Future Challenges in Healthcare (Essay Sample)

THE FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT
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Health care systems play a crucial role in developing and developed nations. Proper leadership and management of the healthcare are significant aspects that should be adhered to in order to facilitate the delivery of the quality and patient-centered care. However, the rising cost of the healthcare, increased demand for patient-centered care, changing consumer expectations, and pace of technological advancements might pose a huge challenge to the health care systems in the future. Predictions indicate that the cost of the health care might surpass the nations’ gross domestic products in the future. The growing number of the elderly will require specialized care causing a rapid increase in funding for their long-term care. This paper argues that the healthcare systems will have to grapple with the enormous cost of health care, increased consumer expectations, and pace of new technologies.
The rising cost of the health care in nations such as the United States has become a burden on many families and the economy. A study by Jerome, Sola, and Barioli predicts that the people in the middle-class might face challenges in paying the health care and insurance in the coming decades. Similarly, the government of the United States is likely to attempt to constrain the Medicaid and Medicare spending in the future. A research by Touati and Tabish shows that the aging population will account for 19 percent of the total US population in 2030. The trend suggests that the United States will have to increase the healthcare funding to cater for the long-term care and development of specialized facilities for the aging population. Likewise, the number of the uninsured population will increase, and pose a financial pressure on the local health care systems. Thus, the healthcare institutions will have to grapple with the rising costs of delivering the quality health care.
The changing user and consumer expectations will create a challenge to the management of the healthcare. Currently, there is an increasing demand of the patient-centered care. The consumers expect the healthcare professionals to offer quality care that suits their needs. The increased demand of the exceptional care will put pressure on the healthcare institutions to reorganize policies and structures in order to cater for the needs of the patients. The aging population will require special attention because they have complicated medical conditions due to compromised immunity. In this regard, the aging population will need health care services for a longer period. This will call for increased specialization in geriatric provision. In addition, the healthcare professionals will be compelled to undergo intensive training on the proper ways of caring the aging population.
The pace of the technological advancement will be another challenge to the healthcare management in the future. A review by Jennett and Mamoru indicates that a conflict might ensue between the interests of the public in new medical technologies and attempts by the individual governments to restrict insurance coverage in order to control costs. The insurance might not cover the new methods of treatment in the coming decades. In turn, the failure to cover new treatments might discourage pharmaceutical companies from manufacturing clinically beneficial products. This will jeopardize the management of new and complicated infections.
In conclusion, the healthcare organizations will have to grapple with a rising cost of health care, changing user and consumer expectations, and the pace of technological innovations in the coming decades. The aging population will require expensive specialized care and facilities. Similarly, the consumers will expect the health care professionals to deliver quality and patient-centered care in the future. Thus, the healthcare management will have to reorganize in order to...