Weekly Reflection 9/8/19
This week we were given a lot of information to start us off for our first guest speaker. The readings Dr. Spooner gave us were lengthy and in depth. They talked a lot about the progression of the healthcare and pharmaceutical field today as well as how it has changed drastically but yet stays concrete in some ways. The first reading, Chapter 1, talked about how the healthcare system in the United States is kind of an oxymoron or hypocritically ran. What I mean by this is the clear fact that the US has some of the most advanced medical technology and is continuing to progress but yet has a high rate of medical errors and is costing citizens so much money. The healthcare system is a solidified field and will most likely stay around forever but yet the country cannot get a grasp on it. There are issues with every citizen not receiving proper care or having access to the care that they need. This is why the concept of medicare for all is such a hot topic. Health care is something that everyone needs throughout their life but yet it costs too much money for many to afford. the reading stated that "the average premium for family health coverage was $12,106 with American workers paying $3,281 of this cost". The US is spending so much money on health care and most of Americans dish out a large quantity of their income to health. It is a grossly common paradox. In terms of health care the number of adults lacking it continues to rise due to employment rates, cost of private insurance provided by employers or individual health insurance, and access guidelines for public programs. This is an epidemic in our country that needs to me resolved. The reading also brought of the fact that the amount of medical errors in the system is sickening and it mostly is due to washing hands. This can lead to serious infections and in 2011 it was reported that "1.7 million healthcare associated infections and 99,000 associated deaths occurred and made healthcare associated infections one of the top ten leading causes of death in the US". This just further proves that our healthcare system may look polished from an outside perspective but it actually has man problems that are breaking it down. The reading went on the describe health care professions and the history of our system since the pilgrim days. It talked about healthcare demographics and different programs put into place to try and solve issues. Some things that I found interesting in this reading was the fact that medical errors and the under performance of the US healthcare system sets itself back compared to other countries. The reading even said that problems like these costed the US $19.5 billion in 2008. I just thought it was interesting how we are shooting our self in the foot. Another thing I found interesting was how discouragement has not changed over the years. Back in colonial times, healthcare discrimination occurred when you could have access to certain treatment and care only if you were in a certain social class. Like this, today medical technology is not equally distributed amount patients because its based on insurance status, income, and race.
The next reading on Chapter 3 just really gave all the nitty gritty details about the pharmaceutical industry. Such as careers, schooling, a history, and how it is changing right now. A lot of the information was plain and simple but something I found interesting was learning the difference of pharmaceutical care versus medication therapy management. Pharmaceutical care is a philosophy that looks at risk management, patient advocacy, disease management, pharmaceutical care services marketing , and business management. The object of it was to be influence more patient oriented services but yet the industry lacked in this area greatly which is why they are influencing a more success based idea with medication therapy management. This idea wants to maximize the benefits of patients from drug therapy and just making patient adherence better. Its a more clean cut process that makes the medical professionals go through steps in order to reach the ultimate success. This relates much to a consumer journey chart where you track how the consumer thinks throughout their consumption of a product and in this model they are doing the same by monitoring the patient journey much more closely.
The final reading for Chapter 5 was very small and just talked about who the keys role players are in the pharmaceutical industry. There are prescribers and dispensers. A presciber is what I assumed it would be, the physician who based on their education in pharmacotherapeutics and behavior writes a patient a prescription is order to aid in some problem that they are looking to solve. A dispenser is also very simple, it is the action of actually filling the prescription. Both these roles are vital in the industry and are huge in making a patient satisfies. Although the way in which they occur is changing, it is still all about having a happy healthy patient.
All of these readings gave me a great background going into Dr. Spooners presentation. He seemed very passionate about the topic and had a great presentation routine. I think something that was important that he did was remember that we are business students. We are told from the start about day to day functions of economics a.k.a. supply and demand. Although all of our knowledge did apply, the healthcare industry likes to defy those rules. The basics of supply and demand push the economy through times and soothing that stays consistent is the sheer fact that consumers drive it. In the healthcare field there is no control over this. The ideas that stood out for me was that the industry is very inelastic, quality is hard to measure, and supplier induced demand. In-elasticity means that as prices go up, demand goes down but yet revenue goes up. This is interesting to me because when it comes to the healthcare system there is a grey area of cost because patients do not know what they are paying until the end of the journey which causes speculation but it is something that will not change. If the cost is shifted over to consumers then the true cost will be unveiled and the industry will crumble because patients will avoid paying. With this in mind, the industry can raise prices all they want and still make revenue because even if the demand goes down, patients still need that procedure due to their health. When it comes to measuring quality, it can be hard due to the fact that it depends on the institution, the practitioner, or the insurance. Care is customized and individualed so measuring how good it is can be hard because there is no consistency. The fact that the industry is not a competitive market keeps it solidified which is why the problems that occur have to be taken care of efficiently and effectively or it will cause disputes. For an industry that is so vital to the country's success the errors that occur on a daily basis and the struggle provided to patients is an epidemic.
The next reading on Chapter 3 just really gave all the nitty gritty details about the pharmaceutical industry. Such as careers, schooling, a history, and how it is changing right now. A lot of the information was plain and simple but something I found interesting was learning the difference of pharmaceutical care versus medication therapy management. Pharmaceutical care is a philosophy that looks at risk management, patient advocacy, disease management, pharmaceutical care services marketing , and business management. The object of it was to be influence more patient oriented services but yet the industry lacked in this area greatly which is why they are influencing a more success based idea with medication therapy management. This idea wants to maximize the benefits of patients from drug therapy and just making patient adherence better. Its a more clean cut process that makes the medical professionals go through steps in order to reach the ultimate success. This relates much to a consumer journey chart where you track how the consumer thinks throughout their consumption of a product and in this model they are doing the same by monitoring the patient journey much more closely.
The final reading for Chapter 5 was very small and just talked about who the keys role players are in the pharmaceutical industry. There are prescribers and dispensers. A presciber is what I assumed it would be, the physician who based on their education in pharmacotherapeutics and behavior writes a patient a prescription is order to aid in some problem that they are looking to solve. A dispenser is also very simple, it is the action of actually filling the prescription. Both these roles are vital in the industry and are huge in making a patient satisfies. Although the way in which they occur is changing, it is still all about having a happy healthy patient.
All of these readings gave me a great background going into Dr. Spooners presentation. He seemed very passionate about the topic and had a great presentation routine. I think something that was important that he did was remember that we are business students. We are told from the start about day to day functions of economics a.k.a. supply and demand. Although all of our knowledge did apply, the healthcare industry likes to defy those rules. The basics of supply and demand push the economy through times and soothing that stays consistent is the sheer fact that consumers drive it. In the healthcare field there is no control over this. The ideas that stood out for me was that the industry is very inelastic, quality is hard to measure, and supplier induced demand. In-elasticity means that as prices go up, demand goes down but yet revenue goes up. This is interesting to me because when it comes to the healthcare system there is a grey area of cost because patients do not know what they are paying until the end of the journey which causes speculation but it is something that will not change. If the cost is shifted over to consumers then the true cost will be unveiled and the industry will crumble because patients will avoid paying. With this in mind, the industry can raise prices all they want and still make revenue because even if the demand goes down, patients still need that procedure due to their health. When it comes to measuring quality, it can be hard due to the fact that it depends on the institution, the practitioner, or the insurance. Care is customized and individualed so measuring how good it is can be hard because there is no consistency. The fact that the industry is not a competitive market keeps it solidified which is why the problems that occur have to be taken care of efficiently and effectively or it will cause disputes. For an industry that is so vital to the country's success the errors that occur on a daily basis and the struggle provided to patients is an epidemic.
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