HCA 497 Week 1 DQ 1 U.S. Health Care System vs. Other Countries

HCA 497 Week 1 DQ 1 U.S. Health Care System vs. Other Countries

HCA 497 Week 1 DQ 1 U.S. Health Care System vs. Other Countries

Compare and contrast the U.S. health care system with that of another country. What are some of the major advantages and disadvantages inherent of both systems? Explain whether the selected country could learn from the U.S. health care system or if the U.S. could learn from the other country.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: HCA 497 Week 1 DQ 1 U.S. Health Care System vs. Other Countries

U.S. has two public health insurance coverage models for specific demographics: Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare focuses on older Americans over 65 years and disabled persons (Barr, 2023). Medicaid covers low-income persons of any age and provides family plans. The U.S. ranks low in mortality amenable getting a score of 88.7%. The rate of mortality amenable in Canada is about 87.6% while the world average is about 93.7% (Marchildon et al., 2021). The implication is that the Canadian system offers quality and low-cost care compared to the U.S. system.

Health Outcomes

Unbiased communication and decision-making in healthcare are essential to ensure that health populations and individuals get quality care when they visit healthcare facilities. The U.S., like Canada, is a highly diverse society that requires healthcare providers to integrate cultural competence in care delivery. In this case, the U.S. healthcare system focuses more on providing care to racial minorities and marginalized groups to improve outcomes, especially through primary care (Brooks et al., 2019).

Unbiased communication and decision-making are evident in both the U.S. and Canada since the systems mandate providers and organizations not to discriminate against any individual presenting for medical attention (Gopal et al., 2021). The EMTALA provisions in the U.S. and the universal healthcare model in Canada ensure that individuals and health populations get sufficient and quality care services for their conditions.

Gross Domestic Product and Life Expectancy

The expenditure on healthcare concerning the gross domestic product (GDP) can have a significant impact on a country’s progress and efforts to offer quality care. Canada spends an average of $8,560 per person each year on health care. As such, health care constitutes about 12.2% of Canada’s GDP. The Canadian system has invested largely in general physicians (GPs) who act as gatekeepers for health care service and refer patients to specialists where necessary.

Measuring life expectancy allows a country to understand the impact of its healthcare system on the population. Life expectancy is a general measure of the quality of services that individuals get from their healthcare systems. Life expectancy in Canada is about 81.75 years (Shi et al., 2022). In Canada, the National Institute of Health (NIH) covers all people leading to reduced cost of living, higher life expectancy, and lower operational costs (Barr, 2023).

Terms

The U.S. healthcare system differs from Canada’s in terms of cost, service levels, equity, access, and resource input. For instance, the cost of care in the U.S. is more as the system spends about $12,546 per individual each year yet Canada spends about $8,600. The service levels entail the degree of services that one can get in both healthcare systems (The Commonwealth Fund, 2023).

In the U.S. service levels are determined by healthcare providers based on one’s health insurance plan. However, Canada has a universal system that allows Canadians to access care to the highest level that they want without any restrictions (Barr, 2023). Health equity and accessibility are high in Canada compared to the U.S. as the former uses a universal and single payer where all services are standardized ensuring that resource inputs are used in an optimized manner.

Comparison of Health Care Outcomes

Health outcomes in the United States health systems cannot be fairly compared with other nations because of several aspects. For instance, the U.S. does not a universal health coverage as health is a shared responsibility between state and federal governments. Components of healthcare like value-based purchase (VBP) and payment models under Centers for Medicare and Medicaid imply that patients have different health plans that offer different care services (Marchildon et al., 2021).

As such, because of having multiple-payer system, health care outcomes cannot be fairly compared to those of its peers or other nations that run one-payer system where governments provide health insurance (The Commonwealth Fund, 2023). Again, the U.S. economy is huge and it would be difficult to compare health outcomes with other countries since it spends close to 17% of its GDP on health care yet other nations spend 10% or less (Kwok et al., 2023).

Nations like Canada, the UK, and Finland have a universal health coverage yet the U.S. runs a system that is not explicitly universal and neither fully privatized. The implication is that comparing healthcare outcomes with other nations may not be fair since the dynamics within these systems are different and complex.

Conclusion

Healthcare provision across different countries in the world is complex because of the variations that exist. The U.S. healthcare system does not compare favorably with its peers since it is costly and has barriers that make it difficult for health populations to access it. Canadians access healthcare easily compared to Americans since they have a universal healthcare program under NIH. On its part, the U.S. system does not comprise a single-payer but various systems ranging from public to private.

 References

Brooks, L. A., Manias, E., & Bloomer, M. J. (2019). Culturally sensitive communication in

healthcare: A concept analysis. Collegian, 26(3), 383-391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2018.09.007

Gopal, D. P., Chetty, U., O’Donnell, P., Gajria, C., & Blackadder-Weinstein, J. (2021). Implicit

bias in healthcare: clinical practice, research, and decision making. Future Healthcare Journal, 8(1), 40. DOI: 10.7861/fhj.2020-0233

Santhanam, L. (2020). How Canada got universal health care and what the U.S. could learn.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-canada-got-universal-health-care-and-what-the-u-s-could-learn

The Commonwealth Fund (2023 January 31). U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective,

2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2022). Essentials of the US health care system. Jones & Bartlett

Learning.

Marchildon, G. P., Allin, S., & Merkur, S. (2021). Health Systems in Transition Third Edition.

University of Toronto Press.

Barr, D. A. (2023). Introduction to US health policy: The organization, financing, and delivery

            of health care in America. JHU Press.

Kwok, T. S., Kuriya, B., King, L. K., Eder, L., Thorne, J. C., Li, Z., … & Widdifield, J. (2023).

Changes in service delivery and access to rheumatologists before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Canadian universal healthcare setting. The Journal of Rheumatology, 50(7), 944-948.

The healthcare system in the United States encounters several critical challenges that make a significant concern. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 marked a transformation in the healthcare system through increased access, affordability, and quality of care. However, accessibility is hampered by the increasing cost of healthcare, especially among low-income families and individuals as well as racial minorities (Shrank et al., 2021).

Through models like the value-based purchase, the health care system focuses on ensuring that all Americans can have access to health care through primary delivery methods that comprise outpatient, inpatient, preventive, and rehabilitative. Financials models entail individual, out-of-pocket, private insurance, and public through Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Effectiveness of One Area of Concern: Sustainability

One area concerning the quality of care and health outcomes is the sustainability of the current payment or financing models due to catering to the diverse needs of the healthcare market, patients, and health population needs. Various aspects impact the overall sustainability of the current financing model.

These include management, patient and healthcare providers’ satisfaction levels, corporate social responsibility, and accreditation (Zurynski et al., 2022). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through its value-based purchase incentivizes healthcare facilities and providers to offer quality care by reimbursing efforts and interventions to attain enhanced patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Potential Reform Solution and Expected Impact

A potential reform is the increased acceptance of a value-based purchase model that offers value for investment and ensures that healthcare facilities offer quality care as opposed to quantity. Value-based purchases under CMS will ensure that facilities get resources to finance quality patient care and provider interventions that meet diverse patient needs.

Reforms in the healthcare system will enhance the quality of care and accessibility while also reducing overall costs (Khullar et al., 2020). Stakeholders like patients and providers will experience increased satisfaction through better care and outcomes. The reforms will also ensure the system meets diverse patient needs and demands.

References

Khullar, D., Bond, A. M., & Schpero, W. L. (2020). COVID-19 and the financial health of US

hospitals. Jama, 323(21), 2127-2128. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.6269.

Shrank, W. H., DeParle, N. A., Gottlieb, S., Jain, S. H., Orszag, P., Powers, B. W., & Wilensky,

242. R. (2021). Health costs and financing: Challenges and strategies for a new administration: Commentary recommends health cost, financing, and other priorities for a new US administration. Health Affairs, 40(2), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01560

Zurynski, Y., Herkes-Deane, J., Holt, J., McPherson, E., Lamprell, G., Dammery, G., … &

Braithwaite, J. (2022). How can the healthcare system deliver sustainable performance? A scoping review. BMJ open, 12(5), e059207. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059207