Impact of Access on Health Services
Regardless of cultural background, gender, age, education, or income level all Americans should have access to quality health care. Policy makers and health care professionals need to continue working to find ways to reduce disparities. Adequate health care can prevent illness and disability, and help detect illnesses earlier. More importantly, early detection leads to early initiation of treatment, increased quality of life, reduced premature death, and an increased life expectancy (“Access to Health Services”, 2014). Having adequate health insurance coverage permits patient to establish care with PCP. PCPs are responsible for managing a patient’s care and helping them navigate through our complex health …show more content…
State and local organizations have led initiatives as well. Of note, Delaware’s State Health Care Innovation Plan is a strategy, which aims to strengthen the state’s primary care system by instituting the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Model (Improving Heath Care, n.d.). PCMH is a team-based approach centered on improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs (Nash et al., 2016). In New York, the Community Service Society (CSS) operates the Community Health Advocates Program. This program provides free health insurance information for New Yorkers (“Health Initiatives”, 2015). Moreover, CSS partnered with Health Care for All New Yorkers (HCFANY), a network of hundreds of organizations statewide, and together they are committed to lobbying for quality health care (“Health Initiatives”, 2015). Strategies like those taking place in New York and Delaware work toward satisfying the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Triple Aim. IHI Triple Aim is an framework for optimizing health system performance by improving the patient experience, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capital cost of care (“Bodenheimer & Sinsky, 2014). It is important for all states to offer reliable resources to their citizens and to join efforts with other organizations so that progress in state and nationwide health care reform can continue to be made. …show more content…
The Institute of Medicine and the Health People Curriculum Task Force among others have recognized the inadequacies in health care curriculum (Nash et al., 2016). In order to shift existing healthcare culture to one that values safety and quality these organizations are calling for health education reform. Integrating a robust approach to health care education that features a population health perspective will ensure that health care professionals have the ability access the needs of the population they serve thereby allowing them to implement interventions to reduce disparities (Nash et al., 2016). Moreover, teaching health care professionals about delivering patient-centered care, using evidence-based practices, participation in multidisciplinary teams, applying quality improvement principles, and incorporation health information systems will result in more comprehensive care and better care
Regardless of cultural background, gender, age, education, or income level all Americans should have access to quality health care. Policy makers and health care professionals need to continue working to find ways to reduce disparities. Adequate health care can prevent illness and disability, and help detect illnesses earlier. More importantly, early detection leads to early initiation of treatment, increased quality of life, reduced premature death, and an increased life expectancy (“Access to Health Services”, 2014). Having adequate health insurance coverage permits patient to establish care with PCP. PCPs are responsible for managing a patient’s care and helping them navigate through our complex health …show more content…
State and local organizations have led initiatives as well. Of note, Delaware’s State Health Care Innovation Plan is a strategy, which aims to strengthen the state’s primary care system by instituting the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Model (Improving Heath Care, n.d.). PCMH is a team-based approach centered on improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs (Nash et al., 2016). In New York, the Community Service Society (CSS) operates the Community Health Advocates Program. This program provides free health insurance information for New Yorkers (“Health Initiatives”, 2015). Moreover, CSS partnered with Health Care for All New Yorkers (HCFANY), a network of hundreds of organizations statewide, and together they are committed to lobbying for quality health care (“Health Initiatives”, 2015). Strategies like those taking place in New York and Delaware work toward satisfying the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Triple Aim. IHI Triple Aim is an framework for optimizing health system performance by improving the patient experience, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capital cost of care (“Bodenheimer & Sinsky, 2014). It is important for all states to offer reliable resources to their citizens and to join efforts with other organizations so that progress in state and nationwide health care reform can continue to be made. …show more content…
The Institute of Medicine and the Health People Curriculum Task Force among others have recognized the inadequacies in health care curriculum (Nash et al., 2016). In order to shift existing healthcare culture to one that values safety and quality these organizations are calling for health education reform. Integrating a robust approach to health care education that features a population health perspective will ensure that health care professionals have the ability access the needs of the population they serve thereby allowing them to implement interventions to reduce disparities (Nash et al., 2016). Moreover, teaching health care professionals about delivering patient-centered care, using evidence-based practices, participation in multidisciplinary teams, applying quality improvement principles, and incorporation health information systems will result in more comprehensive care and better care