Assignment: Demonstrate an understanding of the relevance of economic concepts within the healthcare sector.
Cost and affordability are important factors in the successful delivery of healthcare to the people of this country. Economics can offer a framework to study the implications of individual decision making and help define the alternative mechanisms available to improve resource allocation. Sound policy making is based on sound economic principles applied in a sensitive and uniform manner. Lessons can be learned from basic economics lessons about human behavior and the way individuals make decisions, respond to incentives, interact with each other and about the efficient allocation of scarce resources.
Instructions: Describe trends in the costs of care for treating at least three diseases or conditions. Examine the burden of health care costs on businesses and governments and the extent to which Americans can afford needed care. Analyze trends in the efficiency of care delivery and the competitiveness of the delivery system and the key factors in keeping costs down. The paper should be written in APA format, include at least four references, and at least three pages in length.
Requirements: • Writer describes trends in the costs of care for treating at least three diseases or conditions.
• Writer examine the burden of health care costs on businesses and governments and the extent to which Americans can afford needed care.
• Writer analyzes trends in the efficiency of care delivery and the competitiveness of the delivery system and the key factors in keeping costs down.
• Recognize that this is a policy paper and not a clinical paper.
• The paper should address these three issues:
1. Describe trends in the costs of care for treating three (3) specific illnesses or conditions.
2. Examine the burden of healthcare costs on businesses and government and the extent to which Americans can afford needed care.
3. Provide examples and analyze trends that demonstrate:
a) efficiency in the delivery of healthcare.
b) competition within the healthcare system which keep costs down.