Question

What are some of the reasons why our healthcare system is so expensive? List three things you believe would reduce the cost of healthcare, be sure to include references to back up your statements. What are some of the major drivers to changes in health information technology?

Answer 1

Ans) Here's the real reason health care costs so much more in the US. The U.S. is famous for over-spending on health care. Hospital services and diagnostic tests cost more. And a lot more money goes to planning, regulating and managing medical services at the administrative level.

- I believe the greatest healthcare challenge the United States faces is convincing people that “insurance” is a marketing scheme that is designed to take your money, rather than keep you healthy. If you could convince people of this, then you would see a single payer system very, very, very quickly

- Three basic strategies for health promotion
Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and biological factors can all favour or harm health. Health promotion aims to make these conditions favourable, through advocacy for health.

- Technology has changed the way we communicate, listen to music, exercise, shop, play games and much more. It is not surprising that we are seeing technology extend its reach into the healthcare industry. Healthcare technology is helping people live longer, reducing wait times and making it easier for doctors to diagnose diseases.

5 key ways that technology has improved healthcare.

1) Electronic Databases:
- The days of rows and rows of file folders framing the check-in desk at your doctor’s office are disappearing. Electronic databases are now consolidating huge amounts of information, which greatly improves efficiency. Physicians and nurses can easily pull up a patient’s medical history, lab test results, records of vital signs and prescription orders from the database, as well as store new information to be referred to at a later date. Patients have better access to their own health information with the use of patient portals, which allows them to understand their procedures better.

2) Doctors Embracing Mobility:
- Because of smartphones, doctors are easier to get ahold of and are better at doing their jobs. Smartphones and tablets allow doctors to access online medical databases as well as thousands of pages of medical text while on the go. Physicians can now consult colleagues from all over the globe via text, emails, conference facilities and videos, which is especially useful in underdeveloped and rural areas. Experts can be consulted without the need to move patients to an advanced hospital.

3) Healthcare Technology Improves Testing and Imaging:
- The current medical tests used in healthcare are more informative than ever before. We now have advanced monitoring and imagining capabilities like Electrocardiography, X-ray Computed Tomography, Sonography and Magnetic Resource Imaging. These approaches let doctors retrieve highly resolved and precise images of anatomical structures and physical functions that was never possible before their creation. With earlier detection from these technologies, the result is better prevention and treatment of harmful conditions.

4) Predict Medical Trends With Online Databases:
- With so many medical websites available, more and more people are turning to the Internet to self-diagnose their illnesses before calling the doctor. The benefit of this is that search engines like Google have been able to predict trends in medicine, such as outbreaks of the flu, by analyzing health data that users search for on the Internet. This breakthrough helps medical professionals prepare for the upcoming onslaught of patients and be ready to respond quickly to outbreaks of illnesses.

5) Less Medical Errors With New Healthcare Technology:
- Unfortunately there are still thousands of people who die annually due to prescription medication errors. Today individuals, especially seniors who may require more medications than the average person, are able to wear special medical bracelets. These bracelets are equipped with an individual barcode to help hospitals track doses of medications, which reduces errors. The Internet is also a helpful tool in reducing prescription mistakes because there are many available web sites that tell you all you need to know about a drug, even if you lost the bottle it came in.