The Cost of The Healthcare Workforce
There is a growing concern over healthcare challenges affiliated to the vital needs of strengthening development of the workforce in healthcare. In several years, there has been a number of increasing shortages of medical professionals with many challenges it currently presents for medical centers treating patients in future years. I have researched three key drivers of labor costs within the healthcare sector; supply of demand for staffing more medical professionals, increased costs of medications, hospital and physician fees and services.
The supply of staffing in healthcare, is not keeping up with the pace of the growing number of need for individuals requiring medical treatment. There is a need for highly skilled medical professionals from physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers. The expected demand is more than what the industry projected. Healthcare facilities mainly hospitals are facing a growing number of insufficient trained personnel with effective superior patient care. There was a study in 2015 conducted by Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which projected the United States will be challenged with a shortage in 2025 of 46,000 to 90,000 physicians. There will be a mandatory need for 100,000 more nurses a year by the year 2022 with an estimate of 500,000 seasoned nurses projected to retire in that same year as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Vizient, n.d.)
The increased spending of prescription drugs in the United States is more expensive than those in other countries. Mainly the high costs of prescription drugs are driven due to brand name prices. Prescription medications in the United States has been compromised at an estimated 17% or more in personal health care services, this is way above the price index for consumers. Provider prescribing is also another contributor to the increased spending on drugs, the choice of generic over brand name is less cost effective. There is an excessive amount of spending in the United States on prescription drugs when compared to developing nations. (Dr. Kevin Campbell, 2019)
The National Health Expenditure data reported, in 2017 the United States spent over $333 billion more than in 2007 at $236 billion, which is more than a 40 percent increase in spending. There are a number of patients who cannot afford the increase in cost of medications. The results are putting lives at risk by patients foregoing doses and medications prescribed by their providers. New brand-named drugs are expensively listed on the market, as well as generic and older drugs have also increased in price. There will be over 250 drugs that will increase in cost in 2019, there is no end in the future for rising prescription drug prices which concerns patients and physicians. (Dr. Kevin Campbell, 2019)
A focus of volumes instead of quality of care the patient should receive is the focus of this labor cost. The lore for healthcare fee for service reimbursement is an addiction to some users. There are physicians and hospitals that are dependent on this service to only add increased healthcare services. After the Affordable Care Act was signed in March 2010 as a law, there were numerous provisions to motivate physicians to put attention on increasing value, not maximizing the volume of healthcare services. In 2017 an estimate of 86 percent to 95 percent of healthcare providers in the United States are still receiving payments for procedures and tests provided individually. This arrangement does not help the rising of healthcare costs, it continues to increase high costs and there is nothing to show for it. (Robert Pearl, M.D., 2017)