NR512 Research Assignment Paper: Health IT Hot Topic

The Use of Payment Systems to Improve Productivity in the Health Care System
Name
Institution
The Use of Payment Systems to Improve Productivity in the Health Care System
Introduction
The topic that I have chosen for this discussion is on ways of improving productivity in healthcare. The article that I have chosen to guide the discussion is by Ilene MacDonald titled 4 Ways to Improve Productivity in Healthcare. According to MacDonald, the shift from volume-to-value-based care and alternate payment methods has forced organizations to search for novel ways to increase productivity. Increasing productivity cannot be attained through the use of the current methods and new methods have to be brought into place. One of the ways through which this can be attained is through changing the payment system that enable health care professionals to abandon wasteful practices and streamline the workflows that are in place (MacDonald, 2016).
Rationale
A range of forces, including constantly rising health care cost and the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) have led taxpayers and health care professionals to experiment to a large extent with payment models that are different from the traditional fee for service. These novel payment systems have an impact on health care professionals and ultimately affect the manner in which health care is provided. Understanding the impact of these payment systems is necessary as it leads to the elimination of wasteful practices and hence productivity.
Impact on the Profession
One of the ways in which new payment systems affect the profession is that it leads to the change in organizational structure. Due to the complexity of the new system, some physicians have been forced to merge their practice or be integrated by hospitals in order to fit in the new payment systems. This has been necessitated by the need to invest in data infrastructure some of which are too expensive to be afforded by individual physicians. This is also necessary as the doctors need to negotiate contracts with health plans and it also accords the physicians the safety that comes with numbers. This is positive as it offers physicians security and also creates a wider market pool for them (Auerbach, et al., 2013).
The other way through which new payment systems impacts practice is that it motivates the growth of team approaches to care management and creates prominent roles for health professionals. In most hospitals, the new payment systems have led to the creation of fund care manager position to oversee the payment systems. These fund care managers are tasked with overseeing the payment system thus allowing doctors to concentrate with the provision of care and this translates to increased productivity in the industry. This also ensures that physicians are only paid for the services that they offer and as such this leads to increased productivity (Auerbach, et al, 2013).
The other impact of the new payment systems in the health care system is that it leads to increased significance of data and data analysis. With the new payment systems, physicians have to improve on their data management capabilities. This ranges from acquiring or updating the electronic health record...