US Health CAre System and Lagging Life

Running Head: INITIAL PROPOSAL 0

Initial proposal

Joe-Anne McCormick

MHA 616 Health Care Management Information Systems

Dr.  Mohammad Bajwa

March 22, 2017

Planning

Project Porposal/Problem statement

Studies have proved that life expectancy in the United States fares poorly at the international level (Oeppen & Vaupel, 2012). That does not mean that the country is not doing enough to improve the quality of healthcare in the country. In 2007, the United States government spent 16% of its GDP on healthcare an amount that was inherently higher compared to that of any other country (Preston & Ho, 2009). Hence, it is not the healthcare system that is inefficient. Instead, the problem is that there are a number of behavioral factors that are associated with the citizens that have contributed to the high mortality rate in the country (Preston & Ho, 2009).

SMART Objectives

1. The United States healthcare stakeholders will launch public sensitization practice about cancer resulting in 300,000 estimated cancer deaths from 595,690 by 2021.

2. Healthcare institutions will use quality improvement approaches resulting in 50% reduction in the rate of hospital readmissions by 2023.

3. Healthcare stakeholders will sensitize the United States citizens about the effects of smoking resulting in less than 12% adult smoking rate from 16.8% by 2020.

4. The media and other healthcare stakeholders will educate the members of the public about the importance of taking part in exercise activities resulting in 51% obese adults from 68.8% by 2021.

5. The media and other healthcare stakeholders will educate the members of the public about the importance of taking part in exercise activities resulting in 250,000 heart disease deaths from 375,00 by 2023.

Team members

The success of the project will require the contribution of the healthcare staff, teachers, other students, the community educators and the media.

Background

Evidence about the state of healthcare in the United States and the rate of mortality can be found in peer reviewed articles, books, magazines and internet sources. Hence, the sources will be used to set up the procedures and overall planning for the project.

Current/ideal state

The current rate of mortality in the United States fares poorly at the international level. In retrospect to that, the United States is also the highest spender in the sector of healthcare. The country spent $3.2 trillion on healthcare in 2016 implying that the core contributing factor to the high mortality rate in the country is not entirely tied down to the healthcare system but rather on the behavior and lifestyles of the people. Therefore, improvement is required because with the current trend in lifestyle, failing to take actions will worsen the state of mortality in the future. The current healthcare system does not redirect a lot of focus on public participation. For instance, only 12% of the United States adults have proficient healthcare literacy. The success of the system will require that all healthcare stakeholders should be involved accordingly (Murray & Frenk, 2010).

Establishing measures

Once a change has been implemented, the rate of mortality in the country will be determined after a given time frame and then compared to the initial rate. Precisely, the current number of cancer deaths will be compared from 2016 to 2021. The rate of hospital readmissions will also be compared from 2016 to 2023. The number of smokers will be compared from 2016 to 2010. Additionally, the number of obese adults will be compared from 2016 to 2021. Finally, the number of deaths that are caused by heart diseases will be compared starting from 2016 to 2023.

Selecting changes

The current healthcare system is already doing enough to reduce the rate of mortality in the country (Preston & Ho, 2009). Therefore, the core change that will alleviate the state of things will be a change of change and behaviors amongst the citizens of the country. For instance, the members of the public should be educated about cancer because it is one of the leading causes of death in the country. In addition to that, healthcare institutions should focus on quality improvement. Public sensitization should be carried out to enhance awareness about the effects of smoking. In retrospect to that, people should also be educated as about the importance of taking part in exercise activities to help reduce the number of deaths that are caused by obesity and heart diseases (Oeppen & Vaupel, 2012).

Testing changes

Plan-Do-Study-Act will be used to test the changes (Gillam & Siriwardena, 2013). The first step will be planning where the metrics of success for the project will be defined. Putting the plans of the project into action will also be part of this step. It will then be followed by the do step in which the components of the project plans will be implemented. In this case, the proposed changes to the healthcare system of the country will be implemented. The next step will be the study step in which the outcomes of the changes will be analyzed to determine their validities. It is in this step that signs of progress or success after the implementation of the changes will be analyzed. The act step will finalize the test process by putting lessons that have been learned together and coming up with readjustments and improvements (Gillam & Siriwardena, 2013).

Project summary

In summary, this project will be used to reduce the rate of mortality in the United States through the implementation of a number of measures (Murray & Frenk, 2010). More importantly, the project should provide a platform for getting to know more about the effects of the proposed changes in the United States’ healthcare system and the possible changes that should be made to address the issue of high mortality rate. The project should also provide a directive on how the proposed changes should be implemented by defining the roles of the participants and setting performance time frame. Finally, the success of the project should foresee the emulation of similar changes by other world countries to ensure that life expectancy is improved.

References

Gillam, S., & Siriwardena, A. N. (2013). Frameworks for improvement: clinical audit, the plan-do-study-act cycle and significant event audit. Quality in Primary Care, 21(2).

Murray, C. J., & Frenk, J. (2010). Ranking 37th—measuring the performance of the US health care system. N Engl J Med, 2010(362), 98-99.

Oeppen, J., & Vaupel, J. W. (2012). Broken limits to life expectancy. Science, 296(5570), 1029-1031.

Preston, S., & Ho, J. Y. (2009). The US health care system and lagging life expectancy: A case study.