10 Health Care Trends for 2017 Discussion

Trends affecting the business and administration side of healthcare:

Analyze and evaluate the two most salient trends impacting the business operations and/or administration.

Are these trends uniquely different for ancillary services vs. inpatient services?

Where do you see these trends going in the future and why?

reply 1

Two Trends affecting the business and administration side of healthcare:

Implementation of advancing technologies

Increasing brand-name and generic prescription drug shortages/costs

There are many trends that are impacting health care facilities’ business operations/administration. The two that will be discussed here are 1) Implementation of advancing technologies and 2) Increasing brand-name and generic prescription drug shortages/costs.

Many healthcare organizations today are battling rising health care costs as well as physician shortages. These issues have given rise for a need to provide low-cost alternatives to office visits and in-patient care (Austin, Bentkover, & Chait, 2016). Therefore, in the near future, leaders can expect a change from traditional office visits and surgical pre-screening to virtual/cyber doctor-patient interactions. Telemedicine may not be the answer for every case but it will work well for the treatment of common conditions and aid in the management of patient care for chronic illnesses that require daily checks/intervention (Teel, 2018).

This particular trend would affect both ancillary and inpatient services. As mentioned above, patients could be seen by physicians for most requirements through the use of this electronic communications technology. This will require leaders to get out ahead of these changes by essentially paving the way for their organization to be ready to provide this alternative capability. Methods to secure and maintain privacy as well as the data that is created during these sessions will be leading the list of requirements in order to shift to this capability. Hiring additional Information Technology staff and purchasing additional hardware and software to provide the necessary infrastructure will be a requirement and an additional cost. However, adopting and implementing such technology has the potential to not only increase the number of non-local patients, thereby increasing potential profit, but also to increase the efficiency and productivity of the healthcare organization as a whole.

Recent healthcare costs are increasing due to several factors, one of which is growing brand-name and generic prescription drug shortages and costs. These shortages and higher costs affect the patients who receive them, the physicians who prescribe them, and healthcare organizations’ bottom line (Murillo, 2019). Health care organizations have spent millions of dollars on eleventh-hour replacement medications, despite planning well ahead of time (Utica College, 2017). It is important that an administrator keeps an eye on these rising costs and to respond appropriately.

These trends affecting price and availability of prescription drugs affect both ancillary and inpatient services. There are several ways an administrator can develop strategies to aid their organization to combat these trending issues (Ready, 2017):

Determine evidence-based alternatives available to high-priced drugs and if so, remove the high-priced drug from the formulary so it does not continue to be ordered by physicians.

Reduce waste by implementing dose rounding where doses are reduced slightly to avoid wasting a vial for just a small amount of the drug.

Identify significant drug price increases as they happen to avoid delays in taking action to minimize financial impact.

Incorporate clinical pharmacists to educate prescribing physicians about high-priced drugs and to make sure that the medication therapy is appropriate.

As these two trends will undoubtedly continue as technology improves and as pharmaceutical companies continue being aggressively taxed, it will be extremely important for administrators to take a more proactive role in developing strategies for healthcare organizations to limit their current and future financial risk.

reply 2

wo of the most salient trends within health care that impact business operations would be the demand for health care IT management professionals and evolving leadership opportunities. Information technology is always changing patient care and has become increasingly important for technological advancements. The impacts have proven to be positive not just of the administrative staff, but the treatments for patients as well. These treatment options allow for a more efficiently ran facility. These booming career fields have added responsibilities for managers. This includes being familiar with the most current technology. Key business decisions will be made according to the technology that is utilized in a facility for the patient mission. Health care leaders can be difficult to find as managers are a different form of hospital administrators. The competitive nature of the field calls for more than just a master level degree it is looking for individuals that hold purpose to their job, patients, and people. These types of leadership skill may not come natural for all managers and it something that almost never can be taught. Cross functional expectations will adhere to their list of duties and there should be an understanding of all main functions within a facility. The ability to network and have the leadership qualities needed so that facilities can integrate with other organizations to ensure business goals can be met is critical for change (Jacobs, 2017).

Change has a major impact on the health care field and it is important that executives have a clear focus on what is more efficiently ran in order to run their operation.  A health care can apply a more advanced operation. Improving cost and quality for technology and leadership values there have been incentives to motivate providers and health care teams for training. Total cost for reductions due to these efforts have been found in inpatient and ancillary care. Essentially when an organization is patient centered, accountable, and provide comprehensive care that are models these can improve the delivery of that integrated care needed through population health management (Thomas, 2014).

These trends can only improve as long as the research stays clear, improved outcomes stay constant from payers and providers, cost of care can stay or be lowered, and the overall wellness within the population is sustained by there advances and trends. Working together ancillary and inpatient units can improve their processes and help maintain the delivery and design for technology and great leadership.

Jacobs, L.P. (2017). 10 Health Care Trends for 2017.Retrieved from