Physicians vs Healthcare Administrators

This week in Managing Healthcare Organizations class, we discussed the feud between physicians and nurses against Healthcare Administrators. I decided for my blog this week to research possible ways to end this feud and create a better work environment for both the physicians and administrators. I found an article on Forbes written by Sachin H. Jain, titled “Physicians and Healthcare Administrators: Friends or Foes?” In this article, Jain explains multiple ways in which he thinks the gap between the administrators and physicians can be closed. His ideas vary from including front-line physicians in the administrative process, educating physicians on the finance aspects of delivering care in a hospital, and educating administrators on the clinical aspects of the hospital.

I felt, that the most important part of his article that I took away, was to educate administrators about the clinical aspects of the hospitals and educating the physicians on the financial aspects of the hospital as well. By educating both parties about what the other faces each day will help create a level of respect among the two parties. Without financing, a hospital could not run just as there would be no hospital to administrate if physicians and nurses ceased to exist. Healthcare administrators and physicians are dependent on one another whether they choose to acknowledge that fact or not, it is time for healthcare administrators and physicians to work together to ensure that the best possible hospital exists.

Heres the link for the article! https://www.forbes.com/sites/sachinjain/2016/06/29/physicians-and-health-care-administrators-friend-or-foe/2/#6ca0e784744

Doctors Against The Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill

This past week, I have been reading countless articles regarding Obamacare and the possible passing of the Graham-Cassidy Bill which led me to begin to wonder what position physicians are taking on this controversial topic. I found an article from The Atlantic by James Hamblin titled “Doctors: NO Physicians rarely agree on anything as strongly as they do that the Graham-Cassidy health-care bill is harmful. In the article, it was stated that many organizations that physicans are apart of have spoken up against the Graham Cassidy bill. For example, the president of the Medical Association wrote that “the bill would destabilize insurance markets and decrease access to affordable coverage and care”. Also, it was explained in the article that out of pocket costs would skyrocket if this new bill was enacted and citizens with preexisting conditions would not be protected under the bill either.

Before reading this article, I was concerned with the Graham-Cassidy health care bill but after reading this article I truly can say that I believe that this bill cannot be passed. Physicans are the front line of our  country’s health care system and if they oppose the bill so strongly than how can it be beneficial for our country?

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/09/do-no-harm/540333/

 

Upcoming health care challenges for the Baby Boomers?

Last night, I called my grandfather to see how he was doing since I have not seen him since he fell three weeks ago in his parking garage. My whole family was very worried about my grandfather after the fall and my mother insisted that he would receive services at a local rehabilitation center since falling has not been uncommon for him in the past year. During my phone call, my grandpa reassured me that the treatment has been beneficial for him and that he has never felt stronger. After the call, I could not help but to think about how lucky my grandfather is because his Medicare paid for the rehabilitative services. Although I was thankful that my grandfather was able to receive these services, I began to think about how our country is going to handle the increased aging of baby boomers and whether or not in the upcoming years if the elderly would be able to use Medicare and Social Security to receive similar services as my grandfather.      

               According to the Population Revenue Bureau’s article “Aging Baby Boomers to Face Caregiving, Obesity, Inequality Challenges, our current health care system will be altered due to the fact that “by 2050 Social Security and Medicare will increase from 8% of the Gross Domestic Product to 12%”. One of the authors of the article, Mark Mather, explains that this change in GDP will be challenging for health care in The US but, it is crucial for changes to be made by administrators including increasing the number of years men and women work before retirement and increasing workers retirement savings. As a health management and policy major, I am very interested and concerned with the aging populations. I truly believe that a crisis can be averted as long as those in management positions can adjust to the changes because every senior citizen in the upcoming years deserves to receive care that my grandfather is given in 2017.

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Reports/2015/unitedstates-population-bulletin.aspx

Battling the Foreign Language that is Blood Work Results

 For my first blog, I decided to write about a problem that personally affected me this past year.  Starting last October, I would suffer through random episodes where I could not move my arms and legs without extreme pain. This period of time was really troublesome for not only myself but also for my family. I began to meet with countless doctors to figure out what was causing these random episodes but,  almost every doctor had a different diagnosis. Eventually, I sought help from a doctor who specialized in Lyme Disease. One appointment after my doctor received my blood work back handed me a stack of papers and left the room. My father and I sat in the examination room with wide eyes and confusion written all over our faces. The paper work we were handed was a foreign language to us and we could not possibly decipher what it meant on our own.

               This week, as I searched frantically for a topic to share with you all, I decided to write about a health care issue that hits close to home. In Thomas Goetz’s Ted Talk “It’s Time to Redesign Medical Data” he discusses this problem and explains how health care professionals can fix it. In the Ted Talk, Goetz states “Better health is not a science problem, it’s an information problem”. Goetz explains in the Ted Talk that he asked a graphic design team to create an easy to read and understand layout for displaying blood work information. On this new layout, the information would be in color and would display the patient’s results in relation to other patients results. Ultimately, with this new layout people would be able to understand their blood work much easier and I wish this layout was accessible when I was reviewing my own blood work results.

First blog post

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