Cost, Access And Quality As Cornerstones Of Healthcare Delivery System (Case Study Sample)

Cost, access, and quality as the three cornerstones of the health care delivery system
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Abstract
Healthcare service delivery remains a major topic for the healthcare stakeholders. In the quest to establish the primary elements to archiving the milestone in the healthcare sector, it is vital to review the link relationship that exists the four three packages namely; cost, access and quality and the delivery system. This report will present a complete discussion on the three paradigms of service delivery. The paper consists of two-three parts. First is the introductory section; giving details on the concept of service delivery. The second part is the instances of application of cost, access, and quality of service delivery. The third part of the discussion of how these can be balanced to ensure adequate delivery. Then the last part is the conclusion of the paper.
Introduction
The evolution of medicine has come with various complexities in the contemporary society. In the ancient, the traditional methods of treatment were less complex than the modern is. According to World Health Organization report of 2013, about 80% of the world population depends on herbal medicine (Herbal medicines: An overview. (2016, Apr 09). The report shows the sluggish speed of the medical evolution. New inventions have been witnessed through the period of revolution. These medicine breakthroughs have not only brought relief to man but also frustration. Clearly, the advancement in the healthcare industry has contributed to societal segregation which comes out in the subsequent presentation of the paper. To fully understand the concept, the analysis of how the delivery of these services are affected by access, cost and quality would be salient in the study. Apparently, cost, access, and quality are the major elements to the delivery of services of public demand; the delivery of healthcare services depends on the accessibility cost and the quality.
Cost
Cost is the basic unit of purchase or sale. Like in most transactional sectors, the healthcare sector is found on the basis of trade. In order to keep t the economy in balance, the healthcare sectors operate in a business environment. Nearly all the services rendered are at costs. With this concept, the cost is regarded as an essential element of the trade in the sector. It is with the latter respect that is dully important to deliberate on the way in which cost affects the delivery of services in healthcare. Healthcare, unlike other secondary services, is a crucial life service; lack of it might lead to the demise of life. Statistics from many types of research indicate different costs to these services, for example, the cost of treating infectious illness in England amount to $6 billion in a fiscal year. From close observation, it is clear that the costs often do not reflect the societal standards in terms of income and savings potentials (May, 2013). It is due to these conditions that one questions like; "When life is at stake, how much medical cost is too much?'' ‘Who should determine the cost of service?' should one be denied access to medical attention just because it is expensive?' Evidently, these questions epitomize the dilemma that the healthcare faces. Definitely, the high cost jeopardizes the medical delivery system. Case in point, a poor patient diagnosed with cancer will hardly get treatment in good medical facilities due to lack of finance. Therefore, a service delivery of any nature is affected by their cost. Healthcare service delivery is greatly affected by the costs. Nevertheless, effective and efficient costing enhances the delivery of the services (Kumar, 2011). Cost management agencies are mandated with the responsibility to ensure there is a cost balance between the service and the patient.
Access
The subject of access is a common problem to most economies. In the context of healthcare, different researchers have shown the gap between patients and healthcare facilities to be wider than anticipated. In the April 2017, policy report conference the University of Minnesota a Rural Health Research Centre tabled the challenges faced by women in the rural areas with Obstetric. Between a span of 10 years about 179 rural counties had lost the OB facility centers as a result of either closure of the facility or the OB unit leaving on 46% of the counties with OB hospitals.
There is a relationship between cost and access. However, on a different perspective, access to services relates to matters, availability, and information on the facility. These two elements affect the delivery of healthcare. In most areas, the healthcare facilities operate centrally. Decentralization of the facilities creates access to the facilities. Some remotes areas may not get access to the healthcare services due to unavailability in those areas. Information is a fundamental tool to service delivery. The knowledge of a particular product is the means by which it can sell. A population depends on the information regarding the presence of the services and their availability to reach them. Reportedly, patients succumb to illness due to ignorance of the information of where they can get help. An integrated system has well organized informatory pathway in which the patients can be reached.
Traditional medicine has influence to the acceptability of the modern medicine. Some communities are too committed to their tradition discourage the use the modern treatment. Current data show that, 80% of communities in Africa still practice traditional medicine. It is with this respect that unhealthy practices such as Female Genital Mutilation are highly practiced. According to WHO, over 200 million women have undergone the genital mutilation. Slow technological evolution in some societies has reduced the accessibility of healthcare services. The service delivery is affected by illustrated factors above potent to access. To ensure smooth and adequate service delivery, the system has to incorporate means to deal with the mentioned setbacks. Adequate access to the medical products and services facilitates the workability of the delivery of thee services.
Quality
Quality is the degree of excellence of a particular thing as measured against things of its kind. Quality in health care refers to the level of services offered and the packages of the core product in healthcare sector quality are applied in the development of modern record keeping systems and information retrieval. Quality in equal measure as cost affects the access of services to the patients in the healthcare sector. Attainment and containment of quality standards come with heavy prices. These costs are mutually transferred to the patient. Notably, different facilities identify with different quality of services. Technological innovations are key elements to the health services differentiations (Verdon, 2013). In advanced economies, there are high qualities services, case in point a comparative study on Canada and U.S.A shows that their specialized procedures are performed in relatively small facilities compared to the U.S.A. The end to these quality enhancements has been seen to quest for the maximization of profit. Nevertheless, the prudent question that comes by the mention of quality in the healthcare services remains unanswered; such questions include; ‘Does quality change infer that those who are unable to meet the costs that come by it ineligible to access?' Since it is difficult to separate quality from cost, quality of the services affects their accessibility to patients.
The delivery of healthcare services is a function of the willingness and the ability to meet the quality of the services. In the event that the patient is willing but unable to meet the cost of the service, it will not be delivered. Technology is at the center stage of medical programme advancement. The new introduction of sophisticated systems such life supporting machines, scanning machines among others are the contribution of technology. Evidently, technology has given way to the achievement of high quality in the field of medicine. Technology is expensive and has great financial aspects. For the healthcare facilities to meet the qualities of the employment of tec...