P-Aid

Posts Tagged ‘Medical’

The socialized system of healthcare delivery and financing, a relic of the British colonial era, still practiced in Sierra Leone has glaringly failed and any efforts at resuscitating it without implementation of major structural and systemic reform will only serve to prolong the inevitable.

Throughout the world, total state control and management of industries, services, markets and the means of production are gradually becoming a relic of the past. This model as practiced in the Sierra Leone healthcare system has empirically been proven to have served only to stifle innovation, growth, productivity and quality output with a resultant decline in overall living and healthcare standards of the citizenry. The current state of the hospitals and health centers glaringly highlights the systemic problems endemic in the entire government owned, managed, financed and operated health care system.

The continued operation of such a decadent and dilapidated delivery and financing system, lacking in even the basics of a modern healthcare infrastructure continues relegating Sierra Leone to the very bottom of the human development index.

The transformation thus of the medical healthcare delivery and financing system into a private insurance or a national insurance based system offers opportunities not only for insurers to develop market-based medical insurance plans and policies but also serves to effectuate the Ministry of Health & Sanitation’s desired policy goals, as espoused in the 2002 National Health Policy Paper.

Both policy and regulatory officials, healthcare providers, the insurance industry and other stakeholders must be engaged to effectuate implementation of fundamental systemic reforms if the country is to avert an even greater catastrophe.

Privatization:

 

Under the proposed privatization plan, the Ministry of Health & Sanitation will be transformed from ownership and management of hospitals, clinics, and employer of last resort for all physicians, nurses and ancillary healthcare providers into a health agency with only policy and regulatory functions.

The goal will be for the health agency to serve as a policy and regulatory watch dog mandated with ensuring that adequate and quality medical care is provided at the various private hospitals, clinics and pharmacies that will inevitably be established with the break-up of the current government owned facilities.

With the break-up and subsequent purchase or leases of these hospitals, clinics, health centers and other facilities, investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to realize maximum returns on investments, will economically be compelled to upgrade quality and standard of care, introduce state of the art equipment and technologies and engender a type of market forces competition which will inure only to the betterment of health consumers in the country.

A much needed infusion of capital into the health care industry by such a privatization plan will clearly spur additional economic activities in ancillary industries, as the dynamic forces of privatization and market mechanism forces of demand and supply will ensure competition for the healthcare pie.

Divestiture of Government Ownership:

The dismantling of the current mammoth and highly inefficient government owned healthcare delivery and financing entity must from a public policy perspective be designed and restructured to ensure governmental ownership and management divestiture from hospitals and other health care facilities.

]]>

Under such a scenario the government’s current enormous but woefully mismanaged capital outlay for health services will be substantially decreased as inefficiencies of corruption, salaries of providers, infrastructure maintenance, costs of medications and diagnostic equipments and other overhead operating costs will no longer be recurrent expenditures from the nation’s depleting coffers.

A system based entirely on a private market-based national health insurance plan with private enterprise and market competition at its core appears the most logical reform policy route to ensure a future sound, efficient and profitable health care infrastructure.

 Health Insurance Plans:

The cog which the proposed new system must revolve around is a nationwide network of affordable health insurance plans creatively designed to ensure a greater pool participation of a majority of the population. In such a system health insurance companies and provider organizations will be established to market various health plans, with minimum services and premiums based on market conditions. The responsibility for monitoring compliance by the various plans would fall under the ambit of both the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission.

Multi-Payer System:

A major plank in this proposed health care delivery and financing privatization hinges on the enactment of health insurance legislation providing for employers to provide health care for their employees and dependants as part of a standard benefits package with concomitant tax incentives and governmental subsidies to ensure compliance. With such legislation the virtual free socialized medical care system, the costs of which have been borne exclusively by the government will now be based on a multi-payer system in which government, employees and employers will all participate.

With the system as currently structured however, only the government has a financial interest and stake and when other programs conflict with the financing of health care, politicians have only been too willing to sacrifice the health of their citizens on he alter of their greed and personal aggrandizement.

It is envisaged that health insurance providers will introduce concepts and plans, such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), through alliances of health providers and insurance companies and marketed to employers, labor unions, governmental ministries and corporations on an annual premium basis.

The competition engendered by such health organizations for the medical insurance pie will subsequently result in competitive rates, coverage, deductibles, co-payments and premiums to make health care costs affordable for all.

The Unemployed:

As unemployment and underemployment are perennial problems in the Sierra Leonean economy, the provision of health care benefits to this category of the population must remain the responsibility of government. Medical services provided to this category of citizens in a private enterprise environment must be reimbursed by the government on a negotiated and pre-determined fee schedule or an insurance mechanism established in which government negotiates with providers and carriers for the provision of services.

As an example a fund established by levying taxes on the private health care providers, envisaged to emerge with such privatization, could be instituted and utilized to pay for these indigent services.

Further, since the hospitals, medical clinics and other medical facilities will be operated as businesses, either for profit or as non-profit organizations, the market forces of demand and supply will certainly ensure that patient quality care, improvements in diagnostic technologies, competent personnel and a general responsiveness to the demands of the clients will drive the new marketplace. The lethargic and inefficient atmosphere witnessed at most government hospitals today with customer service virtually non existent would be a philosophy of the past.

The economic viability of healthcare businesses will depend largely on the clientele they can attract and maintain utilizing the above yardstick. Providers of lousy health care plans and services will inevitably loose business to competitors as every year participants will have an opportunity to change health insurance plans.

Since a large population of Sierra Leone resides in rural areas, the proposed privatization plan will ensure the expansion of health care facilities into areas currently inadequately serviced. This plan will ensure that clinics and doctors put up shop in every part of the country in order to tap into the healthcare services available in these rural areas.

Challenges to Insurance Companies:

Designing an insurance system and plan to cater to the needs of the rural population who often are self employed in farming and mining activities posses a challenge to insurers in Sierra Leone, who in the past have been largely passive and unimaginative in policy design to meet the challenges and risks confronting the nation’s socio-economic landscape.

Proactive and creative underwriting of risks must be undertaking by underwriters, actuaries and marketing specialists to design, tailor and price health insurance coverage to meet the diverse needs of the insuring public. For example, the creation of pools by occupational categories could be one method by which insured’s, engaged in similar trades could be encouraged to form co-operatives for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage at affordable rates for themselves and dependants. Premium payments through the pooling together of the co-operatives commodities can be an

Medical Transcription also is identified as just MT. Medical transcription is a component of allied health profession which addresses a process of converting voice-recorded information and data as dictated by medical professionals and health care authorities, into a written text file format. Fundamentally Transckiptionists can transfer verbally dictated client information into written text documents.

Medical Transcription is surely important talent in the current marketplace. Which therefore tends to make medical transcription education and training extremely important. A lot of doctor’s offices and other wellness establishments employ full time MTs, but there are also quite a few transciptionists who work from home and telecommute. Telecummuting workers and independent contractors are becoming more and more popular.

]]>

Medical transcription training is comprised usually of having certification by means of diploma or degree programs, distance learning, or even on the job coaching. A few hospitals and overall health businesses offer this training butthe chances are higher they’ll simply hire employees already possessing the needed expertise.

Operating in medical transcription leads to a competence in the field of medicine terminology. It is typically people that have good understanding and in fact mastery of the English language who are adept at medical transcription.

For the most extensive information and facts on medical transcription training go to hpisum.com. The Health Profession Institute and there medical transcription training are essentially the most complete recourse for anyone seeking to enter the industry.

The Health Profession Institute is usually a excellent option for physicians and those in hospital administration looking to train and train medical transcription by themselves.They are a modest but extremely influential and highly regarded publishing organization within the medical information discipline. Thousands of medical transcriptionists throughout the English-speaking planethave learned medical transcription with their recourses. The SUM Method for Medical Transcription Training, developed by Health Professions Institute (HPI), stands out as the foremost medical transcription education program utilized in schools, private hospitals, and transcription companies throughout the English-speaking world. The SUM Program is also accessible to people who are considering self-directed study. So have a look at their website

While physicians and other healthcare professionals can rely on medical malpractice insurance to cover them in the case of litigation, allied health professionals must also consider their insurance options. Many allied health professionals do not understand what their professional liability entails. Here’s a primer on allied health professionals and insurance options.

All Allied Health Professionals Are At Risk

Whether you’re an occupational therapist, optician, speech pathologist, nutritionist, or many of the other types of allied health workers, you are susceptible to risk. It is extremely important to manage your risk.

An allied health business is vulnerable to risk simply because allied health workers see patients just like physicians do. If a client decides to pursue litigation against you, the cost of fighting the legal battle can quickly empty your bank account and even force you into bankruptcy.

If a patient issues a claim against you and accuses you of making a damaging or negligent error, what’s the likelihood that you can defend yourself? If the court rules in favor of the plaintiff how do you plan on paying the financial damages?

The Answer: Allied Healthcare Professional Liability Insurance

The answer lies in professional liability insurance for allied health workers. Certain insurance companies build professional liability policies that focus on protecting allied health workers.

All allied health workers need to acquire some form of Professional Liability Insurance. This coverage provides coverage for actual or alleged errors, omissions, negligence, breach of duty or similar claims arising from your professional duties.

The companies that offer allied health general liability insurance often structure their policies so that they resemble medical malpractice policies.  In addition policies may be available to be tailored to your specific profession and duties.

Build a Custom Policy to Cover Your Needs

You may be able to customize your policy so that it includes provisions related to your field. For example, if you are an audiologist or hearing technician, you may need to be covered from errors and omissions that might result from defective equipment.

Professional liability insurance carriers can also provide resources and help you build strategies to minimize the chance of professional claims threatening your career. Purchasing a policy is really about transferring risk to an insurance company, but it’s possible to reduce risk by carefully managing risk and building smart company protocols.

Allied health professionals work hard and should be able to serve their patients without needing to fret about litigation. Good allied health professional liability insurance is one of the ways that you can protect yourself and your practice from vicious litigation.

It is important to work with professionals who understand your industry and your insurance needs.  By teaming with an agent who understands your profession you will be able to build an airtight professional policy to protect you from claims that could arise from your professional duties.

<input id=”gwProxy” type=”hidden” /><input id=”jsProxy” />

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Dear Mr or Mrs Next US President,

The health and medical blogosphere would like to make sure you and your team take into account the issues outlined below as you and your aids formulate your policies and put together the team that will further define and implement them.

40 different health bloggers have asked these questions that I now pose to you and your team.

Dear Mr or Mrs Next US President,

1. Your main asset is your brain. What have you done lately to maintain your brain? (SharpBrains).

Health Policy

2. Who do you support as US Science Advisor? (A Blog Around the Clock).

3. Not to depress you but…are you aware that healthcare reform is really hard? how will you change all this? (Medinnovationblog).

4. How will you increase price transparency of medical procedures and engage consumer forces? (Val Jones).

5. Sorry to insist, but this is an important point. Why is there so much confusion and misinformation about procedure prices? (Insure Blog). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret that the United States has a nursing shortage, one that promises to grow to alarming proportions. Too many nurses are retiring, and too few are entering the profession. To compound the problem, within the next 5 to 10 years, over 76 million Baby Boomers are scheduled to retire from the workforce, with only about 44 million Generation X’ers available to pick up the slack. This will soon place unprecedented demands for services on a health system that is already stretched thin.

This shortage of allied health care professionals, especially nurses have a created a new boom to the nursing agency, nurse registry business, supplemental staffing agency for medical professionals, permanent placement medical recruiter, or starting a business in home care and staffing pool. The medical staffing industry will continue to grow because of the upcoming baby boomers, and the current supply of nurses is dwindling. The average age for nurses is in the forties, and they are not being replaced by the new generations. Entrepreneurs have made lucrative business in nursing agency, nursing registry, home care business, medical recruiter recruiting, or as independent nurse contractor in their own field. Read the rest of this entry »

Medical and Health Business Including Economic Competition: Index of New Information