Triple Aim: Care, Health, and Cost - Term Paper Example

Triple Aim: Care, Health, and Cost Synopsis This article deals with the implementation of the tripleaims in delivery of health care services throughout the world. The improvement of health care depends on three aims; improvement of care, improvement of health of the public and reduction of cost of providing health. The improvement of care in health institutions is faced with major challenges and thus they are rarely completed in all six dimensions which are safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity (institute of medicine, 2001). The three aims cannot be achieved in isolation and therefore, they need to be achieved at the same time in order to achieve the goals. However, achieving one goal can lead to deterioration of the others. For example, efforts to improve care may raise the costs. The accomplishment of the three aims should therefore be pursued in moderation subject to certain policy constraints such as how much to spend and the extent of coverage and the target population. A health care system based on the three aims is more preferable than one which is based on only one aim. The challenges which face the accomplishment of triple aim are new technologies which have limited impact on outcomes, physician-centric care, lack of foreign competition to spur motivation locally, little appreciation of system knowledge among clinicians and organizations. Measuring per capita costs and health status poses another challenge as the methods of pricing and discounting currently limit such measures. Despite the obstacles, there are innovators who are challenging the current approach to health care delivery and they are in alignment with the objectives of the triple aim such as innovations in the medical home and Minute Clinics. Before pursuing triple aim, three conditions must be put in place; recognition of the population as the primary unit of concern, policy constraints and presence of an integrator who is responsible for partnering with individuals and families of the targeted population, redesigning primary care, managing the health of the population, managing the allocated resources and macro system integration. Regulation The implementation of triple aim is an issue which can be solved through regulation. This is because the implementation of triple aim is affected by conflict of interest between different stakeholders who want the health care system to work on their favor. Advantages of regulation include; Resources are allocated to places where they are really needed and where they will produce the expected outcomes. Some resources are directly taken to the patients themselves instead of clinical stings. It leads to customized care and all stakeholders need to work together to achieve the customized care and unity within the heath sector. It will lead to accountability and transparency in the health sector as resources are spent responsibly. Regulation will improve the quality of health care and reduce the costs spend on providence of health care since resources are allocated based on measured improvements. With regulation, it is possible to have improved care, improved health and lower costs. Disadvantages of regulation include; Increase costs and resources of updating and maintaining new measures. Improvement of risk adjustment models to test for measurement of outcomes requires resources. Regulation takes much time due to large samples which are measured in the outcomes. There are needed efforts for adequate follow ups and tracking of the progress of the triple aim. There is needed advanced statistical consultation for collection and analysis of data. Stakeholders The stakeholders who will be affected by the implementation of triple aim include clinicians, doctors, nurses, patients, caregivers, businessmen and policy makers. Some stakeholders will benefit from the regulations while other will incur more costs. Patients, caregivers and advocacy organizations will benefit from improved delivery of services, more research will be carried out to determine the best methods of treatment and the aspects of illnesses which concerns the community most. The treatment and delivery of health services will be more directed to the people as opposed to the hospitals and clinics. The hospitals and clinics will also benefit from increased research which will result in increased data for advanced analysis which in turn will result into better diagnosis and recommendations for patients. However, the doctors and nurses will be needed to do a lot of work to cope with the triple aim measures for improved care and health to the public. Businessmen in this perspective are the employers in the health care facilities. They will be disadvantaged by increased costs needed to cover increased care and health for their patients, payment of research fee, advanced statistical analysis will require experts which will increase the costs of the operations and the strictness imposed by the regulation will be disadvantageous to owners of private clinics and hospitals. Thy will also need to upgrade their technology to meet with the new guidelines of ensuring better care. Health care policymakers will benefit from regulation as it will enable them to plan programs in the health cares sector which are patient-centered, initiate advocacy and wellness and design coverage of health insurance. Researcher will collect and analyze all the possible facts and data from a wide coverage of sources which will assist all the stakeholders who need to use the information. Alternatives to regulation Regulation has many benefits to the public and health care sector but it not in all sufficient to ensure proper implementation of triple aim. Other alternatives to regulation also exist and they have their advantages and disadvantages. Cost reduction can be achieved through change of the tax laws so as to remove the incentive which over insure one against needs of health care nature. Tax laws are the leading factors of increased costs of providing health care services. Health insurance should be made tax-compliance as the escalating number of people willing and able to afford health insurance purchase a more comprehensive coverage than they would actually do and this increases the actual costs the patient would otherwise pay from their pockets thus increasing the overall costs of healthcare. This alternative is advantageous because it will reduce the high costs used to provide for care and health while at the same time allocating resources to only those areas where they are required. On the other hand, the poor people who benefit from the health insurance fringe benefit will have difficulties in affording the services without the help of the insurance as they would not have the money to pay, many people can afford healthcare services without insurance. The industry should encourage competition in service delivery among health care providers, health insurers and health care financing as proposed by Dr. Paul Ellwood’s concept of “health care alliance” (Ellwood, P., 1977). He proposes that health care to patients should be multidimensional where all the stakeholders involved play a role to ensure better dare, better health at a subsidized costs. This alternative will be advantageous as competition will lead to improved tradeoff between quality of service, quantity, efficiency, costs and style of delivery thereby giving the patients a high value of health care at reduced costs. However, achieving such competition is not easy due to lack of role models in the international platforms who are doing it and thus it yields no motivation. Recommendations Tax incentives in the health care sector should be selective. People should be given the incentives according to their financial capabilities. The rich should pay for a tax-compliance health insurance while the rest of the incentive should be given to the poor people who rely on the tax-free insurance. Allocation of resources should be directed to those areas that yield measureable improvements to prevent wastage of resources on areas which do not benefit the target population. Policy makers should device measures that ensure accountability of care practically. This will instill a sense of reasonability to those mandated with the responsibility of providing better care to the population. References Donald, M. B., Thomas, W. N. & John, W., (2008). The Triple Aim: Care, Health, And Cost. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.3.759, Health Aff, vol. 27 no. 3 759-769. Ellwood, P., (1977). A new scheme to force you to compete for patients, Medical Economics. Institute of Medicine, (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the Twenty- first Century. Washington: National Academies Press. Field, R. I. (2007). Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation and Compromise. New York: Oxford University Press. Susan, D., (2013). The ‘Triple Aim’ Goes Global, And Not A Minute Too Soon. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0274 Health Aff, vol. 32 no. 4 638 Read More