The United States is the leading health care spender in the world. It has the highest proportion of specialist physicians and world-renowned surgeons yet it falls short in quality of care. This becomes a problem when an increasing number of patients report long wait times, late test results, and medication errors. Americans also describe their interactions with primary physicians as short, meaningless and confusing including chronic disease patients who feel as if they are treated far worse than healthy patients (Burns, Dyer & Bailit, 2010). There are many reasons for lack of quality care, ranging from low adoption rates of electronic medical records to the splintered United States care system. Adding to these problems is the highly debated
…show more content…
Research studies and reports have recognized that minorities experience more significant problems accessing care, are in poorer health, are more likely to be uninsured, and often receive lower quality health care than other Americans (Trivedi, Zasslavsky, Schneider, & Ayanian, 2005, p. 694). Socioeconomic status and insurance come into question in this situation however do not explain all of the racial and ethnic inconsistencies in access to care. Numerous studies have shown that even taking insurance and income under consideration, inequalities in access still occur (Geiger & Borcheit, 2004, p.1661). Geographic isolation, language and cultural barriers also make finding and accessing care more difficult. Non-English speakers are deterred from visiting a physician for fear of confusion and misunderstanding. This problem is significant in quality of care as shown through research done by Burns, Dyer and Bailit (2010) which examined the use of clot busters for patients who had suffered a heart attack and found that African American Medicare beneficiaries were significantly less likely than whites to receive this …show more content…
healthcare system to deliver high-quality and cost effective care, it must transform from a fee-for-service system to a value based system. Koltov and Damle (2014) describe a program, Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), which uses a combination of incentive payments and payment adjustments to ensure proper use of care. The curriculum promotes recording of quality material by eligible professionals (EPs). This program is designed to give EPs the chance to assess their quality of care by comparing their performance on a certain criteria with that of their other colleagues. If this program launched successfully, the economic burden on government health insurance would significantly reduce allowing funds to be allocated elsewhere in the health care system. According to Guo (2008), physician payments represent the second largest element of Medicare expenses after hospital
Research studies and reports have recognized that minorities experience more significant problems accessing care, are in poorer health, are more likely to be uninsured, and often receive lower quality health care than other Americans (Trivedi, Zasslavsky, Schneider, & Ayanian, 2005, p. 694). Socioeconomic status and insurance come into question in this situation however do not explain all of the racial and ethnic inconsistencies in access to care. Numerous studies have shown that even taking insurance and income under consideration, inequalities in access still occur (Geiger & Borcheit, 2004, p.1661). Geographic isolation, language and cultural barriers also make finding and accessing care more difficult. Non-English speakers are deterred from visiting a physician for fear of confusion and misunderstanding. This problem is significant in quality of care as shown through research done by Burns, Dyer and Bailit (2010) which examined the use of clot busters for patients who had suffered a heart attack and found that African American Medicare beneficiaries were significantly less likely than whites to receive this …show more content…
healthcare system to deliver high-quality and cost effective care, it must transform from a fee-for-service system to a value based system. Koltov and Damle (2014) describe a program, Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), which uses a combination of incentive payments and payment adjustments to ensure proper use of care. The curriculum promotes recording of quality material by eligible professionals (EPs). This program is designed to give EPs the chance to assess their quality of care by comparing their performance on a certain criteria with that of their other colleagues. If this program launched successfully, the economic burden on government health insurance would significantly reduce allowing funds to be allocated elsewhere in the health care system. According to Guo (2008), physician payments represent the second largest element of Medicare expenses after hospital