The article that I chose to blog about this week is about the health care system of the United States and how to fix it to make it more efficient and lower the costs for patients. As of right now, anytime you visit a doctor or a hospital, patient bills can be quite high. This is because of the inefficient system that we currently have. Mayo Clinic has been known as a very prestigious hospital with some of the best doctors and best technology. Recently, Mayo Clinic has acknowledged that their unique technique needs to be shared with the rest of the United States and that they need to help lead in fixing the health care system. The article stated that, “Researchers at the Center will use in-depth medical records studies, informatics, epidemiology health services research and systems engineering to design and validate the most efficient and effective medical practices. The results will be shared with other providers and could prove ‘transformational’ for the U.S. health care.”
Mayo Clinic has always been proud to say that they put the needs of their patients first. They are aware of rising costs in health care and are trying to move along their technology and infrastructure in order to improve the quality of care for their patients and hopefully lower their costs as well. In making this change, they hope to set an example that the rest of the United States hospitals and doctor’s offices can follow.
Mayo Clinic is known for their in depth research on finding cures and discovering diseases. They have always been about their delivery system and maintain their priorities. I can recall when my mom was really sick that everyone had recommended Mayo Clinic. We didn’t know what was wrong with her; all we did know was that she was weak, sick, and losing weight fast. We had heard that Mayo Clinic had many different specialists who worked in “teams” along with scientists to help figure out what is wrong with the patient and how to help treat them. Since 70% of health care spending is on treatment for chronic disease, it is vital that the doctors can figure out a system of helping prevent them, maintaining them, and curing them. Diabetes alones costs the U.S $22 billion a year. If Mayo Clinic could figure out a way to help treat these patients more efficiently, then the costs would decrease and the money saved could go toward finding other cures for diseases.
An engineer names Mr. Howard has said about Mayo, “In manufacturing, you want to be efficient so you can deliver a low-cost product. But you also want to be reliable and within product specifications. We have a lot of complexities and variables in health care. But it isn’t all that different. If you know the best way to provide care, you want to build systems that drive consistent reliability and quality experiences each time. ‘Value’ is not just about how much a test costs.” Having said this, Mayo Clinic strives to have the latest expertise and treatments for their patients. They are hoping that their team of doctors and scientists will adapt to the new technology and that it will help set new standards of treatment. Telemedicine is the newest and most upcoming new technology that is allowing doctors and patients to connect using digital observation cameras, robots, smartphones, etc. Along with new technology, Mayo Clinic is trying to improve their Intensive care unit (ICU) so that people don’t have to stay in the hospital as long and their costs are reduced. With new improvements in the ICU, there are less complications and better outcomes.
Mayo’s ultimate goal is to share their data on treatment quality, costs, and patient outcomes with the rest of the United States and have since partnered with 5 leading health care providers to make this happen. They want U.S. health providers to join forces to improve patient care and to lower costs nationwide. The six health care providers will join together and go over each other’s data and come up with the best practices and implement them. They really are trying to make a difference and I hope one day, the costs decrease and the quality of patient care increases along with new technology.
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