Assignment

Objective: Compare and contrast key providers of healthcare: for-profit, non-profit and government-owned.

Introduction: As a healthcare professional, having an understanding of the history of healthcare and all of the parties that make up a healthcare system will enable you to effectively contribute to improvements in your own healthcare organization. It is also important to understand how other countries manage healthcare in order to seek innovative solutions by learning from others. You also must understand and be able to help your organization provide healthcare with a cost-to-value ratio that makes sense for the consumer, the insurer and the organization.

Deliverable: The essay for this lesson is required to be a minimum of 750 words that clearly demonstrate your understanding of the activity. Essays should have a clear introduction, thesis statement and conclusion, written in APA format (APAstyle.org). A minimum of three sources must be cited in-text and in the Reference list.

Activity Details:

Read the scenario. Read the following scenario and questions, then use what you have learned about this lesson's objective to summarize your responses.You have been asked by the president of Healthy US to help determine why the United States falls short in addressing healthcare outcomes and access. The president would also like to tap into your experience to come up with some solutions to close the gap in this area.

- How does the U.S. healthcare system compare with the top three countries that provide similar services?

- What are the other counties doing to provide better outcomes and access?

- In the countries that have better outcomes and access, who pays for healthcare? Will that system work in the U.S.? Is there another solution?

- Do countries with better outcomes and access apply these better outcomes and access to all healthcare situations, including non-terminal ones? Or are patients with non-terminal illnesses and problems likely to have longer waits and less-positive outcomes?

- Does the Affordable Care Act (ACA) need adjustments to provide positive outcomes/access as well as sensible cost/value ratios?