Healthcare decision makers rely heavily on population trend data sources such as private data collection, the U.S. census and some national probability surveys that are collected by the federal government to make decisions about how to properly allocate resources, and invest healthcare dollars for the country. Understanding changing population trends gives planners insight into future social and economic challenges as well as affords decision makers the ability to plan for the way that healthcare services and programs may be financed and delivered. According to Williams & Torrens (2008), “the dynamics of population are the most fundamental determinants of the need, demand, and use of healthcare services today.” While there are many trends
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Changes in the structure of the population and proportions of persons in broad age groups give rise to public policy issues. Planning for social services such as hospital construction, health service’s needs, and service development for the elder population are driven from this data and its trends. Age data is vital because it serves as a source of information about aging which will in turn give measurement to future needs. State and county agencies plan for the number of eligible recipients under the Medicare, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income programs using population trend data. Healthcare delivery is affected by the trends in population. Planners use this data, coupled with demographic data to determine the number and location of hospitals, health service centers, and retirement homes that are necessary to provide care for the population. Knowing that there is going to be an increase in age of the population allows for development of a plan for how medical services will be afforded and rendered to them. Knowing that as people age, their conditions are typically more frail has led to the knowledge that there will need to be more physicians to care for this population (National Center for Health, n.d.). This has led to the development of strategies to encourage and facilitate the education of additional medical students to help meet the demand of the future. Population …show more content…
High birth rates will cause concern because of the strain an increased population size would have on healthcare in the future years. Lower birth rates, on the other hand, cause concern because they can be an indicator of an aging population that will not have sufficient caregivers to take care of them (Knickman & Snell, 2002). Lack of caregiver support will have adverse consequences on the healthcare system as a whole; as there will be increased incidences of falls, burns, malnutrition, incontinence, missed physician appointments, and hospitalizations all which will affect the amount of dollars spent on healthcare. Not to mention, the caregivers that are caring for the elderly will have to do so longer because of the improved lifespan numbers and that will cause financial and physical strain on them which could also related to increased healthcare utilization. The reduction in mortality has resulted in increased life expectancy and has contributed to an older population which is a change from years ago when high fertility and high mortality kept our nation’s population
Changes in the structure of the population and proportions of persons in broad age groups give rise to public policy issues. Planning for social services such as hospital construction, health service’s needs, and service development for the elder population are driven from this data and its trends. Age data is vital because it serves as a source of information about aging which will in turn give measurement to future needs. State and county agencies plan for the number of eligible recipients under the Medicare, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income programs using population trend data. Healthcare delivery is affected by the trends in population. Planners use this data, coupled with demographic data to determine the number and location of hospitals, health service centers, and retirement homes that are necessary to provide care for the population. Knowing that there is going to be an increase in age of the population allows for development of a plan for how medical services will be afforded and rendered to them. Knowing that as people age, their conditions are typically more frail has led to the knowledge that there will need to be more physicians to care for this population (National Center for Health, n.d.). This has led to the development of strategies to encourage and facilitate the education of additional medical students to help meet the demand of the future. Population …show more content…
High birth rates will cause concern because of the strain an increased population size would have on healthcare in the future years. Lower birth rates, on the other hand, cause concern because they can be an indicator of an aging population that will not have sufficient caregivers to take care of them (Knickman & Snell, 2002). Lack of caregiver support will have adverse consequences on the healthcare system as a whole; as there will be increased incidences of falls, burns, malnutrition, incontinence, missed physician appointments, and hospitalizations all which will affect the amount of dollars spent on healthcare. Not to mention, the caregivers that are caring for the elderly will have to do so longer because of the improved lifespan numbers and that will cause financial and physical strain on them which could also related to increased healthcare utilization. The reduction in mortality has resulted in increased life expectancy and has contributed to an older population which is a change from years ago when high fertility and high mortality kept our nation’s population