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The US healthcare industry brings together many nonprofits, for-profit companies, government agencies, and independent regulators to impact people’s health and well-being.
But the fact that companies do business in the health sector comes from the economic challenges that drive all companies: how to reduce costs, increase revenue, generate profits, and deliver value to end consumers. It does not mean that it will be released. Or, in this case, the patient.
This is where health economics comes into play. The following is an overview of what health economics means and a discussion of why understanding it is so important to people in the industry.
What is Health Economics? Why is it important?
Healthcare economics is a term used to describe the various factors that collectively affect the costs and expenditures of the medical sector. As a research discipline, health economics seeks to understand the role that individuals, healthcare providers, insurers, government agencies, and public and private organizations play in driving these costs.
Health economics can be approached from different perspectives, depending on the particular problem you are facing. For example, in the Harvard Online Course in Health Economics, professors at Harvard Medical School hold discussions on six key areas.
1. Increased cost
2. Patient role
3. The role of the provider
4. Risk and insurance impact
5. Benefits of the project
6. Payment reform
Understanding how each of these factors affects each other gives you a clear picture of health economics as a whole.
Spending growth
In the United States, medical costs are rising from both an absolute and relative perspective. Understanding the drivers of this healthcare cost, how spending varies from region to region, and the role technology plays is very important for everyone working in the industry.
Patient role
Patients play an important role in driving medical costs, both for themselves and others. Depending on whether one prescription or treatment is selected from another prescription or treatment, whether selective surgery is selected, or whether too much or too little care is used, individual patients will have the supply and demand and price of the entire system. Impact on your configuration.
Role of the provider and health production
The patient acts as the demand side of the equation, while the healthcare professional acts as the supply side. The services and treatments your provider chooses to offer, and the amount they charge for them, are often directly related to the patient’s request. However, several other factors can also influence this decision.
Risk and insurance
Health insurance is a means for individuals, employers and society as a whole to manage health-related costs. To ensure a stable insurance market, you need a thorough understanding of the risk and risk mix.
Merit project
Designing employee benefit packages can be an effective way to manage healthcare costs, forcing people to make more efficient decisions about their care. For example, insurance plans with high deductions can help you avoid frivolous expenses while ensuring protection against medical emergencies.
Payment reform
Likewise, healthcare professionals can be rewarded for their time and services in a variety of ways. Service fees, episode-based payments, and population-based payment models can all be leveraged to facilitate effective decision-making across providers.
Why study Health Economics?
The economy that drives the US healthcare industry is complex, and professionals regularly need to balance seemingly conflicting goals. On the one hand, it has a mission to provide value to patients, helping them to lead healthier and more meaningful lives. On the other hand, the responsibility to effectively manage revenues and costs.
While it is clear that commercial hospitals, insurance companies and other companies are responsible for benefiting shareholders, even non-profit organizations operating in space need to fund their operations effectively.
With that in mind, it’s important for health experts to understand the economics behind it. Healthcare providers, managers, healthcare policymakers, and even business leaders working outside of the industry can benefit from an understanding of the economy.
• Health care providers: To remain effective, health care providers regularly evaluate new therapies, services and technologies and play an important role in helping patients create value-based care. Understanding the economics behind such developments allows these professionals to make more informed decisions.
• Managers: People in the healthcare industry who play the role of managers are often more interested in financial metrics than providers. For these people, understanding the economics behind their industry is invaluable.
• Health Policymakers: At the local, state, federal, or international level, health policymakers must pay close attention to balancing the public interest and various economic considerations.
• Business leaders: Most Americans have health insurance through their employer. This fact makes healthcare a huge expense for most organizations. Business leaders, managers and executives must understand the economics of healthcare so that employees and shareholders do the right thing.
