Health Care Payment Systems

Health Care Payment Systems Miguel Boquer   Introduction Healthcare spending has been on the rise over the years and is even more so affected by the continually evolving healthcare payment and insurance systems. To put it into perspective, national healthcare spending has grown from 5.3 percent in 2014 to 5.8 percent in 2015 reaching an astonishing reached $3.2 trillion or $9,990 per individual (Wilson, 2016). In 2016, healthcare expenditures were expected to reach $3.35 trillion averaging $10,345 per individual (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2016). Payment and insurance systems through employers, insurance providers, and government agencies are providing for ways of controlling factors driving healthcare costs. Payment Systems Payment systems have continued to evolve into many various forms over time such as fee-for-service, pay-for-coordination, comprehensive care, pay-for-performance, bundled payment or episode-of-care, upside shared savings programs (Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) or Commercial), downside shared savings programs (CMS or Commercial), partial or full capitation, and global budget (McKesson, 2017). The most popular and original way of payment for health care services being utilized today is the fee-for-service payment system. This system allows for each separate service that is provided to be paid for at a set amount (Miller, 2009). From what I gathered through my research is that as the population ages, healthcare costs rise, and technology advances, the fee-for-service isnt always the most efficient method of payment. A combination of payment systems is more preferable when working with the different sources of payers such as self-payment, insurance providers, or Medicaid/Medicare. Episode- of-care and comprehensive care would be a great combination reason being that some of the aging population or those with more serious conditions can utilize episode-of-care, whereas the comprehensive payment system will cover the population that contain conditions that require more frequent or repetitive care for chronic conditions such as diabetes. For instance, comprehensive care payment would be made to the physician practice or health system to deal with the patients who possess presumptive underlying health conditions. Then, the episode-of-care payment would be made to a hospital if a specific patient requires surgery or any other costly treatment (Miller, 2009). Payers The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is comprised of numerous regulations that focus on the organization of healthcare like how it is delivered and then paid for. The fee-for-service system that has been the most dominant payment system is inefficient and costly to patients and payers, which is why the regulations provided the ACA must be imposed on the flaws of the US health system. As the US economy strengthens, medical prices continue to increase rapidly, and the population ages, Medicare and Medicaid are projected to grow at a quicker rate than private insurance providers (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2016). In the sense of utilizing multiple payers, healthcare providers can transform the way they deliver health care to all of its patients if enabled by the changes in payment systems as long as the payers throughout the community are required to change their payment systems as well in related ways. Additionally if the right payment is set, the health care providers will be able to deliver quality c are to the patients as needed (Yong, Saunders, Olsen, 2010). HIT and Payment Systems Health Information Technology (HIT) is contributing towards effective changes in the way payment systems are operating. HIT continues to be a vital component of directing the health care payers toward automated workflows, while improving the management of medical claims. Data can better managed through the use of HIT innovations such as the transferring of health information within and in-and-out of a health plan, which is substantially important (Patrick, 2016). New, innovative healthcare technology is allowing for the combination of managed care and any additional technology that is used in managing patient care within the patients health plan along with determining the claim payments. The large amount of data that becomes available as a result through that combination can be incorporated with various types of data such as pharmacy or health assessment resulting in a pool of data readily available to access as needed. Conclusion The various healthcare payment systems are being used to cover, coordinate, and manage the costs of care for patients are copiously complex. Only through the improvements of the payment systems have payers been able to effectively control the aspects of healthcare costs. Aging population and the increasing presence of chronic illnesses are calling for improvements to the processes of payment systems such as the implementation of multiple payment systems. The advances of Health Information Technology will be able to allow for the smooth collaboration and integration of multiple payment systems in the efforts of improving the quality of patient care. References: Alonso-Zaldivar, R. (2016). $10,345 per person: U.S. health care spending reaches new peak. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/new-peak-us-health-care-spending-10345-per-person/. McKesson. (2017). What Payment Models Exist. Retrieved from http://www.mckesson.com/population-health-management/resources/what-payment-models-exist/. Miller, H.D. (2009). From volume to value: better ways to pay for health care. Health Affairs (Millwood); 28(5):1418-28. Retrieved from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/28/5/1418.full. Patrick, J. (2016). Is Health Information Technology Imperative for Payers? Retrieved from http://healthpayerintelligence.com/news/is-health-information-technology-imperative-for-payers. Wilson, K. B. (2016). Health Care Costs 101: ACA Spurs Modest Growth. Retrieved from http://www.chcf.org/publications/2016/12/health-care-costs-101. Yong, P.L., Saunders, R.S., and Olsen, L.A. (2010). The Healthcare Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes: Workshop Series Summary. Institute of Medicine (US) Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); Payment and Payer-Based Strategies; 11. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53906/.

Aspect of family in the film Pushing Hands Essay

Family has been depicted as one of the most important aspects in a number of films. Notably, many people believe in family as the most useful unifying aspect among various groups. In China, for instance, family is considered to be among the factors that individuals need to hold so dear to them. Various movies have been produced with the aspect of family being given weight in the movies. In addition, the cultural aspect of family has also been seen to be a factor that most individuals consider to be highly imperative in bringing to life the movies in question. This paper seeks to carry out an analytical interpretation of the aspect of family in the film Pushing Hands. In every family, father-to-son relationship is often seen as factor that is quite essential in bringing together the various family members. In addition, when the father and the son are at logger-heads, family unity is at a point of jeopardy and might escalate to highly detrimental scales. Apart from securing a unified family, father to son relationship is always considered a great aspect, especially in Chinese culture. In addition, most parents struggle to ensure that their children do not go against the immortal cultural values that each group is inclined to. Particularly, Chinese parents often want to see their sons embrace the Confucian cultural values even if they are in other countries (Huang, 2000). In line with family relationships between a father and a son, the film Pushing Hands seek to bring to the audience the idea of how westernization has affected family cultural values for the Chinese. Furthermore, the father (Mr. Chu) disagrees with his son Alex on the various family issues and cultural differences between the life in the United States and life in his home town Beijing, China. The film portrays the father son relationship as a cultural factor that should not be taken for granted and as an element that is highly significant in Chinese cultural aspects. As such, the script writer of the film has ensured that the film uses the best characters to bring out the issues of father-son relationship and the elements associated with the cultural differences between those living in the western countries and those living in China. Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) who is an elderly man has fully devoted the wider portion of his life to the aspect of studying and teaching other learners tai chi in China. As a result of old age and the desire to be closer to his family, he makes up his mind to move in and stay with his son who is in the United States. However, having lived his entire life in Beijing, China, the elderly man finds it hard to cope with the different cultural factors in the United States. On the other hand, his son Alex (Bo Z. Wang) has been living in New York City for quite some time and has partly been affected by western cultural aspects which are totally different from the Chinese way of life and Tai Chi teachings (Hua-feng, 2013).One of the major family challenges that greatly affect the father and the son is the fact that the father arrives in New York without knowing any English word. In addition, the son is highly Americanized that it would be hard for the father to understand him. Besides, Alex has a w ife named Martha (Deb Snyder) who is a writer dealing with the pressure of trying to make sure she publishes her first novel, apart from taking care of her six-year-old kid. Mr. Chu faces the challenge of being totally at odds with a number of American customs and various technological factors. Furthermore, Mr. Chu cannot walk in New York alone as he easily loses his way. Since Mr. Chu is completely dumb on various factors in the American way of life, Martha begins to feel irritated with the fact that she might be taking care of two children. This is because the elderly Mr. Chu has to be taught everything as a child. While staying with his son, Mr. Chu develops a feeling that he has lost his dignity and independence thereby making the relationship between him and the son more challenging. Eventually, the elderly father tries to work things out on his own and look for a job. However, the harder he attempts to fit in the American culture and make New York look like his home, the more unfamiliar he seems to be. The elderly Mr. Chu feels lost in a different culture at a time when his son is feeling at home and has no issues being seen as an Americanized Chinese. The differences in cultural affiliations make the relationship between Mr. Chu and his son extremely difficult (Chan, 2004). The significance of the issues of father to son relationship in a family is highly relevant in the wider cultural context. The complexity in the relationship that is brought by different adaptation techniques to distinct cultures give the audience the most appropriate ways through which culture can be viewed in a wider perspective. The title is highly appropriate as it tries to bring out the facts about pushing an individual to conform to a cultural affiliation that is totally different from their original culture. In the non-aggressive turn of events between the father and the son, it is apparent that cultural fidelity is hard to break, and even if one does break it, it has to take quite a long time. The aspect of cultural conflict is an element that keeps on making various family ties broken hence making it difficult for the individuals involved to foster unity between themselves (Zhang, 2002). In the book From ‘Minority Film’ to â€Å"minority Discourse,’† Screening China, Zhang (2002) asserts that cultural aspects such as ethnicity and race play a major role in ensuring that family ties are kept alive. In addition, he argues that failure to stick to the family ties would lead to cultural conflicts. This cultural conflict is the main element that Master Chu find himself in and creates an internal misunderstanding in his cognitive thoughts. Even though his daughter-in-law totally misunderstood him, making him feel discontent and disgraced, the elderly Chu made sure that his efforts to cope up with American culture were kept alive. When he finally disagrees with his son over alleged mistreatment from the wife, he decides to gracefully have his way and walk out of the house. Consequently, after going his own way, Mr. Chu finds his own niche where he can have no one minding about his inclination to Chinese way of life. In conclusion, family and cultu re have been depicted as some of the most important aspects that need to be considered in learning cultural factors. Besides, culture has been seen as a major defining factor when it comes to association and togetherness. References Chan, K. (2004). The global return of the wu xia pian (Chinese sword-fighting movie): Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  Cinema Journal,  43(4), 3-17. Hua-feng, L. I. (2013). Contradiction and Harmony of Family Ideas between China and America Reflected in the Movie, Pushing Hands.  Journal of Yunyang Teachers College,  2, 018.Huang, S. (2000). Ten thousand businesses would thrive in a harmonious family: Chinese conflict resolution styles in cross-cultural families.  Intercultural Communication Studies,  9(2), 129-144. Zhang Yingjin, (2002). â€Å"From ‘Minority Film’ to â€Å"minority Discourse,’† Screening China (73-90) Source document

Critical synopsis Essay

A book that scrutinizes the increasing competition between China, India, and Japan and how it affects the global financial system, Bill Emmott’s ‘Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India, and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade‘ dwells further on the issues that extend these three nations. Obviously, he recognize the fundamental evolving power rivals in Asia as such region still does not have the merging foundation that have facilitate Europe to its issues. He highlighted the importance of China, India and Japan to encompass a strong influence in the intercontinental associations to boost up their economies without clashing each other’s head. For me, the true essence of the book lies with his ability in molding the readers to understand the issues that these countries have with each other as well as with the US and other key nations without augmenting into alarmism. With the global economic turmoil that started in the US mid July-August 2008, reading the book really sharpens once mind to the reality that Asia, despite it’s own economic meltdown would always have a say in society as it generates a very strong influential power that could either make or break them and the whole world at large. Yes, China’s rapid economic leap is may be in conflict with it’s political reform; India’s economy might be in conflict with it’s key policy and Japan’s old age population issues might yield a very poor economic shrinkage but with the continued boost especially in the Business Process Outsourcing sector (which China and India are the leading provider), all three countries could safeguard their economic stability —– of course, providing that no chaos arises, which is only possible if all three countries could work harmoniously had in hand and eliminate any possible dilemma that would arise especially as we face the saga of recession.

How I Reflect My Academic Writing History - 950 Words

Task 1. When I reflect on my academic writing history, I can vividly remember the name of the people that shape my attitude, belief or emotion about writing. It all began, when I was in 6th grade. My teacher at the time, Mrs Postma, would gave us spelling quiz on Fridays. At first, I hated it so much because for one, I just came straight from Togo, and secondly, I’m just starting to learn English words. The words she would quiz us on are words that we had spent the week learning. Sometimes, she would give us hints on difficult words, but still I was struggling to understand those hints. We did this twice in every month for the entire year. At the end of the school year, my view on these vocabularies changed. I enjoyed the quizzes and began speaking fluently in English by the end of the year. A couple years later, I started high school and during my freshman year, my teacher, Mrs. Sisco would have us turn in a book report every week. She would challenge us and she grades hard; it is not easy to get an A in her class. Because of this, I always work hard to write well so that I could get A, but I never seem to get it until the second semester of my freshman year. Mrs. Sisco is one of those teachers that shape my attitude on writing. She did not let me get A with anything I turned in. Although I’m not best at writing yet, I know I would not be where I am in writing today without her critics, challenges and of course the help of God. Task 2: Looking back at my life and theShow MoreRelatedGraduation Speech : My Senior Project Helped Me At Nazareth, Inclusive Education Majors798 Words   |  4 Pagesexperience I had during my senior project helped me to confirm that I wanted to go to Nazareth College to pursue a career in elementary education. At Nazareth, inclusive-education majors are required to choose a second major as their concentration. For this second major, I chose history. 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