The purpose of this needs assessment is to identify areas where enhancements in the health care delivery system can improve both the accessibility of care as well as guide preventive health services for those most at risk for poor health outcomes. While needs assessments bring attention to the underlying factors associated with good or poor health status and sufficient access to care, LSCC is uniquely positioned as a FQHC serving almost 80,000 Central Texas residents to improve population health by forming strategic partnerships and innovative collaborations with not only other health care providers and health-related organizations, but local and state governments and community-based organizations as well. The following section identifies
Trinity Community Hospital conducted a focused community health needs assessment centering on cancer, orthopedic and cardiovascular services. The information was obtained through a multitude of sources including: epidemiological surveys, focus groups, interviews with healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities’ planning guidelines.
Another strategy would involve utilizing data from existing public sources to assess the health and safety needs of the people of Utah County. The main elements of the collected data would involve the identification of the key health indicators and the corresponding risk factors. I would also collect information related to the impact of the social, economic and the environment on the health status of Utah inhabitants. The key sources of data for the assessment of needs of Utah populations would include US census bureau, healthy people 2020, environment public health tracking program, department of mental health and substance abuse and Utah hospital discharge database. Other sources of information for the need assessment would include the indicator based information system indicator for the public health department and Utah’s healthcare access survey (Niederdeppe, Bu, Borah, Kindig & Robert, 2008). I
As a FQHC, LSCC’s mission is to provide care to underserved and uninsured residents of our service area. In Central Texas, people who lack health insurance are disproportionately poor and disproportionately racial/ethnic minorities. Because of this confluence of socioeconomic indicators, LSCC’s patient populations are more likely than other groups to experience health disparities which can negatively impact a patient’s life from the day he or she is born, through development, through adulthood, and up until the day he or she dies. Excess morbidity and early mortality are the indelible scars dealt by health disparities upon LSCC’s target populations. In light of this reality, LSCC must go beyond the mere provision of care to ensure that our
As Executive Director, I will provide staff leadership for Better Health Association. Our goal for the company is to improve the well-being of individuals. Audiences of all ages will be able to take part in learning about living a healthy lifestyle and developing the skills needed to make healthy choices to prevent diseases and ameliorate conditions for those already afflicted with illnesses. Over the course of the following year, it is my responsibility to develop and lead the staff, management structure, dedicated to achieving the mission for Better Health Care Organization. I plan to make significant changes to our organization, to help guide individuals in Central Ohio, to living a better and healthier lifestyle. My goal is to empower the staff with the training needed to meet our company’s standards.
Specific issues that should be monitored over the next decade include: (1) having access to the entire care continuum and to increasing and to measure insurance coverage and; (2) Addressing disparities that affect access to healthcare (e.g., race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and residential location); (3) Assessing the capacity of the healthcare system to provide services for newly insured individuals; (4) Determining changes in healthcare workforce needs as new models for the delivery of primary care become more prevalent, such as the patient-centered medical home and team-based care; (5) Monitoring the increasing use of telehealth as an emerging method of delivering health
Within the United States some populations groups face greater challenges then the general public with being able to access needed health care services in a timely fashion. These populations are at a greater risk for poor physical, psychological, and social health. The correct term would be underserved populations or medically disadvantaged. They are at a disadvantaged for many reason such as socioeconomic status, health, and geographic conditions. Within these groups are the racial and ethnic minorities, uninsured children, women, rural area residents, mentally ill, chronic illness and the disabled. These groups experience greater barriers in access to care, financing of care, and cultural acceptance. Addressing these
Every individual in the world deserves to enjoy health and wellness. Maintaining or achieving proper health needs enables individuals to be productive at work and leisure. Traditionally, many people have had barriers obtaining adequate healthcare due to economic constraints or personal inconveniences. Despite impressive technological advances in medicine, the challenge of delivering quality healthcare to the Americans continues to be debated amongst the nation’s political and healthcare leaders. The aging baby-boomers and the increased number of uninsured people add to the equation of population growth which results in limited access to primary healthcare for the entire public. On the
Access to care has become a buzz word in the modern healthcare theater. The prevailing thought is that our healthcare system will experience a significant amount strain as an increasing number of individuals seek care with increased number of individuals being covered by third party payers under the affordable care act. Access to care has become a catch-all term used to describe the inability for an individual or population to seek needed healthcare services. Access to care can be divided into 4 major problems within a healthcare setting to include, physical accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and supply and demand. While the current state of our healthcare delivery system in regards to the changes implemented by the affordable care act has attempted to address affordability and acceptability. The affordable care act may have strained the infrastructure of our system in regards to the supply and demand aspects as well as physical accessibility challenges to many populations.
In the state of Louisiana there are a great deal of health care concerns. These health care concerns need to be brought up and discussed because the future of Louisiana’s health care system depends on it. It is essential that there is something done for the prevention and quality of care for these health care concerns. Having a healthy lifestyle will help to prevent short life spans and increase longevity of ones life. The health care concerns of Louisiana are asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infant mortality, and obesity. A lot of residents seem unaware of the health concerns Louisianans face on a daily basis. Which cause high number of deaths due to health concerns.
The health care system must change to improve our nation’s health and takes strong steps to address the unsustainable growth of health care costs in America. We still have a long way to go before our health system become effective. We still have population that do not have insurance, have difficulties accessing their health care, or their needs are not met within the healthcare system. It is an investment in prevention and wellness and increasing access to primary care physician.
Everyone should have the opportunity to achieve a healthy life and have comprehensive health care services available to them. To achieve this healthy life, people need to have access to the health care system and to a health care provider with whom they can develop a trusting relationship. However, existing barriers to attaining health care services often lead to disparities which in turn lead to differences in life expectancy, health status and a higher prevalence of certain chronic diseases (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012).
Changes in access to health care across different populations are the chief reason for current disparities in health care provision. These changes occur for several reasons, and some of the main factors that contribute to the problem in the United States are: Lack of health insurance – Several racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other minority groups lack adequate health insurance coverage in comparison with people who can afford healthcare insurance. The majority of these individuals are likely to put off health care or go without the necessary healthcare and medication that is needed. Lack of financial resources – Lack of accessibility to funding is a barrier to health care for a lot of people living in the United States
Our healthcare system needs major restructuring. Major improvements needs to begin with "all health care organizations, professional groups, and private and public purchasers should adopt as their explicit purpose to continually reduce the burden of illness, injury, and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the United States", (Crossing the ……, 2001).
There are many issues that are causing changings in the healthcare system. Population aging, rapidly increasing costs of healthcare and the growing burden of chronic disease are challenges to health systems worldwide. To meet these challenges will require new approaches to healthcare delivery and comprehensive population health management. Many states are not prepared to tackle this issue yet. The US has the most expensive healthcare system in the world with health status indicators that are only average in comparison
Despite the countless advanced in technology and the abundance of health care organization popping up all over the place, whether they are free standing clinics, hospitals, urgent cares or etc, many people still lack the ability to receive quality health care. This has become a concern throughout the world, but especially a more vocal concern for residents of the United States in the past few years. In this paper we will discuss the reasons preventing access to quality health care and how we can overcome the many obstacles that stand in our way to provide quality health care to many who lack it today.