The cost of health care in the contemporary world has increased drastically. The rise in the cost of health is because of the increase in the aging population as well as the developments in new treatments (Dickman, Himmelstein & Woolhandler 2017). Poor costing systems have serious consequences, especially when dealing with complex patients. To ensure that there is value in our health care, both the costs and outcomes must be evaluated at the patient level. The evaluation should involve an overlook of the entire care cycle of the patients with specific conditions. The medical team’s intervention should be seen from diagnosing a condition to the treatment and the ongoing management of the medical condition. For example, when treating diabetes, the cost incurred should involve costs associated with endocrinological care and costs associated with the treatment of associated conditions such as retinal and renal diseases (Hsia, Grove, & Cefalu 2017). This cost projection will assist largely in getting the correct cost projection.
Most complex patients need complex care services for various reasons. This care is due to their chronic conditions, mental health issues, medical-related problems, and the social vulnerability of the patient (Safford, 2015). The outcome of treatment for such patients should be viewed in many ways from the chances of survival to the ability of the treatment to function. The duration taken for the care and the complications and discomforts associated with it should also be evaluated. The evaluation should also check the sustainability of the recovery. The focus should be placed on whether the method will lead to a significant improvement and show the healthcare delivery value.
There should be an accurate measure of the projected cost of health care. Projecting healthcare costs can be challenging due to the complexity of healthcare delivery. All the resources and personnel involved in providing health care should be captured in health care costing to provide the right cost projections (Rocha et al., 2021). Health care cost projection will assist in effectively managing the process of treatment and recovery through the correct health projection.
References
Dickman, S. L., Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2017). Inequality and the health-care system in the USA. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1431-1441.
Hsia, D. S., Grove, O., & Cefalu, W. T. (2017). An update on SGLT2 inhibitors for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity, 24(1), 73.
Rocha, R., Furtado, I., & Spinola, P. (2021). Financing needs, spending projection, and the future of health in Brazil. Health Economics, 30(5), 1082-1094.
Safford, M. M. (2015). The complexity of complex patients. Journal of general internal medicine, 30(12), 1724-1725.