Category: Health Care and Life Sciences : Health Care

The American health care system is complex. A part of the population has access to health care through Medicare and Medicaid. Another part simply pays for care out of pocket. A substantial proportion of the population uses third-party payers to pay for care.
Payers have reacted to the rising costs of care by introducing various gatekeeper mechanisms. These have not been popular with consumers who see them as restrictive. The American population is aging and the need for care is likely to increase over the next decade.
While the earnings of health care professionals have been increasing, insurance premiums have also increased. Among hospitals, many are non-profit organizations offering substantial charity care. But for-profit and non-profit hospitals alike must show return on investment to remain viable. Providers must also factor reimbursement policies of payers into their decisions, sometimes even clinical decisions. These groups of stakeholders—patients, providers, payers, and the government—have different goals and different responses to the rising cost of care.
Based on your understanding, answer the following:
In your opinion, can HSAs be aligned to the expectations of all these groups?
Do you think HSAs can help improve health care cost, quality, and access? Why or why not?

Workforce Shortage
Click here(https://www.myadlm.org/-/media/Files/Divisions/Dividers/healthcare_workforce.pdf) to read the health care workforce shortage and its implications on America’s hospitals, at the American Hospitals Association’s (AHA) website.
Select a hospital, which is not more than two hours away from your place of residence. Based on your readings and understanding, create a 5- to 6-page report in a Microsoft Word document, that includes:
A plan for a rural, medium-sized hospital to deal with short- and long-term workforce shortages.
Your plan should include the following elements:
Introduction
Problem description of the healthcare workforce shortage and its implications
The aspects that need immediate attention and aspects that need long-term attention
Provide a rationale on why these aspects need attention
A description of the financial implications for these issues
Evaluation of alternatives with an explanation of the risks associated with these problems
Your recommendations to solve these problems 
An explanation of the methods to measure the success of the plan 
A description of the next steps, if the plan failed 
Conclusion 
Reference list
cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

E-Prescribing
E-prescribing is the transmission of prescription or prescription-related information using electronic media between a prescriber, dispenser, pharmacy benefit manager, or health plan, either directly or through an intermediary, including an e-prescribing network.
In an effort to understand the benefits and cautions about e-prescribing, conduct thorough research. For your assignment, create a 4- report in Microsoft Word document consisting of your research findings covering your responses to the following questions:
Evaluate three pros and three cons of e-prescribing.
Summarize the e-prescription standards as described by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs.
Evaluate the projected cost and time savings as estimated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Comment on the controversy surrounding the 2013 e-prescribing penalty.
Use the following resources, and 2 outside resources and your text book for this assignment.
Ratanawongsa, N., Lenny L. S. Chan, Fouts, M. M., & Murphy, E. J. (2017). The challenges of electronic health records and diabetes electronic prescribing: Implications for safety net care for diverse populations. Journal of Diabetes Research, 2017 doi:10.1155/2017/8983237
Juszczyk, D., Charlton, J., McDermott, L., Soames, J., Sultana, K., Ashworth, M., . . . Gulliford, M. C. (2016). Electronically delivered, multicomponent intervention to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections in primary care: A cluster randomized trial using electronic health records-REDUCE trial study original protocol. BMJ Open, 6(8) doi:http://dx.doi.org.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010892
Cite any sources in APA format

Annual pharmacy drug cost has increased from $10,300,000 to $16,800,000 in the past five years. The hospital is experiencing an increase in drug cost even though actual drug usage has remained stable.
Along with the increase in drug cost, drug related errors have also increased. Patient safety has become an even more serious issue. As you know, patient safety is the number one item on the national health care agenda for the next several years.
At the hospital the number of dispensing errors has increased by two percent during the past twelve months. The registered nurses who are administering the drugs have discovered many of the dispensing errors; however, the ones not discovered resulted in patients getting the wrong drug, wrong dosage, and/or the wrong frequency. When the overall drug error rate was analyzed, it was found that dispensing errors in the pharmacy were the number one cause. The overall drug error rate had increased from three percent to five percent.
Fortunately most of the dispensing errors were discovered before the medications were administered to the patients. When the incorrect drugs were administered, it resulted in adverse effects in three cases. One patient received the right medication but the wrong dosage because the medication label was incorrect. This patient had to be admitted overnight to the Intensive Care Unit for intense cardiac and respiratory monitoring. The patient stayed in ICU for approximately twenty-four hours. Another patient received the wrong medication on the day of planned discharge and had to remain in the hospital for an additional day, though only for observation. In the third case, the patient had reported that he was allergic to a certain category of drugs, but nonetheless received a drug of that type. He had an adverse reaction–a rash–which delayed his discharge by one day.
On the basis of your understanding of the above case study, express your views on the following:
What measures should be adopted to reduce the overall drug error rate in the hospital?
What special benefits should be given to the patients who have suffered due to negligence by the hospital staff for wrong drug administration and other reasons?
In your opinion, should the hospital staff who were responsible for the dispensing errors be held personally liable for the errors? Why or why not?
Use the following resources as well as your Textbook for this assignment.
Ellsworth, M. A., M.D., Aakre, C. A., M.D., Dziadzko, Mikhail,M.D., PhD., Peters, S. G., M.D., Pickering, Brian W,M.B., B.Ch, & Herasevich, Vitaly,M.D., PhD. (2016). Early computerization of patient care at mayo clinic. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 91(7), E93-E101. doi:http://dx.doi.org.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.04
Lan, H., Thongprayoon, C., Ahmed, A., Herasevich, V., Sampathkumar, P., Gajic, O., & O’Horo, J. C. (2015). Automating quality metrics in the era of electronic medical records: Digital signatures for ventilator bundle compliance. BioMed Research International, 2015, 1-6. doi:10.1155/2015/396508
 Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Continuing with the case: Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Donations, Donations, Donations, (https://www.wiley.com/legacy/wileychi/ginter/supp/Case_3.pdf) Complete a full case analysis incorporating your work from your SWOT analysis this week. Use the following format to complete this assignment.
An introduction 
Definition of the problem. 
Identification of the stakeholders. 
Identification of alternative solutions. 
Evaluation of alternative solutions. 
Solution chosen and how to implement it with the stakeholders. 
Conclusion and reflection of this process.
cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Cross Training Staff
The practice of cross training staff (learning another type of job) is an old and often successful practice at hospitals.
Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research cross training techniques. Based on your research and training, respond to the following:
What steps would you take in deciding whether or not to cross train lab technicians as x-ray technicians?
What are the negative and positive financial considerations in making this decision?
What steps will you take to deal with a weekend staffing crisis whereby your small hospital has no x-ray technicians in-house, yet the demand for their services is very high including 30 percent of the need emanating from critical care units?
Make sure that you include an introduction and conclusion to your post.
Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Open Heart Surgery
For this assignment, read Case 19: The Case for Open Heart Surgery at Cabarrus Memorial Hospital
Why is the hospital considering this additional service?
Does the hospital and community really need this service? Why or why not?
What should be the most important characteristics of a hospital in which one would want to have an open heart surgery?
Is it financially viable for a hospital to offer this service? What costs and revenues would you predict to know the viability? Would any revenues cover the costs of offering this service?
 Cite any sources in APA format.