Healthcare Discussion 3 About Economics And Business

Healthcare Discussion
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February 26, 2017
As the demand for greater, more efficient, and more economic healthcare increases, certain changes have been inevitable in the face of healthcare. Such changes are characterized by innovation in both practice and technology, healthcare law reforms, and even greater spending for health care services. Following from this, the bigger question still remains, “how and why has the demand for hospital care changed over time?”
According to Nancy (2014), some of the major trends in the social, economic, and political background of the society (or more specifically, the U.S.) have been the dominant drivers of the changes in healthcare. These trends are; “(1) Aging population, (2) Diversification, (3) creation of ‘for-profit businesses,’ (4) changes in healthcare law”. According to Patrick (2014), one of the major drivers of change and innovation is to cater for the increasing number of elderly relative to those of the younger generations, in the U.S. This shift of the dominant age group is one of the major social demographic factors that have increased the demand for better innovation. As for the second factor – diversification – Nancy (2014) stated that in order to cater for the social demographics as well as the need for an organization to make profit, health-care organizations today are employing more business managers rather than doctors to administer the organization, thus, creating a different set of ideals and methods withing the organization. The third factor refers to the creation of profit-oriented businesses within the field of health-care. These days, a dominant number of health-care providers are already private and are aimed at gaining profit first and foremost. The fourth major driver – Change in health care law – also provides a great impetus to both the demand for quality healthcare (Nancy, 2014). As laws such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or ACA) or “Obamac...