Future Challenges - Healthcare

1. Identify and describe at least three of the most difficult issues facing health care in the United States.

One of the most difficult issues facing health care in the United States is financial challenges. In a survey of hospital chief executive officers, 20 percent of the CEOs ranked financial challenges among the top three most important issues facing their organization (Erwin, 2009). In addition it was noted that hospitals were operating well below benchmark possibilities and without any promising trends for breakthrough in the future (Griffith, Pattulio, Alexander, Jeinek, and Foster, 2006). With regards to financial performance 98 percent of the hospitals experienced no significant improvement in expenses per discharge while 34 percent experienced increasing costs (Griffith, et. al). An additional study of community hospitals and major centers data suggest that the average hospital has significantly poor liquidity, a high degree of debt leverage, and low fund balances in which hospitals experience financial distress and most never emerge from these financial conditions (Langabeer, 2008). Organizations need to change their financial performance to remain viable and sustainable with communication and establishment of financial improvement as a priority and focus analyzing operations to identify opportunities for improvement. Once this is recognized by executives and managers, the CEO and executive team should enlist the support and motivation of these managers and executives who are most capable of creating action plans to change and improve performance (Erwin).

2. Identify and describe three ways that technology impacts health care.

Technology impacts health care because it holds the potential to prolong and improve life. Technology has accounted for the bulk of medical care cost increases over time. It is presumed that technological change brings benefits in addition to cost, increased longevity, improved quality of life, and less time absent from work. New technologies lead more people to be treated for disease leading to the treatment expansion effect