number of issues involved in health care including taxation, the fear of socialized medicine and the budget. Many Americans are opposed to higher taxes for the wealthy due to the fact that they will be the ones paying for most government spending including the proposed heath care bill. These people also argue that it's the wealthy that create jobs through investing and if their taxes are
It may be most appropriate when there is a question of adding a new service or getting rid of a current service, but makes less sense for a department which is expected to continue in service. Incremental budgeting is a part of the rolling forecast system. If there is a sudden spike in revenue, for example, it may make sense to do an incremental budget to take into account the
Health Care -- Lean Philosophy on Cost Reduction and Quality Improvement Lean Philosophy is initially traced back to Henry Ford's innovative assembly line, revolutionizing manufacturing while failing to provide true variety. Building on Ford's concepts Toyota management established a Lean Philosophy in the 1930's and 1940's that focused on production flow and waste elimination, resulting in rapid, low cost and high quality processes, along with simpler and more accurate management. These
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