Health Care Economics: The Financial, Risk Management, and Human Resource Issues

Choose one (1) essay topic from the three provided and write a 2500-word paper. TOPIC 1:The COVID19 Pandemic, Prepare a case study for your own province, or a province of your choice. In your paper, please first present the data for the supply of health services. TOPIC 2:Prepare a descriptive and analytical paper comparing health systems that have government universal medical care for services judged to be medically necessary, along with availability of private paid supplementary plans to cover other health and medical conditions. After calculating these costs, please discuss the challenges faced by Dr. Dent in operating his clinic. Include both financial issues, risk management issues, as well as human resource issues

Final Evaluation Activity: Essay

Weight: 50% of the final grade.

The purpose of this evaluation activity is for you to critically examine a contemporary topic in Canadian health care and write a professional, polished essay that clearly articulates the argument you are making and uses evidence to strengthen this argument. Writing essays and scholarly papers for a university course serves two main purposes. The first is that researching a topic and writing about it is an excellent way of learning. The second is for the purpose of evaluation and assessment: an essay enables an instructor to assess the student's ability to clearly explain the subject in a professional way, to integrate different types of material, to analyze events or themes, and to present ideas in a cogent manner, based upon the course learning outcomes. You will have one month in which to complete this evaluation activity. A grade of 50% or greater must be achieved for successful completion of the assignment. (See guidelines below.)

To complete this assignment:

Choose one (1) essay topic from the three provided and write a 2500-word paper.

1. TOPIC 1: The COVID19 Pandemic of 2020 is an event that has changed our world. In terms of this pandemic, to date, as a student in Health Administration and, in particular, Health Economics, you are asked to prepare a term paper that brings in a number of the factors discussed in your course.

Prepare a case study for your own province, or a province of your choice. In your paper, please first present the data for the supply of health services. For COVID19, this will include current beds available, planned new hospital beds supplied, number of ventilators available in the province, both current as well as ordered, number of N95 masks on hand, number of N95 masks on order, and any other relevant supply data for handling the COVID19 pandemic.  Also, please add data on the demand for treatment for COVID19. This will include number of cases as of a certain date, as well as number of patients who have recovered from COVID19, and the number of deaths from COVID 19, organized by age groups. You may provide a maximum of two charts as Figures (per APA), with descriptions, to better illustrate the concepts.

Choose one (1) of the following to focus your Topic 1 case study discussion:

                                            i.            Choice #1: Use the information to evaluate how well the province has responded to the pandemic in their own jurisdiction. In terms of your response, identify whether the jurisdiction is flattening the curve (or even “planking” the curve). This will involve looking at the capacity of the system to properly treat cases that require hospitalization as well as those serious cases that require ICU intervention.

                                          ii.            Choice #2: Use the information to discuss the actions of government in closing non-essential businesses, as well as identifying those businesses which are deemed essential. This will include a discussion of the supports available to individuals that lose their job, either temporarily or permanently, as well as the position of businesses. You may want to compare and contrast two different jurisdictions and how well each jurisdiction seems to be proactively (or not) responding to this situation. (Note: If the topic seems too broad and too large, please focus on a particular sector or sectors within a particular jurisdiction. For example, you could look at the post-secondary education sector as one example, or you might look at the restaurant business as another example).

OR

1. TOPIC 2: Prepare a descriptive and analytical paper comparing health systems that have government universal medical care for services judged to be medically necessary, along with availability of private paid supplementary plans to cover other health and medical conditions. Compare this to a health system that is entirely privately operated with employer/employee paid health coverage that contains various insured provisions such as co-payments, annual limits on coverage, loading charges, qualification and eligibility limitations.

Be sure to describe each system in full detail, and then discuss the pros and cons of each type of system. This will include areas like cost, any possible gaps in coverage, as well as discussion of queueing issues in one system or the other.

OR

1. TOPIC 3: Dr. Dent has operated an established dental practice in a small city for the past 15 years. He works 36 hours per week (8 hours per day except Wednesday when he has an afternoon golf game and only works 4 hours in the morning). He has always had a full-time receptionist and dental assistant on staff, and they both work 40 hours per week.  In addition, he retains a dental hygienist, Ms. Profil, who comes in 20 hours per week for scheduled appointments.

On average, Dr. Dent treats 45 patients per week, and 20 patients per week have their teeth scaled, cleaned and fluoride applied by the dental hygienist. Of the patients, an average of 15 patients come in for a full annual checkup, and an average of 24 patients have dental work (fillings, crowns, root canals and extractions) performed. Fillings cost $150, crowns cost $1000, root canals cost $1200 and extractions cost $500. The annual checkup (including x-ray) costs $300.  The dental hygienist treatment costs $400 per treatment.  Dr. Dent does 15 checkups, 15 fillings, 3 crowns, 2 root canals and 4 extractions per week. Each crown takes $500 worth of the Dr. Dent’s time, and there is a $700 lab fee paid to ABC Dental Laboratory by Dr. Dent. The root canal takes considerable time and skill and is done entirely by Dr. Dent in 3 appointments. The receptionist is paid $4000 per month, the dental assistant is paid $6000 per month, and the hygienist is paid $250 per treatment provided. Benefits, insurance and utilities cost $6000 per month for the entire clinic.

The rent for Dr. Dent’s clinic is $3000 per month, and Dr. Dent uses an average of $75 of consumable supplies per patient. Dr. Dent’s payments for his clinic equipment are $1500 per month. Assuming four weeks per month, calculate Dr. Dent’s weekly revenues and costs: Total revenue, total costs, total fixed costs, total variable costs. Also calculate Dr. Dent’s net profit or loss each week. You may provide a maximum of two charts as Tables (per APA), with descriptions, to better illustrate the concepts

After calculating these costs, please discuss the challenges faced by Dr. Dent in operating his clinic. Include both financial issues, risk management issues, as well as human resource issues. Should Dr. Dent only look at the current financial calculations in analyzing his practice? Also discuss his non-financial considerations in running his practice, as well as the issue of setting his level of dental fees in the dental marketplace of his community.

GUIDELINES

1. 1.      Prepare your essay.  Ensure your arguments are balanced and evidence-based. Use the following guidance for appropriate use of literature in your essay:

• You must do independent research to find scholarly articles and/or government documents upon which to base your ideas and support your arguments. Evidence should be gathered from a variety of sources to ensure balance in your argument and consideration of various perspectives.


• For TOPICS 1 and 2 a minimum of ten (10) strong references is appropriate for an undergraduate essay of this length. For TOPIC 3, due to the depth of the analytical approach required, the number of strong references would be five to six (5 - 6).  While it is acceptable to use newspaper articles and other opinion pieces, these are not very strong references and if used need to be supplemented with scholarly publications such as the ones you found for your assignments in the course. 

1. • You must always acknowledge intellectual indebtedness through proper citations. Ensure every borrowed idea is properly cited. See the note on plagiarism below.
   
   
   • Source materials are summarized, paraphrased, or quoted effectively to provide support for and add credibility to your writing.
   
   
   • Direct quotations should be used judiciously (not more than 15% of the word count).
   
   

1. Check that your assignment adheres to the following requirements:
   
   
   
   • Writing:

• Problem/thesis statement is clearly articulated in the introduction


• Title reflects the topic and main idea


• Ideas and/or arguments are clearly articulated


• Critical thinking and original insight are apparent


• Discussion is balanced, recognizing opposing arguments


• Relevant evidence is used effectively to strengthen ideas and/or arguments. 


• Sources are not simply listed but integrated into the discussion to show careful examination and critical analysis


• Organized with logical links between sections


• All sources are appropriately acknowledged with accurate citations and referencing


• Carefully proofread for grammar and spelling


• Professional and polished writing style that is lively and pleasant to read


• Conclusion is concise and logical, summarizing main points without introducing new material


• 10-12 double-spaced pages, not including title page or reference list (both required). An abstract and/or appendices are not required, but if included do not count towards the page limit.


• 12-point font with 1-inch margins


• Careful adherence to APA style for formatting, in-text citations, and reference list


• Appropriate use of heading levels in APA format

1. • Formatting:

1. By email, submit your essay for grading directly to the person assigned to grade your paper (typically your tutor).  

A note about plagiarism

Plagiarism is forbidden and carries serious consequences.  We know that some plagiarism occurs inadvertently because students do not understand the need to include references. It is your responsibility to understand the rules and to avoid plagiarism, which is considered academic misconduct. Please note that the consequences for “accidental’ plagiarism are the same as for “deliberate” plagiarism.  To avoid plagiarism, follow these rules:

• For all papers and assignments in the health administration program you are expected to follow the citation and formatting style described in the most current edition of the APA Publication Manual.


• Be sure to give credit for all sources of quotations and ideas. This practice not only indicates intellectual integrity and honesty, but also enables the reader to pursue any reference that seems particularly interesting.  Refer to the latest guidelines from APA for formatting your essay, your in-text citations, and your reference list. 


• Document all written, filmed, videotaped, audiotaped, and electronic sources of information. In general, you should acknowledge the source of all evidence, including email communications, conversations with people, and anything you found online.


• Include a reference list at the end of your paper. The reference list must provide all of the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in the body of your paper.


• The Write Site at Athabasca University provides feedback to students on how to write assignments and plagiarism tutorials: http://write-site.athabascau.ca/


• The AU policy for plagiarism is: http://calendar.athabascau.ca/undergrad/2018/student-code/academic-misconduct-offences.php