Factors Affecting Health Care Sector
While many people agree that health is an area that requires fixing, quite a number do not know the factors affecting health care sector. There is a wide range of factors affecting the operations of this vital sector, denying millions of people across the world a right to quality and affordable health care. Even in developed nations, healthcare remains one of the greatest concerns since many are still struggling to access better healthcare services. In developing nations, the case is even worse and many continue to loose lives daily.
The health care sector is quite vast, comprising hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and insurers among others, however, quality and accessibility are the main issues facing the industry today. In fact, many people across the world have not been able to acquire high quality health care services despite the high number of providers. In developing nations, the health sectors are quite crippled such that there are not even enough facilities to serve the populations. These occasions among others are impacted by various factors.
The Main Factors Affecting Health Care Sector
The factors affecting health care sector can be categorized into either economic, social, political or technological. However, the following are the main factors bearing the greatest impacts on the health care industry.
Decreased Funding
There are reports of a significant reduction in the amount of money coming in from the government, public and private sectors towards hospital funding. This shows dire consequences on not only healthcare workers but also the general public. Administrators will have to cut down the number of their staff in order to deal with the diminishing returns. As a result of this, accessibility to healthcare is impaired in many ways.
With less workers, there is a likelihood of a crisis caused by the increasing number of people who need healthcare. The few workers end up working long hours and doing so much such that even the quality of service delivery is never guaranteed.
Due to the low funding, many health facilities have not been able to also acquire the right equipment and means of treatments.
Shortage of Staff
Health is a critical sector that deal with life and requires professionals for the things to run smoothly. Due to increasing demand for healthcare services, many unqualified people have simply jumped into the business, putting the lives of many in danger.
The quacks in the business have become so many such that even genuine health service providers are being threatened out of the industry. Shortage of staff ensures poor quality health products and treatments, which negatively impact the image and efficiency of the sector.
Stiff Competition
There are quite a number of companies in the health care sector. Although many have been credited with breakthroughs in research and various treatments, they are also to blame for the continuous increase in the costs of healthcare. In fact, many players in the industry have become quite greedy, offering low quality services and products at inflated prices to the unsuspecting public.
Technology
Today, technology has become a vital aspect of life, which is applied in almost everything that we do. In fact, it is through technologies that doctors are researchers have managed to come up with various treatments and measures for dealing with some health conditions. In fact, even patients today need a healthcare provider that they can reach online and even hold consultations with at their own convenience.
However, not many players in the health care sector have been able to fully adopt the use of technology in their operations. This not only affects the quality of service delivery but also hinders accessibility to health care.
Conclusion
Just as hinted above, there are several other factors affecting health care sector that the general public and those involved in the industry should take note of. Although it looks that some factors may be easily handled by health care providers on their own, a collective effort is required in order to harmonize and regulate operations in the sector. For instance, stiffer measures should be put in place to ensure that many people are able to access high quality and affordable health care.
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References
http://www.drclouthier.com/health/5-economic-issues-affecting-healthcare-industry/
http://www.healthadministrationdegrees.com/articles/trends-affecting-healthcare/
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/08/investing-in-healthcare.asp
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4122083/