Frequently Asked Questions

92566 Introduction to Health Care Systems

Assessment Task 3: Frequently Asked Questions Factsheet

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What is a Health System? How is it different from a hospital or health service? (250 words)

A health system is quite different than an ordinary health service or a hospital. A health system is also known as a healthcare system and is considered to be the organization of resources, institutions, and people that tend to deliver health care services. The aim of such an organization is to meet the health needs of a particular population. In majority of the cases, a target population is already set, and the organization makes the best of its effort in order to meet the needs of needy ones. The matter of fact is that there is a wide range of health system across the globe. Each nation must put efforts into designing and developing the health systems that can meet the resources and needs.

On the other hand, when it comes to a hospital, it is considered to be a place where patients can either be admitted or treated. Hospital offers 24/7 medical and nursing services to patients, but in order to avail such services, a patient has to pay a certain amount of money. Healthcare tends to include all Information, Education, and Communication or simply known as IEC which is regarding saving individuals from any harm (Mossialos et al., 2016). When it comes to the hospital, it is considered to be a unit of the healthcare system of a state. Meanwhile, the healthcare systems are the sum of total Medicare, HMO, clinics, and hospitals. The matter of fact is that a healthcare system encompasses all the medical related professionals including a nurse, doctor, and different technical professionals.

What are two major differences between the Australian and UK health systems? (250 words)

There is no doubt that both Australia and the UK provide one of the best healthcare systems around the globe. When it comes to Medicare, most of the individuals avail free healthcare services. There is only 75% of such cost which is seen to be covered in terms of primary care services. A large number of Australians enjoy the free-of-cost facilities by Medicare. It can simply be said that Australian citizens do not need to use private healthcare services (Butler et al., 2019). The reason for that is quite simple as Medicare covers all the basic and required cost. One thing that must be taken into consideration is that Medicare is partly paid by the citizen and partly paid by the Medicare itself. When it comes to the optometry, dentistry, or transport via Ambulance, Medicare does not seem to cover up such aspects. Still, a large number of Australians are seen relying on a private insurance policy for availing such services.

On the other hand, the citizens of UK pay National Insurance and tax for funding their National Health Service or simply known as NHS. It must be considered that about 1.2% of NHS funds are seen to be coming from patient charges. When it comes to the NHS, it tends to entitle the residents of UK with an access to the full range of services that are being offered. Such services also include primary care. One thing that must be taken into consideration is that for accessing the NGS treatment which is not from Emergency and accident, a patient needs to refer the relevant specialists at any particular NHS hospital.

How can the roles and functions of a health system be broadly illustrated? (An illustration with a maximum of 250-word annotation)

The Minister of Health is considered to be the primary link between the entities of organization and government which tend to make up the healthcare system (Carlson et al., 2015). The role of minister of health is to ensure that actions, priorities, and plans of such organizations are consistent with the perspectives and policies of the government. There is no doubt that the Minister has the extensive right and authority to take the final decisions. The department of health is seen to carry out the operational along with the administrative functions that are required for fulfilling the obligations that are assigned to the Minister. The matter of fact is that DH supports the Minister in the legislative and governmental role as well. The main role of Regional Health Authorities or simply known as RHAs is to involve administration, organization, planning, and delivery of health services. When it comes to the role of NB Health Council, the duty of him/her is to engage citizens to improve health services and report publicly on health system performance.

One of the functions of the health system includes approving health services through agreements or employees. A health system must be seen delivering the health services within the performance targets and accountability framework that are issued by the Minister. Apart from this, extra care should be given to measure the report on performance as well. This can be done by collecting RHBP specifications that are known to be one of the performance measures. Apart from this, one of the main functions of the health system is to report to the RHA Board & Committees, DH, and Minister as well.

What is one factor that is likely to have a significant impact on the health systems of the future? How will it impact health systems? (250 words)

There is no doubt that technology is the future of all fields. In the current scenario, the trends in technology are changing rapidly due to which healthcare systems are in a great need to opt for technological advancements in order to sustain in the future. The matter of fact is that technological breakthroughs and technology have undoubtedly improved the lives of patients in the 21st century. In the current scenario, there is a high need to develop the understanding that the trends in technology are resulting in increasing the costs to opt the advancements for health systems (Bhavnani et al., 2016). There is a high need to understand that the continual diffusion and cost of technology will result in imposing serious budgetary constraints to maintain and improve health care systems. As the maintenance and improvement of the healthcare system are on high risk to get hindered by the technological costs, it results in making technological cost one of the major factors that impact the healthcare system. The matter of fact is that the impact of technological costs is not just limited to the current time; it will be more affecting the health care systems in the future. It is quite interesting that there is a decrease in technology when it comes to non-health industries over time. However, in terms of healthcare systems, technology has undoubtedly increased the burden on government budgets. In a nutshell, it can be said that in the future, one of the biggest the challenge will be to overcome the factor of technological cost.

How change impacts Health Systems? (250 words)

Studies and research show that changes in the healthcare systems usually occur at the legislative level. However, at times when such changes are enacted, they show a direct impact on the use of resources and facility operations. The perfect example in such a scenario would be the ways in which administrators and patients tend to utilize resourced such as Medicaid and Medicare. Such ways are changed because of legislation. Apart from this, another contributing factor is the technology that impacts the way in which healthcare administrators are seen managing medical centres and handling resources. One thing that must be taken into consideration is that policy adjustment, cost of care, and cultural shifts have contributed a great to patient-empowered shift. When it comes to technological advancements, they undoubtedly contribute to a shift in patient-centred health systems (Bhavnani et al., 2016). The matter of fact is that such trends are expected for continuing due to the in-trend healthcare electronic technologies.

There is no doubt that demographic and legislative changes trickle down into care facilities. Due to this, there is a high chance to see a growth in the use of hospital services by the year 2025. It must be considered that such growth is because of the anticipated increase in the Medicare beneficiaries in the forthcoming time. Studies and research show that there will be an increase in the cost of hospital care in the future. Apart from this, an increase in educated professionals and business practices will be observed in the future as well.

What are the evolving needs of patients? (250 words)

It has been observed that the demands on health care are changing due to a number of factors. Among such factors, there lie the needs of patients as well. With the passage of time, each year, new treatments and cures are seen to come in. Such treatments and cures undoubtedly serve in managing common diseases. There is no doubt that such development along with having a positive impact in patients also affects the entire health system. In the 21st century, illness has been seen to become more common; therefore, there is a high need for the healthcare systems to adopt the required capabilities to treat such patients (Williams et al., 2016). Apart from this, patient care needs would also be evolved as the population relies more on resources such as Medicaid and Medicare. Studies and research show that as time passes, the advancement in technology will give rise to the patient empowerment as well.

One of the good examples of the disease is bubonic that can undoubtedly result in changing the health system. All of this can be done by rapidly shifting each resource for handling an epidemic. In a nutshell, it can be assumed that the healthcare industry is seen to be constantly evolving. Not only just illness trends, but technological advancements, and aging populations have their own impact on where the health system is headed. When it comes to the advancement in technologies and its relation with patients, patients have become able to take a vital role in their care.

REFERENCES

Bhavnani, S.P., Narula, J. and Sengupta, P.P., 2016. Mobile technology and the digitization of healthcare. European heart journal, 37(18), pp.1428-1438.

Butler-Henderson, K., Gray, K., Pearce, C., Ritchie, A., Brophy, J., Schaper, L.K., Bennett, V. and Ryan, A., 2019. Exploring the health informatics occupational group in the 2018 Australian health information workforce census. PeerJ Preprints, 7, p.e27626v1.

Carlson, V., Chilton, M.J., Corso, L.C. and Beitsch, L.M., 2015. Defining the functions of public health governance. American journal of public health, 105(S2), pp.S159-S166.

Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R. and Sarnak, D., 2016. 2015 international profiles of health care systems. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.

Williams, J.S., Walker, R.J. and Egede, L.E., 2016. Achieving equity in an evolving healthcare system: opportunities and challenges. The American journal of the medical sciences, 351(1), pp.33-43.