Health Care in this country Essay Example

Health Care in this country Essay Example Health Care in this country Paper Health Care in this country Paper The U.S healthcare industry is fighting to stay afloat. Reduction in wages, private practices by doctors, fall in Federal Medicare inpatient and outpatient reimbursements, and changes in Medicaid reimbursements are some reasons for the steady decline in the financial performance of these hospitals. Doctors too face stress, and this leads to unintentional negligence on their part with patients. This has led to catastrophic repercussions on the doctors and their patients alike. Patients began to lose faith in the medical practitioners in these hospitals. There is a need to change the total outlook of this industry today to reinforce customer faith and satisfaction. ‘According to the PWC study, profit margins dropped from 4.40% in 1995 to 1.76% in 1997 and .55% in 1998. Declines were consistent across all categories of hospitals regardless of teaching status, size, or geographic location. In 1997, 26 hospitals reported net losses from operations. This number increased to 42 in 1998’ (state.nj.us, 2001). Something has to be done to stem this decline. There needs to be an overhaul of the prevailing working conditions and facilities available to the healthcare industry. The suggestion to implement the FAA/Airline ASAP Program seems to be an alternative. To prevent aviation accidents and to improve safety, a program sponsored by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in association with the aviation community introduced the concept of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). This paper envisages characterizing the influence that this program can have on the troubled healthcare industry in the United States. Contrary to beliefs, it’s the medical practioners who find themselves at the wrong end of the stick for their attitude and behavior to patient care. 2.0   Project Proposal In June 1970, a two-year test program was completed, that introduced the concept of a joint program sponsored by the FAA and the aviation community to reduce the general aviation accident rate. The same concept and program could be implemented in the healthcare industry to make doctors and other medical practioners more accountable for their actions, making healthcare more productive and patient-centric. This paper takes a look at the different modalities practiced by the aviation industry in countering accidents caused due to negligence and stress, and relates the use of the same in the ailing U.S healthcare industry for better results (faasafety.gov, n.d). 3.0  Ã‚   Literature Review THE ASAP PROGRAM ASAP was introduced with the view to encourage airline and maintenance staff to voluntarily report on safety information that might be critical in identifying potential precursors to accidents. FAA is of the view that by introducing such a program, the level of accidents would reduce further and make air travel completely safe. Under this program, issues are solved using corrective methods rather than through punishment and discipline. This way the concerned individual or group is taught not to repeat this flaw in future. These programs are based on partnerships between the employee, FAA, and at times the employee’s labor organization. To get an employee to report on his/her safety issue(s) would be undoubtedly difficult, but the ASAP program has enforcement-related incentives designed into its program to make employees make more interactive. The basic idea of this program is to identify problematic issues that run concurrently with an employee’s routine work and see that they do not reoccur. A panel of members appointed to look into them then reviews these issues. The panel then suggests corrective measures to remove this. ASAP also provides a vehicle whereby an employee of the airline or the ground maintenance staff can safely identify and report safety issues to the management and FAA without prosecution. The employee must submit the report in the stipulated time frame. If the employee fails to report within the stipulated period, the employee will be referred to an appropriate office within FAA for additional investigation and/or enforcement action. It can also be referred to law enforcement agencies too (gsa.gov, n.d). 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Airline Program for the Health Industry A recent report indicated that between 40,000 to1, 00,000 Americans died each year as a result of medical errors. A figure for thought. In airline terminology this is equivalent to 233 jumbo jets full of people crashing each year. Mind boggling and frightening indeed. The health industry had to look for a solution and fast. In the face of growing concern among the chronic was the disturbing attitude of the hospital staff to ignore the immediate problem. Unless something was done seriously and immediately, patients would look elsewhere for treatment, leading to an exodus and decline in the healthcare industry in the country. This would lead to the closure of more units and hurt the image of an already declining industry. The report went on to state that in addition to the human loss and suffering, the estimated medical errors cost consumers anywhere between $17 billion and $29 billion a year in additional care, lost wages, and litigation costs (looksmarthealth.com, n.d). This led the governing body of the various healthcare units to look for a solution. The trust was being lost and this did not go well with the caretaker gurus of this industry. In contrast to a two and a half fold increase in the number of preventable deaths in medicine during the last 10 years, the aviation industry had experienced a four-fold decrease in mishaps. In the past 20 years, the aviation industry had decreased errors caused by human factors, down from 50% to 81% through safety training and standardization. This was the solution that the healthcare gurus were looking for. Implementing the same theory and standards would reinvigorate the slump being witnessed. In order to understand the complexity and suggest remedial measures, the Methodist University Hospital was taken for study. â€Å"Methodist University Hospital (MUH) in Memphis is the base hospital for the Methodist Health Care System. In addition to the base hospital, there are three satellite acute care facilities, a pediatric specialty hospital, and three freestanding surgery centers. The base hospital has 33 multi-specialty or suites. During the past seven years, Methodist has experienced a substantial increase in demand at its facilities, a demand that made many of the experienced nurses attached to the hospital move to the satellite facilities closer to their homes. This migration led to the need to expand the pool of nurses. Training programs were drawn to increase the output to sustain operations.