“O’er land of the free,” a popular line from the U.S. national anthem; in my opinion, is one of the most contradicting characteristics of the country we live. The United States government plays a major role in everything, especially our healthcare system. It’s role its role in healthcare however, has not been very beneficial for its citizens. Our government claims that the US healthcare system is the best in the world, but this has been proven to be untrue. With some of the costliest medical services than any other country in the world, the highest mortality rates and delayed technological healthcare advancements, it is safe to say that our healthcare system is in need of improvements. According to an article published by PBS News Hour, the U.S. spent more than twice as much on healthcare than any other developed country in the world, that’s about $9,900 for every man, woman and child. It’s a shame that Americans spend so much on healthcare each year and still not have access to quality care and convenience.
I do believe that the US government should have a major role in our healthcare system, but their role should benefit American citizens. Having a system that is somewhat similar to the healthcare system in countries like Canada, France or the U.K. would better benefit us than what’s currently in place. If the United States had a National Healthcare System that was run by the federal government and not individual state governments, I feel we’d be a lot closer to achieving quality care than we are now. Improving the quality of our healthcare system requires a new and improved approach towards patient safety, the healthcare payments system, the use of EHR’s and the federal drug administration.
Implementing a National Healthcare System, this would also mean implementing a Universal EHR. Having a universal EHR would mean greater use of a computerized patient ordering system. This system that would aide in decreasing prescription errors, increased communication across multiple institutions, pharmacies, depts and other organizations, and many more benefits. Having the government implement these systems would mean easier access for those practices that are smaller and have trouble affording access to the required information systems. The government could offer payments plans or other methods as ways to pay for these information systems so that no provider or institution would be left out. With the use of a universal EHR patients would no longer have to worry about obtaining medical records from previous providers the visited, each time they needed to see a new specialists and physicians would no longer have to duplicate services that another provider has already done. Think about how many patients are treated at emergency rooms by providers that have no knowledge of the persons health history, all the money spent on unnecessary tests, labs and imaging. Another issues with our current healthcare system is misuse. Often times we see doctors prescribing multiple services rather than treating the underlining cause. For instance, a patient goes to the for-knee pain, no fractured ligaments, just knee pain. It’s easy for physicians to just order pain medication but what about actually treating the pain. Not treating the pain can result is medication dependency, and unnecessary return visits. There are some doctors that abuse this system because under the current system, more visits mean more money. Having a universal EHR would not only decrease overuse, misuse and underuse but it would also decrease EHR barriers in emergency situations.
Having a Universal Healthcare system would also decrease costs for care. With our current insurance payment system, providers are paid by negotiated rates and contracts with different insurance companies. Even if we can’t have a national healthcare system, the government could create policies for payment reform by creating universal pricing standards for medical services. With these policies in place, people would no longer need to shop around for pricing per service but rather for the quality of care that the provider offers since all services would be paid at the same rate no matter which doctor they visit. Medical institutions would be forced to improve not only patient care but patient safety and customer services. Working at an ambulatory surgery center, I get calls every day from patients requesting a quote for surgery. Surgeries not necessarily medically necessary but that are detrimental to them living a quality life. These surgeries include knee, hip and shoulder replacements, that can cost an upwards of 40,000 per procedure code. Payment reform on these types of total joint procedures is greatly needed, pricing should be standard across the board, no matter what doctor preforms the surgery.
The U.S. healthcare system is big business for our government, especially the pharmaceutical business. We often hear about the opioid crisis we have in America and how the government plans to combat the issue, but nothing seems to be done about it. Drug monitoring is a state mandated program. In the state of GA, we use the Georgia Prescription Drug monitoring database to track the prescription history for patients. This system is very valuable in regulating prescription drug abuse in both patients and providers who over prescribe. The downfall of this system is that it is only beneficial in the state that the provider is in. If patients cross state lines to get prescriptions the Drug monitoring is useless. Having a universal EHR would greatly assist where the statewide systems lack. Since this is a nationwide issue, the federal government should implement a national monitoring system. The U.S government could play a much bigger role in the regulation of drug and alcohol and even leading a healthier lifestyle. We often see anti-smoking or even anti-drug advertisements and commercials but when do we ever see anti-alcohol adverts. The average life expectancy for Americans in the U.S. is 78.7, the lowest than in any other developed country in the world. If only the government would designate some of the money made on the sale of these unhealthy substances to better promote anti campaigns against them, I feel we would be one step closer to decreasing such a high mortality rate. From the opioid epidemic to obesity, Americans are some of the unhealthiest people. With the use of information systems governments can better monitor these types of issues in order to work towards decreasing them and promote better quality care.