1. Recommend how ambulatory should be funded.
In the U.S today, ambulatory care is a increasingly significant part of the health care system. Technological progress has made many treatments previously offered only in the hospital now possible in an ambulatory setting. This shift to ambulatory care, while generally recognized as a positive move toward a less expensive and more appropriate health care setting, has often left providers scrambling to adjust to rapidly changing technology and new, complex reimbursement systems. Safety net providers, in particular, have difficulty keeping abreast of a rapidly changing health care system because they serve low-income, uninsured patients and face constraints imposed by their funding sources.
Health care makes up more of the economy than any other industry – about one-sixth. According an online article by Johnson written in 2009, “[s]pending on health care totals about $2.5 trillion, 17.5% of our gross domestic product — a measure of the value of all goods and services produced in the United States. That's up from 13.8% of GDP in 2000 and 5.2% in 1960, when health spending totaled just $27.5 billion — barely 1% of today's level, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy group.” The spending in health care costs includes “money paid to health care providers — hospitals, outpatient centers, Veterans Affairs and other clinics, doctor and dentist practices, physical therapists, nursing homes, home health services and on-site care at places such as schools and work sites.
Also included are retail sales of prescription and nonprescription drugs, premiums paid to health insurers, and revenues of makers of medical devices, surgical equipment and durable medical equipment such as eyeglasses, hearing aids and wheelchairs. It also counts out-of-pocket payments by consumers for health insurance premiums, deductibles and co-payments, along with costs not covered by insurance and "medical sundries" like heating pads.” (Johnson, 2009) 2. Recommend how continuum of long-term should be funded.
The Affordable Health Care of America Act or the HR 3962 is a bill that was developed in 2009 by the U.S. House of Representatives. The purpose of this bill is “[t]o provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes” (http://housedocs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf) Quality of care and insurance coverage are greatly affected by health care legislation and is the force behind the introduction of this bill. The need for this bill reflects upon the 46 million people in the U.S. who are without health insurance and this number is expected to rise if health care reform does not occur. The rise of health care costs and insurance premiums is an addition to the need for the implementation of HR 3962.
“Substantial gaps in the delivery of effective preventive care in the United States remain, however, because clinicians continue to face many of the same barriers that originally spurred the formation of the first USPSTF [the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force]. Identifying effective interventions can be difficult in prevention, where prospective controlled trials are often difficult to conduct. Conflicting recommendations from different organizations, further Recommend how mental and behavioral health services should be funded.
The three main types of health insurance include government-funded insurance, private health insurance, and managed care insurance - PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizations) and HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations). The government-funded insurance plans include Medicare, Medicaid, and Disability