Healthcare cost and quality, can coexist?
Rising costs and a desire to get quality healthcare is on everybody’s mind. The reality is different from the value of healthcare services goes up, and the quality of care goes down. However, is it the case that the quality of healthcare is going down or our expectations are going up? Probably not!!
Quality is a crucial aspect if you are spending wealth on something. The cost of the healthcare system is increasing at a pace not seen before. As a result, quality and access are getting hammered. To improve overall health compromise with quality and access is not acceptable.
Why is the cost increasing?
- Service providers know the people want to live a quality life not only LIFE.
- Everybody wants to get the best, and it becomes a demand-supply issue
- The overall logistics of healthcare is too complex
- The flow of information across the globe was limited to local and regional pockets.
- The availability infrastructure for healthcare services was limited to what was available in local regions
- Only the very rich could afford to go beyond the regional facilities to procure service
- Transportation and migration was limited
However, now the situation is changed:
- With the connected world information about various healthcare, advancements are available across the globe.
- The availability of fast and cheaper transportation services makes it possible for individuals to procure services at a global level.
- We migrate across the globes multiple times in the lifetime experiencing different levels of services
- We expect best in class care service irrespective of affordability
So why even with so much of connectivity cost of healthcare is increasing at a rate that is many times multiples of the inflation rate. Maybe we are not yet fully exploiting the technology in our hands like smartphones and cloud infrastructure for healthcare services. Solutions need to be simple to use to cater to all levels of users.
"As the innovative technologies in every field are becoming advanced, we start adopting and implementing them in our life to get most of these. Healthcare, which is considered as an important sector, also has many innovate technologies like smartphones, smart watches which help us to improve instant awareness of the quality of life. The full use of technology and access can enhance the cost of delivered healthcare."
