Healthcare/system management is one of the professional practices
that are rapidly changing with time. This dynamic practice therefore has experienced
various uncertainties and challenges with changing times in the past. Some of
the future challenges healthcare managers are likely to face, are analyzed in the
following sections.
Escalating healthcare costs
Health care management
will be faced with the challenge of minimizing healthcare expenditure which has
been brought about by the trend of rising health care costs annually (Walshe
& Smith, 2011). Research has shown that, for example, in the year 2001, the United States
of America (U.S.A) had 14.1% of its Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) committed
to covering health care costs. Going by the upward trend, this expenditure had
been predicted to rise to 17.7% of G.D.P.in the year 2012 and continued
increase in the subsequent years. This poses a great challenge to healthcare
management professionals on how to contain these rising costs and increase
efficiency in health care delivery.
Social disparities/inequities in health
One of the goals in
health care management is to increase the access to quality health care in a fair
way. Health care management is faced with the challenge of enhancing fairness
and access in healthcare provision, due to the rising pressure on the public to
pay for the healthcare services as a cost containment measure. This has limited
the financial access of the poor to quality health care services, thus creating
disparities in health status on the basis of income/social status. These
disparities are likely to increase in the future as long as the cost of care is
still being passed on to the consumers.
New healthcare technologies
Development of new drugs
and technologies has been instrumental in improving the health of the
population, although, it has also had its share of challenges in the health care
industry. Many of these new technologies are expensive and may receive partial
insurance coverage (Geisler, Krabbendam, & Schuring, 2003). Insured persons
are thus quite often required to cover the high costs of these new technologies
and prescription drugs. As the number of new technologies increase with time,
healthcare managers are likely to be faced in the future by a conflict of
interest between the benefits of new technologies to the society, and the need
to minimize coverage of such new technologies in a bid to reduce healthcare
expenditure
Emergence and re-emergence of diseases
The increasing burden
of disease is another challenge that is currently facing healthcare management and
is likely to be worse in the future. This will put a lot of pressure on
healthcare managers to continuously review their healthcare priorities for the
population. Emerging and re-emerging of conditions is proving a challenge in relation
to frequent diversion of attention and action, which is likely to negatively influence
overall health outcomes. An initial focus on infectious diseases in the 1960s
was diverted to an increased focus on non-communicable diseases in the 1990s. A
rise of the number of drug-resistant bacterial infections has been experienced
in the past, and the trend is set to continue in the future. Health care
management is thus faced with an additional challenge of investing more in
research under its already constrained budget.
Complex client-provider relationship
The increasing
complexity of the relationship between patients/clients with providers of
healthcare will present a great challenge in the future. This relationship has
been shifting from patient-provider to customer-provider, where
patients/clients are insisting on their choice of treatment/care, confidentiality
of information and informed consent. This continued empowerment of clients on
health matters may result in increased risks of litigation against providers.
Health care management will therefore be faced with the challenge of enhancing
ethical practices among its providers in order to minimize ligation costs, and enhance
patient/client satisfaction.
In conclusion;
Health care management
being a dynamic field, is likely to be faced with various challenges ranging
from rising expenditure, increased disparities in access to care, introduction
of new technologies, increased burden of disease, to developing complexities in
patient-provider relationships. These challenges need careful strategic
planning to achieve the desired health care outcomes in the future.
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