Various factors escalate healthcare costs. If costs escalate, healthcare professionals can engage in various innovative approaches to bend the cost curve (Emanuel, 2014). Foremost, healthcare practitioners can prevent the worsening of medical conditions by providing secondary disease deterrent care services. According to Lee (2004), providing secondary preventive services effectively prevents health meltdown as medical professionals attempt to prevent the burden of diseases occasioned by social and economic conditions. Notably, providing home support and community rehabilitation services are notable examples of how healthcare professionals manage chronic diseases that escalate healthcare costs.
The second approach aimed at bending the cost curve is an instituted working together arrangement between the government and medical associations. In this approach, renewed agreements are established to underpin the entitlements and obligations of healthcare professionals. According to McGrail & Ahuja (2017), healthcare professionals are obligated to participate in quality-improvement initiatives aimed at reducing resource use. The resources can be used optimally, depending on patient availability and insurance plans. Thus, the intention of engaging in the mentioned initiatives is to reduce costs incurred in providing care while guaranteeing high-quality services.
The third approach envisages the elimination of barriers affecting healthcare professionals’ scope of practice. Per Syed (2019), existing regulatory stipulations focus on early career credentials that link competencies to particular medical professions. Thus, the practitioners are unable to stretch their capabilities to align to changing circumstances despite the engagement of continuous education. By eradicating the barriers to the scope of practice, the healthcare system can effectively maximize all professionals’ contributions to reduce the costs of running varied healthcare facilities. Therefore, the practitioners can expand their competencies to provide maximum benefits to the health system at reduced costs.
References
Emanuel, E. (2014). Reinventing American health care: How the Affordable Care Act will improve our terribly complex, blatantly unjust, outrageously expensive, grossly inefficient, error-prone system, (15th ed.) New York: Public Affairs.
McGrail, K., & Ahuja, M. (2017). What is bending the cost curve? An exploration of possible drivers and unintended consequences. Healthcare Policy, 13(2), 20–30.
Syed, E. (2019). Will We Ever Bend the Cost Curve in Healthcare? American Health & Drug Benefits, 12(4), 186–187.
Lee, F. (2004). If Disney ran your hospital: 9 1/2 things you would do differently. Bozeman, MT: Second River Healthcare Press.