Currently, the healthcare expenditures in the United States continue to grow with exponentially high rates with policymakers attempting to slow the number of wasted resources and efforts in the industry. This assignment briefly describes three manifestations of wasted resources and efforts in health care, such as poorly managed care transitions, poor execution of work by practitioners, and complex healthcare administration. To minimize the potential negative clinical outcomes, urgent actions need to be taken to reduce the instances of the aforementioned incidents.
Improper care coordination is one of the most prominent sources of wasted efforts. With patients experiencing disjointed care, poorly managed care transitions lead to the deteriorated functional status of the chronically ill patients, higher rates of hospital readmissions, and increased number of health complications, as well as treatment side effects (Branning & Vater, 2016). Consequently, novel strategies of care transitions are to be designed to address the existing issue of inflated expenditures.
Another example of wasted resources and efforts in health care is poor work ethics and execution of the tasks by health personnel. Failing to adhere to the evidence-based guidelines, nurse practitioners frequently violate patient’s safety. Instead of engaging in preventive health care practices, healthcare professionals with low-level training use costly, yet unnecessary, procedures (Branning & Vater, 2016). In addition to higher healthcare costs, such neglect of medical standards results in patient injuries, repeated hospitalization, and, even, higher mortality rates.
Finally, increased expenditures happen as a result of an overly complex healthcare administration structure. In the US, excess spending is frequently linked to inefficient bureaucratic procedures in private health agencies and governmental institutions (Branning & Vater, 2016). In this case, wasted resources and efforts refer to the inappropriate ways of standardization from complex billing, paperwork, and meeting agenda for healthcare staff.
Reference
Branning, G., & Vater, M. (2016). Healthcare spending: Plenty of blame to go around. American Health & Drug Benefits, 9(8), 445–447. Web.