Trends in Healthcare

Cost Containment Home Health Care Geriatric Care Telemedicine Wellness Alternative and Complementary Methods

Cost Containment Ways to control the rising cost of healthcare Application: After reading pg. 16 in your text on Cost Containment, what are some factors that have led to the rising costs of healthcare?

3 Top Reasons for High Healthcare Costs Technological advancements Aging population Health-related lawsuits

Home Health Care Rapidly growing Shorter hospital stays Less expensive than inpatient care All aspects of healthcare can be involved

Geriatric Care Care for the elderly Longer life spans Adult day care Retirement communities Assisted living Long term care facilities

OBRA Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act –OBRA-1987 Led to development of regulations regarding long term care and home health care Mandatory, state approved training program and pass a written and competency test Requires compliance with patients’ and residents’ rights

Telemedicine Video, audio, computer systems to provide healthcare services Application: Read pg 18-19 on Telemedicine in text. Identify and list 5 ways telemedicine is used in healthcare

Wellness State of being in optimum health Wellness is determined by lifestyle choices Application: Read Wellness section in text – pg. 19. What is holistic health care? What impact do you believe it has on a patient?

Alternative Therapies/ Complementary Therapies Alternative - Methods of treatment used to replace biomedical treatment Complementary – Methods used in conjunction with traditional medical therapies Commonalities: Holistic Based on cultural values/beliefs Application: Read Table 1-8 on pgs. 21-22. Identify 6 types of alternative/complementary practitioners which you find interesting. Why do you think these types of alternative or complementary practitioners might be beneficial?

Integrative Health Care Using both mainstream medical treatments and complementary and alternative therapies (CAM) CAM – complementary and alternative medicine