Category: Healthcare

Introduction

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable increase in fraudulent activity involving healthcare insurance. Due to this, several different insurance firms have been forced to endure financial losses. The two proposals related to the utilization of insurance will have a favorable impact on the healthcare industry in several aspects outlined in this article. Included in the list of recommendations is a provision to guarantee that health insurance will pay for only legally defensible forms of medical care, as suggested by Gupta and colleagues (2021). The second suggestion emphasizes raising knowledge regarding the various forms of medical insurance fraud.

Staff Levels, Particularly Skilled Nursing and Other Health Professionals

The health insurance policy will ensure that it only pays for actual medical expenses. Due to this, the staff will not engage with the patients in fraudulent activities that could result in losses experienced by the healthcare facility and the insurance company (Salah et al., 2020). Understanding the most prevalent types of fraud in the healthcare insurance sector will guarantee that medical professionals uphold the highest levels of ethics and professionalism. They will present patients with all pertinent information on their prescribed treatment. It will ensure that no legal proceedings are taken against the personnel for indulging in fraudulent activities, which, in the worst case, results in a misdiagnosis, ultimately resulting in the patients death.

Human Resource Management and Development

It is possible for there to be insurance fraud committed within the hospital, which could result in damaging the reputation of the healthcare facility. As a result, several insurance companies relationships with the hospital are severed (Thaifur et al., 2021). The incident, therefore, leads to a relatively small number of patients who use the facilitys services, and the facilitys inability to satisfy those patients requirements, the facility will end up incurring losses financially. Regardless of whether or not the fraudulent behavior that occurred within the organization is identified, the human resource department is responsible for any fraudulent activity that took place within the company. As a direct consequence of the anticipated recommendations, the department will be in a position to recognize and address instances of fraudulent activity. They will be able to do so before the matter worsens and the facilitys reputation is damaged.

Technology Advancements

Since the COVID-19 outbreak first started, healthcare fraud has been a significant cause for concern for medical facilities all around the world. Even though institutions involved with social security always seek to streamline procedures, this is the case. With more advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, fraud can be detected and monitored more effectively and efficiently (Mackey et al., 2020). The implementation of the suggested principles will have a positive impact on the technology that is already in place within the healthcare institution to identify instances of fraudulent activity. As a direct result of the recommendations, modifications will be made to how billing codes, telemedicine, and prescription practices are carried out. Given these modifications, healthcare systems will now be able to successfully personalize the administration of treatment procedures to each patient.

Organizational Restructuring

It is necessary to conduct an assessment as part of the organizational restructuring process to identify areas of competency that need improvement and potential dangers to which the healthcare institution may be exposed. Insurance fraud in the healthcare industry is a possible danger that, if not addressed swiftly, will severely impact the organization (Mackey et al., 2020). As a result, the recommendations are critical for evaluating and developing the necessary changes to the organizational structure required to deal with the fraudulent acts that would harm the firm. The specific recommendations focus on the measures that should address the issue. As a consequence, the reorganization will protect the organizations interests while also enhancing the quality of service provided to its patients.

Financial Solvency

A healthcare institution, its employees, patients, or an insurance company representative can all be guilty of committing healthcare insurance fraud, which is defined as the intentional use of deceit to obtain financial gain. The vice led to financial losses being sustained by an insurance company, which, when discovered, led to financial losses being sustained by the healthcare institution, which, in turn, led to the facilitys eventual financial collapse. Given the negative influence that the vice has on all parties involved, the guidelines are critical for ensuring that the facilitys stakeholders are aware of the vices ramifications and the disastrous repercussions it causes. Since the insurance provider will foot the bill for any claims that are filed, the increased visibility that the proposals will bring about will benefit the facilitys ability to remain financially solvent. Consequently, the institution will have sufficient cash to maintain its day-to-day activities.

Development of Community Health Support Services

Designing and modifying a procedure that considers the social and health context to deliver community health support services is vital. It provides aid in managing care transitions for vulnerable people, increasing the likelihood that they will receive healthcare services if they ever require them. Due to the financial losses incurred by insurance companies and health institutions due to healthcare insurance fraud, it is increasingly difficult to support the most vulnerable sections of society (Atnafu et al., 2018). As a result, insurance companies must charge their clients more premiums to cover the rising number of claims filed by people affected. They cannot access medical care whenever required because they cannot afford the costly premiums. As a result of the proposals, claims will be able to be legitimate, and the number of incidents of fraud will decrease dramatically. Consequently, the most vulnerable people in society will have access to medical care whenever necessary.

Communication with Key Stakeholders in the Community, Government

The healthcare facilitys reputation among the stakeholders with whom it interacts must be maintained at all costs; therefore, the proposals that have been put out are of the utmost importance. Given this, fraudulent activity at the facility shall reduce drastically, and its reputation and ratings will not suffer in any way (Gupta et al., 2020). As a result, the organizations commitment to ethical practices will improve communication with its many stakeholders. The only way that progress can be guaranteed is through the widespread distribution of necessary information across all parties involved, which can be accomplished through establishing efficient communication with the relevant stakeholders. Consequently, the ideas are essential for ensuring that the appropriate forms of communication are being carried out effectively within the structure.

Conclusion

In light of what has been discussed, the suggestions made will positively affect how the healthcare institution deals with instances of healthcare fraud. Since the vices negative impacts are detrimental to all interested stakeholders, they should be prevented at all levels. Therefore, it is vital to be aware of the fraudulent activities that affect healthcare insurance to enable the relevant stakeholders to take appropriate measures to minimize the negative repercussions of these activities.

References

Atnafu, D. D., Tilahun, H., & Alemu, Y. M. (2018). Community-based health insurance and healthcare service utilisation, north-west, Ethiopia: A comparative, cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 8(8).

Gupta, R. Y., Mudigonda, S. S., Baruah, P. K., & Kandala, P. K. (2020). Implementation of correlation and regression models for health insurance fraud in COVID-19 environment using actuarial and Data Science Techniques. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE), 9(3), 699706.

Mackey, T. K., Miyachi, K., Fung, D., Qian, S., & Short, J. (2020). Combating health care fraud and abuse: Conceptualization and prototyping study of a blockchain antifraud framework. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9).

Salah, D., Ahmed, M. H., & ElDahshan, K. (2020). Blockchain applications in Human Resources Management. Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering.

Thaifur, A. Y., Maidin, M. A., Sidin, A. I., & Razak, A. (2021). How to detect healthcare fraud? A systematic review. Gaceta Sanitaria, 35.

Introduction

Medical statistics studies the quantitative side of phenomena and processes related to medicine, hygiene, and healthcare. Naturally, statistics play a significant role in medicine, as it allows us to quantify the health indicators of the population and the performance of medical institutions. In addition, its purpose is to obtain the necessary data for developing health standards and regulations.

Discussion

Historically, there has been an active development of medical statistics, for example, in 1946 the Center for Infectious Diseases was established, which collects various data concerning the populations health (Eissa, & Rashed, 2020). Statistics are given special attention in medicine because it helps to understand trends and track the effectiveness of treatment and recovery of the population.

Many historical events are related to statistics, as it has always played a significant role in the field of healthcare. A good example is the collection of statistical data on hand hygiene. This is because it was the lack of hand hygiene, as well as the asepsis of wounds that harmed peoples health and required certain actions. Knowledge of statistics allowed people to achieve significant results in treating and preventing various diseases (Eissa, & Rashed, 2020). Every decade implies the development of the field of medicine and healthcare in which statistics have had a significant impact.

Conclusion

Thanks to statistics, it was possible to prevent some diseases, take preventive measures, and exclude complications of existing conditions. Naturally, because healthcare institutions collected statistical data promptly, they had the opportunity to work on preventing the spread of mass diseases and epidemics (Eissa, & Rashed, 2020). The joint activity of statistics and the work of state institutions will have a positive impact on the development of the healthcare sector.

Reference

Eissa, M. & Rashed, E. (2020). Application of statistical process optimization tools in inventory management of goods quality: Suppliers evaluation in healthcare facility.Journal of Turkish Operations Management, 4(1), 388-408. Web.

Vertical integration in business refers to obtaining business operations to acquire more direct control over various stages within a products manufacturing cycle. Vertical integration helps an organization maximize profit by incurring the marginal cost alone and avoiding the need for any intermediaries. For example, a hotel that sells eggs can refrain from purchasing eggs from other farmers. Instead, it may decide to rear chicken and sell eggs yielded directly from the raised chicken. The concept of vertical integration has proved efficient for a myriad of industries. The utility of vertical integration within the healthcare sector has been demonstrated by its ability to achieve patient-oriented service while implementing cost-control techniques simultaneously. This paper seeks to reveal more profound information by assessing three scenarios discussing the issue.

The current healthcare system in the vast majority of countries worldwide has already embraced the vertical integration strategy. Doing so has drastically altered the healthcare service delivery model by increasing organizational concern to mitigate expenditure of operational costs (Short & Ho, 2020). Previously, healthcare institutions in most countries mainly focused on service delivery to patients. In contrast, the present state of the healthcare sector is characterized by high monetary incurrences. Hence patients have to pay to receive essential healthcare services. Since its introduction, the vertical integration strategy in healthcare has had a singular focus on cost mitigation in healthcare service delivery (Machta et al., 2019). It has resulted in a state where healthcare organizations desire to expand their scope of consumer services. Consequently, healthcare providers worldwide currently term quality healthcare service as the endowment of sophisticated infrastructure and diversity of specialties, which requires a financial capability to facilitate.

Therefore, there are various scenarios where the healthcare sector could benefit immensely from the vertical integration strategy. One scenario involves academic institutions that offer medicine as a course. For instance, the University of Iowa could utilize vertical integration by forming synergies with institutes of a similar caliber. Such partnerships would be deemed effective as they would present opportunities for people in both the University of Iowa and its partners to share resources and improve the overall learning experience for medical students in both institutions. Similarly, the University of Iowa could partner with various medicinal drugs and medical equipment manufacturers by boosting various research tests.

A healthcare provider entailing five surgeons could utilize vertical integration by diversifying the areas of expertise among members. Division of specialties helps to ensure proper healthcare access for patients with diverse and distinct types of medical issues that may require surgical treatment. Such a group can open a private healthcare institution that would build on a brand to lure consumers. Such term of experts would be reliable as surgical consultants; they would also offer relevant services to interested parties. Alternatively, such a group can provide services for the different specialties to medical facilities that want to mitigate the costs of hiring permanent internal employees, especially for the surgical specialties that deal with rare health intricacies.

On the other hand, a manufacturer of durable medical equipment could partner with medical research facilities to increase insight about the optimal gear to venture into and its requisite features and specifications. Moreover, such a manufacturer could partner with healthcare providers to innovate healthcare equipment that offers utility to healthcare service provision at an affordable price.

References

Machta, R. M., Maurer, K. A., Jones, D. J., Furukawa, M. F., & Rich, E. C. (2019). A systematic review of vertical integration and quality of care, efficiency, and patient-centered outcomes. Health Care Management Review, 44(2), 159173.

Short, M. N., & Ho, V. (2020). Weighing the effects of vertical integration versus market concentration on hospital quality. Medical Care Research and Review, 77(6), 538548.

Texas, one of the largest and wealthiest American states, has been facing several issues regarding healthcare for at least a few decades. Some of the most prominent are rising maternal mortality rates, high rates of diabetes, and health disparities among adolescents. Those issues can, at least partially, be attributed to specific changes in the states healthcare services provision policies (for example, the closing of several womens health clinics)  or a lack thereof (Ory et al., 2020). A study by Baeva et al. (2017) suggests that these issues are strongly associated with one another on the root cause level. These issues, if not addressed, threaten to increase in severity over time. Solving them requires improving the existing State healthcare policies by healthcare administrators and implementing new nursing practices considering the interconnectedness of the issues.

A steady increase in maternal mortality rate has been associated with a shift in the death causes in the past years. Though maternal deaths have traditionally been linked to heart diseases caused by obesity and diabetes, studies show that drug overdose has become the second leading cause of maternal death in Texas (Baeva et al., 2017). Raising awareness of prescription opioid overuse, providing families access to prenatal counseling, and risk assessment and management should be incorporated into nursing practices to reduce the factor of ignorance or negligence. Implementing regular and meticulous health screening and weight assessment for potential parents and providing adequate health services and counseling should be among the priorities for the state healthcare administration.

Low accessibility to healthcare and poor socio-economic conditions in the southern part of Texas are associated, in particular, with high levels of diabetes. With the regional levels of diabetes reaching 18.8%, which is significantly higher than nationwide (9.1%), and rising, this issue is increasingly alarming (Ory et al., 2020). This trend puts significant pressure on existing local nursing care facilities and consequently reduces the effectiveness of the care provided. Working on creating and improving the accessibility of affordable and quality healthcare services for South Texas should be the focus of the local healthcare authorities.

Destructive behavior among adolescents can be both a reason and a consequence of various health and socio-economic conditions that often lead to maternal mortality and diabetes. Texas school nurses listed mental health issues, drug use, and irresponsible sexual behavior as the most common severe issues among Texas alternative high schools (AHS) (Lind et al., 2020). A study by Lind et al. (2020) suggests that less than half of Texas students are engaged in regular health checks or receive counseling. School nurses are well-positioned to assess the psychological and physical condition of students. They can quickly notice and respond to signs of students health risk behavior by providing the necessary counseling and emotional support. Regular electronic health screening has been shown to raise students awareness of health risk behaviors and encourage them to correct theirs if needed, which makes it a potential option for healthcare administrators to implement.

The issues of destructive adolescent behavior, increasing levels of diabetes, and high maternal mortality rates in Texas are related. They present a wide range of unique challenges for nursing and healthcare administrations, such as addressing regional socio-economic disparities and counseling on relevant topics and healthcare in general. Some options, such as implementing electronic health screening, have been proposed to address these issues and have been shown to be effective. More modern and accessible healthcare initiatives, policies, and practices should be studied and implemented in the same way to resolve the hard-pressing health issues in Texas.

References

Baeva, S., Archer, N. P., Ruggiero, K., Hall, M., Stagg, J., Interis, E. C., Vega, R., Delgado, E., Hellerstedt, J., Hankins, G., & Hollier, L. M. (2017). Maternal mortality in Texas. American Journal of Perinatology, 34(06), 614620. Web.

Ory, M. G., Lee, S., Towne, S. D., Flores, S., Gabriel, O., & Smith, M. L. (2020). Implementing a diabetes education program to reduce health disparities in south Texas: Application of the RE-AIM framework for planning and evaluation.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 119. Web.

Lind, C. D., Richardson, L. P., McCarty, C. A., Stepanchak, M., & Katzman, K. (2020). 81. Does electronic health screening with feedback impact adolescents health beliefs and clinician interactions? [Abstract] Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(2), S42S43. Web.

Annotated Bibliography

Rhee, T. G., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2019). Comparison of opioid use disorder among male veterans and non-veterans: Disorder rates, socio-demographics, co-morbidities, and quality of life. The American Journal of Addictions, 28(2), 92-100.

This article compares the incidence of opioid use disorder (OUD) among male veterans and non-veterans, which provides an overview of the problem of opioid dependence in the United States. In addition, Rhee and Rosenheck (2019) determine that the main risk factors of OUD for veterans and non-veterans are younger age, low income, educational level, and the presence of comorbid psychical disorders. These findings will be used to justify and answer the research question.

Barnett, M. L., Zhao, X., Fine, M. J., Thorpe, C. T., Sileanu, F. E., Cashy, J. P., Mor, M. K., Radomski, T. R., Hausmann, L. R., Good, C. B., & Gellad, W. F. (2019). Emergency physician opioid prescribing and risk of long-term use in the Veterans Health Administration: An observational analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(8), 15221529.

The authors of this article investigate the likelihood of long-term opioid use in veterans depending on the dose prescribed by the emergency physician. Barnett et al. (2019) demonstrate the prevalence of opioid prescriptions and determine that veterans who take higher doses are more likely to have long-term opioid use. Although the rate is not significant, this factor should be considered in the study.

Turvey, C.L., Lund, B.C., Jones, D. and Arndt, S. (2020). Community treatment for opioid use disorders in urban and rural veterans. The Journal of Rural Health, 36(2), 167-176.

The authors of this article analyze the risk factor for OUD among veterans living in urban and rural areas. Turvey et al.s (2019) findings show that this factor is relevant for preventive programs since veterans living in rural areas have higher hospitalization rates due to injectable drugs and opioid addiction. Thus, this information should be used in the research.

Riggs, K. R., Hoge, A. E., DeRussy, A. J., Montgomery, A. E., Holmes, S. K., Austin, E. L., Pollio, D. E., Kim, Y.-il, Varley, A. L., Gelberg, L., Gabrielian, S. E., Blosnich, J. R., Merlin, J., Gundlapalli, A. V., Jones, A. L., Gordon, A. J., & Kertesz, S. G. (2020). Prevalence of and risk factors associated with nonfatal overdose among veterans who have experienced homelessness. JAMA Network Open, 3(3).

The researchers of this article consider the influence of such a social factor as homelessness on the likelihood of an overdose of various substances among veterans. Although Riggs et al. (2020) find that the most frequent respondents have overdosed with alcohol, they also find that 1.7% of the participants had an opioid overdose, and 34.7% are drug addicts. This figure is relatively high and demonstrates the need to consider homelessness as a risk factor for OUD.

Bennett, A.S., Watford, J. A., Elliott, L., Wolfson-Stofko, B., & Guarino, H. (2019). Military veterans overdose risk behavior: Demographic and biopsychosocial influences. Addictive Behaviors, 99, 1-22.

This article also examines the risk factors for overdose among veterans; however, it takes into account different demographic and biopsychosocial influences. Bennett et al. (2019) identified as the most significant predictors of opioid overdose mental health problems, high severity or interference of pain, and stressful life events. This information should be included in the research and used to formulate survey questions for respondents.

References

Barnett, M. L., Zhao, X., Fine, M. J., Thorpe, C. T., Sileanu, F. E., Cashy, J. P., Mor, M. K., Radomski, T. R., Hausmann, L. R., Good, C. B., & Gellad, W. F. (2019). Emergency physician opioid prescribing and risk of long-term use in the Veterans Health Administration: An observational analysis.Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(8), 15221529.

Bennett, A.S., Watford, J. A., Elliott, L., Wolfson-Stofko, B., & Guarino, H. (2019). Military veterans overdose risk behavior: Demographic and biopsychosocial influences. Addictive Behaviors, 99, 1-22.

Rhee, T.G., & Rosenheck, R.A. (2019), Comparison of opioid use disorder among male veterans and non-veterans: Disorder rates, socio-demographics, co-morbidities, and quality of life. The American Journal of Addictions, 28(2), 92-100.

Riggs, K. R., Hoge, A. E., DeRussy, A. J., Montgomery, A. E., Holmes, S. K., Austin, E. L., Pollio, D. E., Kim, Y.-il, Varley, A. L., Gelberg, L., Gabrielian, S. E., Blosnich, J. R., Merlin, J., Gundlapalli, A. V., Jones, A. L., Gordon, A. J., & Kertesz, S. G. (2020). Prevalence of and risk factors associated with nonfatal overdose among veterans who have experienced homelessness.JAMA Network Open, 3(3).

Turvey, C.L., Lund, B.C., Jones, D. and Arndt, S. (2020), Community treatment for opioid use disorders in urban and rural veterans.The Journal of Rural Health, 36(2), 167-176.

Case management is the process of supporting a patient throughout their healthcare journey. The CMSA website, made by the Case Management Society of America, contains a number of useful and accessible information necessary to understand the work of a case manager. It outlines the main principles of the profession, highlights its importance in bringing people better standards of care, and frames it within the discussion of patient-centered healthcare (Case Management Society of America | We Are Case Management, n.d.). The website is well-made and functions to help consumers stay more informed. Compared to a regular textbook, it appeals to ones emotions and considers what a regular person would want to know about case management. Case managers are extremely important to the process of promoting community health and wellness.

Together with doctors and nurses, they are able to organize the process of healthcare delivery in the best possible way, allowing more people to be treated. According to research, these professionals are an irreplaceable part of care coordination  organizing patients procedures in order to promote autonomy and positive outcomes. Any nurse is capable of becoming a case manager, the only things needed are dedication to quality and learning. Scientific studies have shown that case managers can be a large source of empowerment, improving the physical health of their clients. In the case of type 2 diabetic patients, the presence of the care manager was shown to be substantially important to the healthcare delivery process (Tsai et al., 2018). With the presence of capable professionals, the clients were able to experience better physical health and achieve further mastery over self-care (Tsai et al., 2018). Using combined means and professionalism, case managers are able to see through to the best potential outcomes for the individual.

References

Case Management Society of America. (n.d.). Case Management Society of America | We Are Case Management.

Tsai, C., Li, I., & Lai, F. (2018). Substantial effects of empowerment case management on physical health of type 2 diabetic patients. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(7-8), 1632-1640.

Diversity in health care is one of the most critical issues as people need medical services regardless of their gender, age, race, or social status. I agree with the ideas presented in this post, and I like the authors approach, especially the question about communication for non-English speaking patients. However, I cannot fully agree that effective communication is more important than profit, and I believe that they are equally essential as they depend on each other.

The idea of valuing patients and staffs strengths and treating all people with respect is fundamental to promoting diversity in healthcare. I agree with this thesis, and I like how the author found the connection between the healthcare situation and the article that does not apply to it. However, the claim that effective communication is more important than profit is debatable, since the hospitals income determines the resources it can use to serve patients. For example, if a hospital does not have funds, it cannot use the language line discussed in the post, which will reduce the quality of services and patient satisfaction. Consequently, communication efficiency will decline as well as patient satisfaction. Moreover, according to Lim et al. (2018), patient satisfaction affects the financial performance of a hospital, since patients remain loyal and ask for services again instead of looking for a new provider. IIn addition, a lack of profit can cause a reduction in staff, the inability to buy new equipment or provide more comfortable conditions for patients that need special conditions. Hence, this situation can cause even more barriers to promoting diversity.

Therefore, this example shows that the quality of communication is essential for promoting diversity in health care; however, it should not be improved at the expense of hospital profits. At the same time, the increase in profits due to the deterioration of the communication quality is also unethical and ineffective, since it has a short-term effect. These two components are interrelated and are equally important in providing services to patients of different social status, race, gender, or age.

Reference

Lim, J.-S., Lim, K.-S., Heinrichs, J. H., Al-Aali, K., Aamir, A., & Qureshi, M. I. (2018). The role of hospital service quality in developing the satisfaction of the patients and hospital performance.Management Science Letters, 8, 13531362. Web.

Peoples needs and necessities vary, and, other things being equal, an organization that offers a service better suited to the customers individual needs will be more competitive. With this in mind, it should not come as a surprise that market segmentation, which refers to identifying specific groups to approach in the target market, is a common concept in many industries. Yet when it comes to healthcare, this approach offers benefits that go beyond business performance and overall competitiveness. Market segmentation is crucial in healthcare because it is essential for addressed service delivery and also promotes patient-centered healthcare.

To begin with, healthcare is one of the industries in which service delivery depends on the target populations demographic characteristics directly. For example, a book publisher may view young women as a premier consumer segment for romance novels, but nothing prevents middle-aged men from reading these novels and being moved by them just as much. In such industries, market segmentation is a guide but not a definite delineation because there are no strict objective factors preventing non-target groups from consuming goods or services originally intended for other groups. However, in healthcare, the delivery of goods and services is directly dependent on the functioning of the customers organism: a medication useful for a grown-up man with a specific condition will be harmful to a healthy four-year-old. This is why consumer market segmentation that focuses on demographic factors as opposed to mere interest in one or another type of service is absolutely essential in healthcare (Oztekin, 2018). The benefit it offers is tying service marketing and delivery to the crucial factors that lie at the core of healthcare to a much greater degree than in most other industries.

Apart from that, market segmentation also has the benefit of moving healthcare in a desirable direction. Today, healthcare service delivery is moving toward patient-centered care (Swenson et al., 2018). It means that patients gradually become more active participants in managing and improving their health as opposed to passively receiving treatment from medical professionals. However, an efficient transition toward patient-centered healthcare requires knowledge of the patients lifestyles, habits, and preferences. Without it, it would hardly be possible to encourage and support consumer engagement in healthcare are important for health care organizations (Swenson et al., 2018, p. 2). Market segmentation, which allows identifying distinct groups among the overall target population for any given healthcare service, is a perfect fit to approach this task. Apart from giving healthcare providers an important insight into the needs of the serviced populations, it also provides data for the development of new approaches that would enhance and promote patient-centered care. This benefit is yet another reason to utilize market segmentation for the promotion of more efficient practices and methods that would help make healthcare more efficient.

As one can see, there are substantial benefits to market segmentation in healthcare, the most notable ones being its correspondence to the industrys nature and its potential to promote patient-centered care. On the one hand, market segmentation is crucial because healthcare depends on correctly identifying target groups more than most industries. On the other hand, analyzing the customers lifestyles and preferences is an important component of the gradual transition to patient-centered healthcare that is currently taking place. As such, market segmentation in healthcare is both a method to improve the efficiency of service delivery in any given organization and a way to move the industry into the future.

References

Oztekin, A. (2018). Creating a marketing strategy in healthcare industry: A holistic data analytic approach. Annals of Operations Research, 270(1), 361382.

Swenson, E. R., Bastian, N. D., & Nembhard, H. B. (2018). Healthcare market segmentation and data mining: A systematic review. Health Marketing Quarterly, 35(3), 1-23.

Introduction

You have outlined excellent ideas and points about nurses. I agree that nurses are crucial in supporting patients overall recovery. Again challenges affecting the nurses hinder them from executing excellent and quality services for patients interests.

Discussion

Notably, inadequate nurses in healthcare centers are one of the critical factors hindering effective healthcare services for patients. Most healthcare facilities have inadequate nurses, which limits the patients from accessing evidence-based healthcare services for their social, emotional, and physical health well-being. It also affects healthcare organizations overall outcomes, thus preventing the championship of short-term and long-term organizational goals and objectives.

Multiple strategies can address the nurses shortage in healthcare facilities, for instance, by improving the terms and conditions of the nurses. Healthcare facilities should improve the nurses packages, including salaries, benefits, and allowances, to motivate them in their daily duties and responsibilities (Beitz, 2019). It can encourage most individuals to go for the job, thus enhancing adequate human resources to support the patients appropriately. It can also prevent brain drain as most human resources would be encouraged by better terms and conditions to pursue their career for their short-term and long-term fulfillment.

Conclusion

Furthermore, the government can establish multiple nursing colleges to train many nurses and solve the shortages. The government can also support nurses education by subsidizing fees to make it affordable for most students (Flaherty & Bartels, 2019). It can allow many students to enroll in different nursing programs, enhancing the existence of sufficient personnel for healthcare welfare. In addition, there should be changes in entry to nursing courses to accommodate many students. For example, the government can revise the policies and lower the entry points to enable many students to enroll in the career. It can facilitate the training of many nurses, thus fostering the availability of adequate personnel to support the patients in healthcare facilities.

References

Beitz, J. M. (2019). Addressing the perioperative nursing shortage through education: A perioperative imperative. AORN Journal, 110(4), 403-414.

Flaherty, E., & Bartels, S. J. (2019). Addressing the communitybased geriatric healthcare workforce shortage by leveraging the potential of inter-professional teams. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67(S2), S400-S408.

Vertical equity is the principle that presumes different treatment according to the level of need. It likewise assumes that disparities in the quality of health of ethnic groups should be considered in prevention and therapy. Still, this regulation is not consistently realized in national and world medicine. The issue has been on the agenda for a long time, but its new wave arises during the pandemic. There is an opinion that the American health care system can be described as apartheid, and this idea has significant implications.

One of the critical concerns facing the U.S. health care system at the beginning of the pandemic was the lack of beds for the new coronavirus infection. Over the past decades, the U.S. government has encouraged the transfer of treatment from hospitals to outpatient settings to save money. The Medicaid and Medicare programs have been practical tools for this. As a result of insurance concerns and misallocation of resources, hospital beds have become scarce, and people of color have been the hardest hit (Aumoithe, 2020). Differing access to health insurance among racial groups, stemming from income disparities, puts the U.S. among the leaders in the number of deaths from the new coronavirus infection.

Thus, in times of pandemics, it has become apparent that the health care system can be described as apartheid. The story of three enslaved women who suffered the horrors of unequal medicine demonstrates that the issue has always existed (Vedantam, 2017). African Americans get a reduced amount of pain medication for the same lesions as white patients because of the prejudice against thicker skin, and it is the direct evidence of the existing crisis. Moreover, people of color have less access to services, and not all doctors are willing to give them equal care (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2022). It all goes back to the education of doctors, nurses, professors, and even insurance company employees. Medical students need to be introduced to the cultures whose members are likely to become their patients. Only then will the first step toward equal medicine be taken, and individuals will have more access to skilled care.

References

Aumoithe, G. (2020). The racist history that explains why some communities dont have enough ICU beds.The Washington Post.

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2022). Rethinking the use of race in medicine. [Video file].

Vedantam, S., Pemnan, M., Schmidt, J., Boyle, T., Cohen, R., & Connelly, C. (2017). Remembering Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: The mothers of modern gynecology. NPR.