Seth Whitmer Provides an Overview of Healthcare Administration/Healthcare Management
The essentiality of healthcare systems is firmly established in modern times, with healthcare providers and institutions widespread and readily accessible for the vast majority of the populace. With a system as far-reaching and intricate as this, it is essential for oversight and administration to occur: There must be a group of individuals charged with leading, making decisions and weighing options for the collective whole to maintain order and progression within the healthcare industry. With all of this in mind, Seth Whitmer, a healthcare executive, has an overview of healthcare management and administration, in order for you to better understand why it exists and what it accomplishes.
Healthcare Is A Business
When broken down into its most basic function, the healthcare industry provides a service to consumers, not unlike a traditional business. Expanding on this notion, consumers pay for these services and have a choice of which healthcare provider they would like to buy from, creating a competitive market between these providers. The subsequent business cycle keeps the industry afloat, with freedom of choice between both providers and consumers resulting in the gradual improvement of services.
Businesses cannot operate on their own, and in the case of healthcare this is no exception. Businesses need to be managed, and the idea of administration is critical for keeping them running. This remains true for the healthcare industry, and the implementation of administration has had a positive impact. From top to bottom, whether it is resource management, employee wages, price reductions or anything in-between, every choice matters, especially in the case of healthcare, where so much is at stake, notably the wellbeing of citizens.
The Bigger Picture
As with any business, it is not enough for administrative decisions to be made on a day-to-day basis, explains Seth Whitmer; projections must also be made for the long term. Decisions must be made in order to change course as appropriate, and such choices trickle down, affecting everyone involved.
Essentially, in the case of healthcare administration, it acts as healthcare for healthcare: Routine checks are made inquiring about the overall health of the system, and decisions are made as needed with an emphasis on maintaining good health. While healthcare is still a business at its core, and good business strategies are a must, there is another goal besides making a profit. Healthcare must also focus on improving the health of its community. These expectations often come through legislation or through contracts with payers.
What Has Healthcare Administration Accomplished?
The implementation of oversight within healthcare has resulted in a variety of positive advancements. The advancements in medical technology available to us today are the direct result of proper management, and this will continue to be the case for some time. Next, healthcare administration has shifted the industry as a whole from being entered solely around private, direct payments between patients and providers toward reimbursements provided by third party companies, resulting in the payment systems we now have today.
According to Seth Whitmer, healthcare administration is also responsible for implementing changes mandated by government or payers. Government has increased the complexity of healthcare. In the past more traditional healthcare facilities were often run by physicians. However physicians did not have training in how to run a business, or how to implement changes to meet government requirements.
Overall, Seth Whitmer believes importance of healthcare administration is essential in this ever-changing, ever growing industry. Oversight has resulted in a better sense of the bigger picture, and major improvements and shifts in the industry have brought us to the present, where healthcare is as accessible as its ever been, in addition to having more medical advancements than ever before.
