Healthcare organization structure and management

Health Care Organization

How does the Government contribute to positive changes in health care?

The Government affects positively the health care industry in several ways. First, it makes sure that the industry abides by the lawful activities. Second, the Government makes a substantial amount of financial aid to support the health care in the country so that it can provide the highest quality of care at the affordable prices to the patients. Although Government's original involvement in health can be traced from a preventive point-of-view: control the conditions that might lead the spread of contagious diseases among people, this role becomes more much critical in the healthcare industry. For example, when the main role of the Government was to educate people about the sanitary conditions and control the spread of the contagious disease, it was not uncommon for the Government to establish different kinds of health-boards that regularly checked the toxicity of the water and purified it for the drinking. In an advanced industrialized society like the United States of America, the role of the Government for positively contributing to the health care industry has grown. Now Government strictly regulates this industry from verification of the quality of the drugs and medications to the inspection of the healthcare centers. For example, The Government has objectives of certifying physician quality and forcing those doctors from the market that do not meet the criteria (Starr, 1982). In addition, Government can contribute positively by making health insurance affordable to citizens so that they can take of their health. The final role of the Government that can contribute positively to the healthcare industry stems from the fact that Government can educate public about the ill effects of the different drugs that would otherwise has passed from the initial tests but were found to have dangerous side effects. Bringing these issues in front of the public, the health care industries can save millions of dollars that otherwise could have been spent in settling the lawsuits because of the adverse effect of the drugs.

2. How can healthcare organizations integrate traditional business concepts of marketing and economics into successful strategies of health care delivery without losing the "caring" aspect of the profession?

The present economy is a market economy where the forces of demand and supply operate. However, the healthcare industry requires Government to regulate the industry properly. Beyond the general principle of the regulation, the healthcare industry can work one the concept of a business that operates legally and ethically. For example, the patients should be able to choose their doctors as individuals and should be able to pay as the services as they are rendered. However, from the simple concept of a business, the healthcare industry also requires to care for its patients and provide them counseling and honest opinions about their health. These roles of the healthcare industry transcend the simple business concept that looks simply for the bottom line. The aim of the healthcare rather should be to work like a traditional business; however, it should also make sure that it makes continued effects to improve its processes, patient care service, and after care billing concerns of the patients. One of the advices that many healthcare reformers provide is that patient should develop personal relationship with the doctor and should ask questions in case of the doubts of the appropriateness of the treatments (Goodman and Musgrave, 1992). Finally, in case of the health-decisions, the patients and the doctors should be able to decide the best course of the actions for the care rather the insurance companies whose main purpose is to show profit and efficiency rather than ensuring that the patients can receive the best care from the doctors of their choices.