Healthcare Milestones and Benchmarks - Research Paper Example

Healthcare Milestones and Benchmarks Introduction In a span of over ten decades, the healthcare industry in the purview of the United s has often captured the attention of the public and the media alike by a considerable extent. Along with medicine and technological advancements, the healthcare industry has established a standard of excellence and allied business activities in order to reduce expenses and improve products, services and related quality. Purpose The purpose of the paper is to identify and delineate major historical milestones and benchmarks in the healthcare industry over the period of past more than 100 years. Action Five Major Milestones or Benchmark Events related to the Healthcare Industry With regard to major milestones and benchmark events related to the healthcare industry of the United States (U.S.), it can be asserted that The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has been the one of the most valuable dimensions in the past decades, which has been introduced by the President of the US Barrack Obama in the year 2010. Even before that, US social legislation had passed Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA) in the year 1994. Apart from these, in the year 1973, United States had developed the Health Maintenance Organisation Act (HMO), which has been implemented widely in healthcare industry till the present scenario. Besides, the United States government had passed the Social Security Act in the year 1935, which has established the principle of federal aid for the people of America. Moreover, during the World War-I in the year 1919, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates officially convicted compulsory health insurance for the public of the United States. Besides, AMA had also restricted the involvement of third parties in between the patient and medical aspects (Sultz & Young, 2010). Impact of These Benchmarks or Milestones on the Healthcare System With regard to the impact of the identified milestones and benchmark events on the healthcare system, it can be apparently asserted that the benchmarking events or milestones have contributed to the development of the American healthcare industry significantly. During the year 1940, 9% of the U.S. population had health insurance, which had exceeded the figure of around 74% by the year 1986 (Sultz & Young, 2010). On the other hand, through Social Security Act, the American government has been able to address several diseases and has been capable of improving the quality of food, drugs and cosmetics for consumer protection. Furthermore, through the help of Health Maintenance Organisations the American government has been capable of promoting health and preventing illnesses. Consequently, Oregon Death with Dignity Act has allowed adult incurably ill residents of Oregon to select the path of self-administration of lethal drugs to end their own lives. Simultaneously, PPACA has specifically focused on the delivery of efficient healthcare services (Sultz & Young, 2010). Two Key Milestones and their Relation to the Current Healthcare Events or Reform Movements From the evaluation, it can be apparently ascertained that health insurance (PPACA) is one of the most significant milestones, which has been still preserved by the United States modern healthcare system even after almost 100 years. Thus, it can be asserted that the benchmark event, which had been identified as a required element for healthcare industry 100 years ago has become more essential and decisive factor after 100 years. Figure: 1 Percentage of Insured People in 2013 in the United States (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014) Consequently, Oregon Death with Dignity Act has been still applicable in American healthcare industry in recent times. According to the observation, it has been found that 1,173 people have obtained prescription receipts of lethal drugs and 752 patients have died since after the Act has been implemented in the United States (Oregon, 2014). Figure: 2 Prescription Recipients and Deaths through Oregon Death with Dignity Act (Oregon, 2014) These are the milestones, which have been still used and have considerable impact in American current healthcare system. Relationship between the Current Event and the Past Event In order to identify the relation between current events and past events, it can be evidently asserted that the intention of the American government over the years has been to ensure the medical services among the citizens significantly along with providing quality medicine and low cost service. Apart from this, the US government has also emphasized children’s health. On the other hand, through benchmarking events the government has also emphasized providing medical assistance to physically disable people. At the same time, the US government has concentrated on insurance policies. Moreover, the US government also wanted to reduce the pain of incurable disease and tried to cut down the risk factors of spreading irreversible germs through voluntary methodology for self-administration of lethal drugs (Sultz & Young, 2010). Impact of Past Event on Current Events The impacts of past events have also been witnessed on the current events, as an effect quality of the service has been improved. Moreover, it has been also observed that the tendency of insuring life has been increased than it was before. Apart from this, quality of food, drugs and cosmetics has been also improved for consumer protection. Moreover, incurable and irreversible diseases are not able to harm American citizens’ in a massive manner in the present day context with the aid of Social Security Act (Sultz & Young, 2010; Galewitz, 2013). Forecast Future Opportunity of US Healthcare Industry From the evaluation, it can be ascertained that during future times the quality of American medical services will upraise, which will also ensure the growth of US healthcare industry. Besides, the percentage of insured people is expected to increase in keeping with PPACA, which can certify genuine contribution towards the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) significantly (Sultz & Young, 2010). Conclusion From the foregoing discussion, the impact of the major historical benchmarks and milestones in the healthcare industry over the past 100 years in the US has been recognized which has shown the growth of the particular industry. Thus, conclusively, it can be evidently asserted that these benchmarks and milestones have played a key role to facilitate the US to improve the quality of its healthcare products and services for its consumers’ protection. References Galewitz, P. (2013). 48 million Americans remain uninsured, census bureau reports. Retrieved from http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/september/17/census-numbers-uninsured-numbers-remain-nearly-unchanged.aspx Kaiser Family Foundation. (2014). Health insurance coverage of the total population. Retrieved from http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/ Oregon, (2014). Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act—2013. Retrieved from http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year16.pdf Sultz, H. A. & Young, K. M. (2010). Healthcare USA. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More