The United States of America has the world’s most complicated healthcare system so the industry changes slowly. It helps to understand healthcare’s complexity to prepare for what may arise.
Implementing and enforcing revenue cycle management services involves many factors. Complex and slow to change policies are obvious factors, but environmental and technological factors also play a role, according to this oral surgeon In Sherman.
Complex and slow to change policies are obvious factors, but environmental and technological factors also play a role. Trends in illness, doctor demographics, and technology contribute to the overall change in healthcare.
Medicaid and Medicare in the Future
Increasingly, healthcare spending by state, local, and federal governments is predicted as the baby boomers approach retirement and qualify for Medicare. If the federal government continues to subsidize Marketplace premiums for low-income individuals, it will profoundly affect the entire healthcare system in the United States. While Medicaid spending growth slowed in 2016 due to reduced enrollment, it is expected that spending will increase by an average of 7.1% per year in 2018 and 2019.
Healthcare Providers Shift
Changing healthcare policies and technology also mean changing the people providing healthcare. Changing education, satisfaction, and demographics of providers play a critical role in the healthcare system.
The education of future healthcare providers will also focus more on business than ever before. In the last decade, Harvard Business School’s physician graduates have increased substantially in number. It will positively impact the number of healthcare-related businesses and professionals.
Demographics
A shift in demographics has occurred in the medical profession in recent years. There are currently more women practicing pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology than men. More than one-third of practicing physicians are women. AAMC statistics reveal that women constitute 46 percent of physicians and nearly half of all medical students in training. As a result of these statistics, we can assume that more women will enter the medical field in the future. In the United States, African-American women are more likely than men to become doctors, according to AAMC data. The majority of African-American physicians are women, with 55 percent being African-American.
Competence
Litigation against healthcare providers can be used to gauge their competence. It has been steadily declining since 2004; continuing to see malpractice lawsuits decline could indicate a rise in patient care and provider competence.
Illness Trends
By quickly shifting all health resources to combat an epidemic, the bubonic plague was a disease that changed healthcare drastically. It is estimated that the Black Death caused 75 million deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages. It may surprise you as it is still circulating. In 2015, the Center for Disease Control reported 11 cases and three deaths in the U.S.
Although the bubonic plague is no longer a threat, other diseases and conditions pose a threat. A growing number of conditions are expected to impact healthcare shortly, including:
- Sexually Transmitted Infections: Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis rose by 15.1% from 2013 to 2014.
- Obesity: 78.6 million adults and 12.7 million children are obese in the U.S. Over the past five years, obesity rates have risen by 17 percent.
- Autism: A person with autism is diagnosed every 100,000. Every year, this number rises. Increased public awareness of autism may have contributed to the recent increase in cases.
- E. coli: Within ten years, E. coli has increased by 472%, and most cases are caused by food contamination.
- Liver Cancer: The incidence of liver cancer has risen by 47 percent over the last decade.
- Kidney cancer: There have been 18% more kidney cancer cases diagnosed in the past ten years than in the previous decade.
- Whooping cough: It is estimated that there has been a 146 percent increase in whooping cough over the last ten years. In part, this may be due to parents refusing to get vaccinated.
Health insurers are preparing for further increases in supplies and resources to handle these previous conditions. Nevertheless, a new threat can occur at any time. A virus similar to the Ebola virus spreading across the country would drastically affect patient care and healthcare facilities.
