Discuss The Financial Considerations Of Health Care

Behavioral Health
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Behavioral Health
The role of hospital administrators has evolved since the first professional hospital administrators were formally trained in the late 1920s (Cronin, Schuller, & Bolon, 2018). Administrators need to be individuals who can recognize opportunities and minimize risks. One of the emerging issues in healthcare is behavioral health integration. Behavioral health refers to the broad applicability of integrated health services in medical care to offer a total care approach. The provision of complete care would require hospital administrators to address a range of issues aimed at improving the health outcome of the patients. This essay will discuss the financial considerations of health care and patient safety issues.
Financial consideration
Health system financial sustainability has remained a central health policy issue. The healthcare providers are under constant pressure to minimize costs while at the same time improving the quality of care and maintaining a strong workforce (Dong, 2015). Such a demand on the healthcare facilities comes with some financial challenges. The reimbursement levels have continued to change as healthcare becomes more focused on the consumer. Some of the problems have evolved because of the growing, complex and diverse healthcare offerings. The increasing costs in almost every area of healthcare have adversely affected the providers and patient willingness to seek care.
One of the key issues facing the healthcare administrators is providing affordable healthcare rates with the rising costs. The increasing costs can be attributed to the high costs of pharmaceuticals, fraud, abuse, and waste. It is essential for healthcare administrators to address the issue of increasing costs in healthcare. According to the United Nations (2017), the number of older individuals above 60 years is expected to double by the year 2050. These older adults need more healthcare services despite the tighter budget restrictions. Hence, without cost control mechanisms, the healthcare facilities may be unable to offer care to the elderly.
Some providers often experience delayed payments over services rendered. The patient billing system is complex which makes the process of payment lengthy. Further, both Medicare and Medicaid do not occur promptly. The cuts in government spending on healthcare mean that hospitals are unable to subsidize their costs. There has also been competition from other providers which means that care providers cannot increase the costs of care to realize significant incomes. There has been a prevalence of bad debts like the emergency room charges which are uncollectible.
Furthermore, Healthcare administrators require a strong understanding of healthcare finance. They need to have a firm grasp of accounting procedures, marketing, and operations so that they can eliminate the massive waste.
Additionally, the administrators need to develop alternative sources of income. They can consider investing in telemedicine, ambulatory care centers, and pharmaceutical research. The investment options would allow the hospitals to have alternative sources of income in case of payment delays. With alternative sources of income, th...