HSM-410 Week 3 Discussion Question 1 – Financial Cost Controls1
How to curb the rising cost of healthcare in the US, has been the essential question for long.
Many initiatives such as new medical policies and acts have been and still are being employed to
effectively hold the care costs. Now, costs containment does not need to be painful, that is affect
the quality of and access to services to the patients. By focusing on other factors than care
services, costs are controlled painlessly. This may not seem painless for everyone including
physicians and care providers initially, but it is indeed painless, for everyone in the larger aspect.
It depends upon the viewpoint of the person. For example, if the fee for service is reduced for
physicians, it might be compensated by offering them benefits under performance-based
incentives. According to Bodenheimer and Grumbach, the most common examples of painless
cost control include (2012):
• Controlled fees and provider incomes,
• Reduced prices of medications and other supplies,
• Regulating and reducing administrative waste,
• Controlled or excluded medical interventions that offer no benefits,
• Switching over to less costly but equally effective alternative technologies,
• More focus on preventive care, and
• Emphasized importance to primary care.
Though the US has world’s best available healthcare resources, it has miserably failed at
providing these benefits to its entire population at reasonable costs. To achieve a painless cost
control, government regulation is most important, without government regulations and control it
is difficult to achieve because all the involved parties have their own interests and point of views.
Bodenheimer, T. S. & Grumbach, K. (2012). Understanding health policy – A clinical approach
(6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
This study source was downloaded by 100000829957125 from CourseHero.com on 03 -02-2022 23:32:18 GMT -06:00
How to curb the rising cost of healthcare in the US, has been the essential question for long.
Many initiatives such as new medical policies and acts have been and still are being employed to
effectively hold the care costs. Now, costs containment does not need to be painful, that is affect
the quality of and access to services to the patients. By focusing on other factors than care
services, costs are controlled painlessly. This may not seem painless for everyone including
physicians and care providers initially, but it is indeed painless, for everyone in the larger aspect.
It depends upon the viewpoint of the person. For example, if the fee for service is reduced for
physicians, it might be compensated by offering them benefits under performance-based
incentives. According to Bodenheimer and Grumbach, the most common examples of painless
cost control include (2012):
• Controlled fees and provider incomes,
• Reduced prices of medications and other supplies,
• Regulating and reducing administrative waste,
• Controlled or excluded medical interventions that offer no benefits,
• Switching over to less costly but equally effective alternative technologies,
• More focus on preventive care, and
• Emphasized importance to primary care.
Though the US has world’s best available healthcare resources, it has miserably failed at
providing these benefits to its entire population at reasonable costs. To achieve a painless cost
control, government regulation is most important, without government regulations and control it
is difficult to achieve because all the involved parties have their own interests and point of views.
Bodenheimer, T. S. & Grumbach, K. (2012). Understanding health policy – A clinical approach
(6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
This study source was downloaded by 100000829957125 from CourseHero.com on 03 -02-2022 23:32:18 GMT -06:00
