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610 Healthcare Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write About

Are you looking for interesting healthcare essay topics? StudyCorgi has prepared an extensive list of health care topics to write about! Here, you’ll find title ideas for various healthcare fields, including healthcare management, ethics, administration, leadership, policy, finance, care quality, and issues faced by healthcare workers. Our topics are suitable for both high school students and college students. Check them out!

🏆 Best Health Care Topics to Write About

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• Free Healthcare: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Application of Statistics in Healthcare
• Motivational Theories in Healthcare
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Healthcare Information Systems: Components, Benefits
• The Effects of the Lack of Teamwork in Healthcare
• Paired and Independent T-Test in Healthcare Scenario
• The Importance of Healthcare Management Healthcare organizations need healthcare management because healthcare nowadays requires high levels of coordination among multiple stakeholders.
• The US and New Zealand: Healthcare Profiles Comparison This essay compares the healthcare profiles of the United States and New Zealand and discusses how the latter may have paved the way for the former’s much-needed improvement.
• Hospital Revenue Sources and Models in Healthcare Industry Like any other business, healthcare organizations have to perform effective revenue management in order to maintain stable financial status and avoid critical losses.
• Statistics Application in Healthcare and Nursing Statistical analyses are efficient mechanisms for obtaining accurate data based on calculations and affecting not only the quality of care.
• Organization Theory Improving Healthcare Operations Organizational theories explain the relationships between the business and its environment and how it affects its operation mode.
• The Value of PowerPoint Presentations for Healthcare Management In the fast-evolving spheres like healthcare, technologies play a crucial role in the achievement of health-promotional, educational, strategic, and developmental goals.
• Effects of Poor Communication in Healthcare Reviewing various categories of interactions within the healthcare system will enable an in-depth understanding of the effects of poor communication.
• Quality Management in Healthcare Quality management in healthcare is essential to ensure patient safety. It is helpful by providing the opportunity to evaluate quality in healthcare organizations.
• Lack of Staffing and Training in Healthcare The essay discusses Lack of training affects the supply of trained nurses to health care organizations, thus, contributing to the nursing shortage in these organizations.
• Pros and Cons of the Gatekeeper Healthcare System The article describes the levels of the healthcare system, its advantages and disadvantages, while the author believes that the advantages outweigh.
• The U.S Healthcare System and the Roemer Model Roemer’s model of a healthcare system demonstrates how a socialist healthcare system operates. This paper explores the entire U.S healthcare system in relation to Roemer’s model.
• The Healthcare Manager’s Role in Information Technology Management This article focuses on the role that a healthcare manager plays in ensuring the efficient execution of medical operations through the use of new technologies.
• Maternal Healthcare Overview Maternal health is a field that focuses on the well-being of women while pregnant, during childbirth, and throughout the postnatal period.
• Calgary Family Assessment Model in Healthcare Calgary Family Assessment Model is a tool utilized by health care specialists to evaluate the overall wellbeing of a family.
• Role of Family in Healthcare and How Culture Affects Health Beliefs The paper will discuss how family shapes the role of care and attitudes towards health and how culture affects health beliefs and community health.
• Healthcare Information System and Its Application In modern society, the healthcare information system plays a critical role in defining the quality of healthcare offered in healthcare centers.
• Expectancy Theory in the Healthcare Sector This paper explores the fundamentals of Expectancy Theory and applies it to the healthcare sector. Expectancy theory has found use in healthcare education contexts.
• Ethical Issues in Healthcare Essay: Ethical Dilemma This paper describes an ethical dilemma in healthcare, its specific characteristics, violated ethical principles, and existent barriers to ethical practice.
• Healthcare Manager’s Conceptual, Technical, and Interpersonal Skills A healthcare manager is a person who facilitates, administrates, and influences the healthcare system as a manager is an indispensable part of the medical system.
• Stages of Life and Influence of Age in Healthcare Age is a factor in the way patients interact with the healthcare system. This paper discusses the stages of life and the influence of age in healthcare from the patient’s perspective.
• Healthcare in Canada: Problems and Solutions The issue of the challenges that face Medicare in Canada is increasingly turning out to be a controversial subject; even as far as the politics of Canada are concerned.
• Supply and Demand of Healthcare and Automobiles This paper’s purpose is to examine the differences and peculiarities of the health care market, as well as analyze current trends in this field.
• Advantages of Computer Technology in Healthcare The emergence of computer technology within healthcare is the catalyst of changes that began to display the improvement of medical procedures and care quality.
• Risk Management in Healthcare Construction Projects A risk is any occurrence that has the potential to alter the progress of a project significantly. A risk may be positive or negative.
• Healthcare Problems of Modern Society The public health system, as an organizational construct of a social institution, affects the formation and effective use of human capital.
• Issues and Possible Solutions in the Healthcare Sector It is hard to disagree that healthcare is one of the most fundamental and intricate sectors playing a crucial role in people’s lives.
• Intercultural Communication in Business, Education, and Healthcare The rules of communication vary depending on different contexts; that’s why this paper aims to discuss intercultural communication in business, education, and healthcare.
• Social Change: The Nurse’s Role in Global Healthcare To advocate for the global perspective on the issue of the opioid crisis and the need to change the current standards for opioid prescription.
• Virtual Reality in Healthcare and Education The beginnings of virtual reality can found throughout human history. This paper explores its emergence and development, and its influence in healthcare and education.
• Creating App in Healthcare: Business Plan In order to create the most effective app in healthcare, it is necessary to monitor trends in this area and implement them.
• Comparing the American and Australian Healthcare Systems This paper will compare the American and Australian healthcare systems based on their costs, quality, and access and mention what the US can learn from the OCED member.
• Information Technology Applications in Healthcare Health IT applications as the most advanced tool that can potentially be used for enhancing patient education through patient-nurse communication.
• Healthcare Problems in South Africa The state of health in South Africa differs from the most fundamental primary healthcare, provided for free by the government, to the highly professional and technologically advanced facilities.
• Nursing Informatics Policy and Its Influence on Healthcare Delivery The development of nursing information structures is an essential factor in improving the delivery of health services. It includes the development of regulations.
• The Role of Cultural Relativism in Healthcare The Nacirema is a group of North Americans living in the territory between the “Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles”
• Regression Analysis for Healthcare Organization The paper studies the regression analysis that enables managers to evaluate the patterns within the health care organization and make predictions for decision-making.
• US and Canada Healthcare Systems Comparison Although Canada is similar to the U.S., its health care system cannot be copied as the two countries do not share the same social ethos and history.
• Shared Decision-Making Principles in Healthcare The article argues that to provide effective care, healthcare workers need to understand the concepts of shared decision-making and follow the basic principles.
• Healthcare in the Russian Federation There are a number of key factors that lead to major Russian healthcare issues, such as chronic diseases, poor lifestyle habits, and lack of health promotion.
• Change Management in Healthcare Changes in the healthcare field are always associated with difficulties since they affect the ways care is delivered, as well as medical professionals’ and clients’ experiences.
• High Taxes’ Benefits for Education and Healthcare High taxes have more benefits than drawbacks for the citizens as the payments are allocated to develop essential systems, such as healthcare and education.
• Healthcare Environment: Challenges to Teamwork and Collaboration Collaboration among staff members is one of the vital requirements for effective management of key tasks and responsibilities in the healthcare environment.
• Applying Ethical Principles in Healthcare Modern medical field requires new, high-quality ways of treating patients, considering the objective moral code.practice and help them in ethical decision-making process.
• Performance Appraisals in Healthcare Settings The assessment of the achievements should be eliminated from the healthcare work setting because it focuses on the compensation rather than individual specifics.
• Evolution of Healthcare Information Systems Healthcare and hospital information systems have greatly changed in the past twenty years and this has been as a result of the improvement of information technology.
• Capstone Project Change Proposal in Healthcare Sector Nursing understaffing is caused primarily by the emotional exhaustion of medical workers due to the stressful workload in the sector.
• Demand and Supply of Healthcare Workforce in Oman There has been continued indication of the shortages of physicians and nurses in hospitals across Oman and this is often seen in the media on regular basis.
• Leadership Theories in the Healthcare Industry There has been extensive research on the effectiveness of leadership style and of theories in different areas of work such as business, nursing, education, military, and politics.
• Customer Focus in Healthcare Project Management There are certain changes in project management that take place when the organization decides to focus more on customer preferences.
• The Effectiveness of the Internet in Healthcare Healthcare organizations that are making use of the internet to manage their information have received significant attention.
• Irish Healthcare System: HR Management and Financing The management of the healthcare sector requires using not only adequate leadership practices and approaches to monitoring employee performance.
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Pros & Cons Rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technologies are gradually changing health care practices and bring a paradigm shift to the medical system.
• Ethics, Morals, and Values in Healthcare In healthcare, ethics, morals, and values play a rather crucial role. It is important to be able to differentiate between the concepts and understand their influence on the field.
• Spain’s Current Healthcare System Governments across the globe implement powerful measures and allocate adequate resources to support their respective healthcare systems.
• Healthcare Services: Right or Privilege? It is believed that all people should have free access to healthcare. But today it is a privilege that only particular people can access even though it should be a human right.
• Russian and American Healthcare Systems Comparison The comparison of the health care system of Russia and the health care system in America shows that neither system meets the health care needs of its populations.
• Practice in the Field of Healthcare: Literature Review The purpose of this study has been to determine how the evidence supports practice in the health care industry as well as the various problems health care.
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare Improving quality in health care is one of the essential tasks. The quality of hospital services depends on external factors, such as industrial manufacturing processes.
• Healthcare in the United Kingdom The purpose of this paper is to examine the healthcare in the United Kingdom, providing recent data and covering the main issues in this area.
• GE Energy and GE Healthcare: Strategic Customer Relationships This article seeks to discuss the benefits of building strategic customer relationships for GE Energy and GE healthcare and their customers.
• HCA Healthcare Corporation’s Strategic Analysis HCA is a corporation that offers a broad scope of healthcare services in areas that encompass surgery, oncology, orthopedics, and cardiology to mention a few.
• Healthcare Employee Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection are the starting points of staffing, which emphasizes their importance for providing the healthcare industry with employees.
• Evaluation in Nursing Education and Healthcare Organization Evaluation and assessment are key components of nursing education and healthcare practice since they are concerned with quality appraisal and revealing the need for improvement.
• Project Management in Healthcare Project management in healthcare involves several skills and techniques that improve the efficiency of operations in medical facilities.
• Importance of Education for Healthcare Professionals Education are important in promoting quality healthcare services by providing healthcare practitioners with knowledge and skills in handling different healthcare conditions.
• Patient-Centered Healthcare Coordination Plan The paper states that the goal of the eventual care coordination plan is to ensure that all the many aspects of healthcare are addressed.
• Quality Improvement and Measurement Tools in Healthcare Quality tools are widely used to define and assess healthcare problems, especially in healthcare facilities that prioritize quality and safety problems.
• Healthcare Organizations’ Mission, Vision and Values This project identifies four health organizations coupled with reviewing their vision, mission, and values and proposes changes to the organizations’ missions, visions, and values.
• Leadership and Change in Healthcare Management The paper outlines the essence of leadership and change in healthcare management focusing on the Patient safety, Understanding organizations, Health care management.
• US and Singapore Healthcare Systems Comparison The Healthcare system is a major concern for many countries. Comparing and contrasting the quality of healthcare in the U.S. and Singapore might provide valuable insights.
• American and Spanish Healthcare Systems The paper is aimed to contrast and compare the information and statistics related to health care systems in the United States (US) and Spain.
• Healthcare Disparities in the LGBT Community Apart from the disparities representatives of the LGBT community face in everyday life, they also deal with some major challenges as to their access to appropriate health care services.
• Management and Leadership in Healthcare The effectiveness of management of a medical organization can only be guaranteed by the figure of the chief physician as the main head of the clinic.
• The US Healthcare Delivery System and Role of Nurses This paper aims to discuss changes implemented to reform the U.S. healthcare delivery system and the role of nurses in the altering environment.
• Financial Analysis in Healthcare Organizations There are four essential financial statements for a not-for-profit healthcare enterprise. They should be used for financial strategy formulation together.
• Healthcare Management and Leadership The importance of healthcare management is being understood on the medicine front with various players and places.
• Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare Services The article is an analysis of a number of situations that a patient may face and contains a detailed analysis of each of them from a legal and ethical point of view.
• Steps in the Process of Risk Management in Healthcare Risk management is essential for any enterprise, but for healthcare organizations, it has even greater significance because, frequently, people’s lives are at stake.
• Healthcare Regulatory Agencies in the US The purpose of this paper is to identify 5 major healthcare regulatory agencies in the US, describe the agency, level of regulatory authority, and role within the US healthcare system.
• The Consent Role and Aspects in Healthcare Consent represents a kind of agreement that is defined between two or more parties and highlights certain capacities and freedoms that are preserved by that agreement.
• Agile-Scrum in Healthcare Project Management The paper illustrates agile’s integration in the healthcare industry and showcases how more project management schemes are needed to boost its application in the sector.
• Staffing Process in Healthcare The paper analyzes the essential functions, values, and components of effective health care organizational leadership and the challenges of leading modern healthcare organizations.
• Mintzberg’s Configuration in a Healthcare Organization The paper compares Mintzberg’s five basic organizational configurations, identifies the predominant design that works best for a health care organization.
• Cultural Barriers in Healthcare Management There are numerous barriers including language, cultural competence, and structural access to health care which prevent participation from cultural or ethnic minorities.
• Non-traditional Healthcare Practices: Can It Replace the Actual Medicine? The three cultures that will be examined in this study will consist of the Filipino, Chinese and Finnish cultures. Their non traditional health practices significantly diverged from one another.
• Quality Improvement Team in Healthcare Institution The essay considers creation of an interdisciplinary quality improvement team, risks associated with working with such teams and the ways to address these issues.
• Hospital Ownership Types and Impacts on Healthcare Finance The paper states that there is a significant difference in the level of the financial well-being of private, non-profit, and public hospitals.
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare The government can improve health outcomes by ensuring equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, and management of chronic illnesses for marginalized populations.
• Administrative and Financial System in Healthcare Administrative and financial system applications have advantages and disadvantages for healthcare; however, their benefits prevail over the challenges.
• Quality Healthcare and Its Aims Organizations and healthcare providers develop analytic frameworks for assessing quality to improve outcomes. Patient-centered care is an aim proposed by the Institute of Medicine.
• Conflict Stages and Its Resolution in Healthcare The purpose of this paper is to describe the case related to the development of a conflict in a healthcare setting, identify its type and discuss four stages of a conflict.
• Healthcare Robotics Impact Today, robotics enters many spheres of life, including education, social life, and healthcare. The use of robots in healthcare allows advancing patient care and achieving better health outcomes.
• Healthcare Database Design and Development The healthcare databases for patient data and human resources are likely to be different. Similarly, the database scope can define the specific needs and issues.
• Healthcare Human Resources Management and Changes Human resource management is a vital emphasis of management in organizations. This essay explores the significance of HRM in the context of the health care industry.
• Efficacy of Telemedicine and Its Application in Healthcare The technology of telehealth or Telemedicine is being applied actively in healthcare. There are various studies that examine the influence of Telemedicine on participants.
• Role of Ethics in Healthcare Leadership Healthcare administrators use the principle of nonmaleficence to resolve challenges associated with service delivery.
• Conflict Resolution in a Healthcare Setting The senior management of a healthcare setting must find a way to resolve a conflict in order not to undermine employees’ productivity and the quality of the provided care.
• GBMC HealthCare System’s Competitive Advantage Strategic planning helps GBMC maintain steady value growth, decrease financial risks, and plan development for the services and employees.
• Leadership in Motivating Healthcare Staff to Increase Performance Transformation leadership is an approach that efficiently works to motivate healthcare staff to increase performance and teamwork and to improve patients’ outcomes.
• The Healthcare Information: Security and Privacy All employees should participate in a mandatory training program that is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of handling patient health records securely.
• IT in Healthcare: Barcode Medication Administration System The integration of the information systems into the medical has improved a lot of issues, including reduction of errors relating to administration transcription.
• Implementation of Healthcare Organizational Design In the case of a healthcare organization, the organization and management structure should support the design.
• Healthcare System in Republic of Panama The paper discusses the organization of the Panama health care system, patients’ bill of rights, medical ethical issues and complexities of advanced directives.
• Unionization and Magnet Accreditation in Healthcare This essay investigates the process of union organization in healthcare and provides a description of the steps needed to be undertaken.
• Graphs, Statistical and Clinical Significance in Healthcare In healthcare and medicine, there can be two different types of significance: clinical and statistical, and it is important to understand the difference between the types.
• Restraint and Seclusion in Healthcare Restraint and seclusion have been used as measures of addressing patients’ behaviors that could cause harm to them and other people around.
• Financial Management Role in Healthcare With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act, electronic health records, and the Medicare billing system, the financial aspect of healthcare requires extra attention.
• Time Management in the Healthcare Sector Effective time management is a core component of the healthcare sector. The integration of time management strategies requires specific resources.
• Benefits of Health Information Technology Information technology can assist patients in getting their medications, which can be prescribed on video and audio devices.
• Effects of Poor Workplace Culture on Healthcare Organizations The current paper provides a unique outlook on the fundamental value held by workplace culture in healthcare organizations.
• Performance Appraisal Process in a Healthcare Organization The immediate goals of a nursing performance appraisal have to involve the improvement of care performance, which should lead to a positive healthcare organization outcome.
• Perfect Competition and the Cost of Healthcare The cost of healthcare in the US is extremely high, especially in contrast to other high-income countries; this high cost is attributed to labor, goods, and administrative costs.
• Healthcare Professions: EMT and Occupational Therapist This paper discusses such healthcare professions in the U.S. healthcare system as emergency medical technician (EMT) and occupational therapist.
• Healthcare Delivery Models in Germany, the UK, and the US The goal of the research paper is to compare and contrast healthcare delivery models in three countries: Germany, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
• The Ontological Basis for Participant Action Research in Healthcare The paper is interested in describing the ontological and epistemological basis for participant action research in healthcare with particular emphasis on non-medical prescribing.
• Teamwork and Collaboration in Healthcare Successful health outcomes are best attained when there are teamwork and collaboration among the individuals involved.
• Ethical Professional Codes of Healthcare The current case study describes the basic principles of healthcare ethics. They include autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence.
• Building Trust Within the Healthcare Setting This plan is based on the trust equation proposed by Reagan, which states that credibility, reliability, intimacy divided by self-orientation are equal to trust.
• Major Third-party Payers to Healthcare Providers This paper includes a brief discussion of major reimbursement methods that are currently used in the country of the USA.
• Absenteeism and Lateness in the Healthcare Field Absenteeism and lateness are widespread and significant issues in any professional sphere. However, such problems acquire more importance when they occur in the healthcare field.
• Healthcare Professional Training and Development The articles that will be discovered in this paper mainly cover the topic of training and development of staff in healthcare establishments.
• NMC Healthcare Organization and Its Culture NMC Healthcare has several strengths that contribute towards its success. Having been operating for more than four decades, the firm has gained vast experience.
• Medical Technologies Developing Healthcare In this case, the primary goal of this paper is to highlight a substantial role of technology in the advancement of medicine.
• Mental Healthcare Provision & Barriers to Innovation Mental health providers require innovative ways of improving care delivery, but they are experiencing significant challenges in adopting innovations.
• Healthcare Social Issue for Indigenous People in Canada It is worth pointing out that the social issue associated with the indigenous population of Canada and the health care system is relevant and open.
• The Action Research in Healthcare Action research is a methodology used to identify clinical practice problems and develop potential solutions to improve the quality of care.
• Cuban Cultural Communication in Relation to Healthcare Cubans are hospitable and open-minded people; people do not build fences around houses, and the door remains open since the population is always happy with guests.
• Roles of a Financial Manager in Healthcare The financial manager shall be responsible for monitory of the cash receipts and disbursements towards the attainment of the operational and investment needs of the hospital.
• Leadership in Healthcare Management & Administration Healthcare management needs administrators with a deep understanding of the medical practice and requires them to be influential leaders.
• Partnering to Heal: Healthcare-Associated Infections Prevention The essay explains how healthcare providers and family members could have prevented the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections.
• Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) The paper investigates the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency – its background, structure, the field of operation, impacts, and responsibilities.
• Afro-Latin Culture and Approach to Healthcare Afro-Latin attitude towards health is characterized by the prevailing of traditional healing practices over conventional medicine due to cultural, economic, and social barriers.
• Cash Versus Accrual Accounting Methods in Healthcare Organizations This paper will focus on analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of integrating accrual versus cash accounting methods in private physician practices and public hospitals.
• Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services The sixth edition of ethical and religious directives for Catholic healthcare services was created under the patronage of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• Interpersonal Communication Skills in Healthcare The problem of miscommunication in healthcare persists and tends to have negative impacts on patient outcomes, including those related to safety.
• Policies and Protocols in Healthcare Policies and protocols in a healthcare environment are essential, as they guide medical professionals in providing high-quality, evidence-based care to all patients.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) and Healthcare The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term that defines the way objects (things) can be connected to the Internet, which provides them with the capability to transmit information.
• South African and Namibian Healthcare The portfolio assesses the current state of South African health care compares it to Namibian health care system, and identifies future challenges and directions.
• United Healthcare Group and Its Strategic Plan United Healthcare Group is a for-profit managed organization and one of the largest health care companies in the US, which provides a wide range of services to its clients.
• Future Trends in Healthcare Progressively, individuals the world over are finding themselves depending on the internet as a source of health-related information.
• Organizational Change in Healthcare The change in the management aspect of the healthcare sector administration poses an excellent example to the impact upon all stakeholders.
• Scheduling Management in Healthcare In healthcare management, scheduling is an essential procedure that optimizes the workflow, leading to increased nurse satisfaction and balanced benefits expenses.
• Healthcare: The Importance of Accessibility Healthcare plays a significant role in treating life-threatening illnesses, and the accessibility for everyone would save countless lives.
• The Importance of Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Healthcare Interdisciplinary cooperation has been on the rise in the last few years in the healthcare system and its impact has been substantial.
• Professional Relationships in Healthcare Successful professional relationships are essential to working effectively in healthcare settings and maintaining a positive climate within the organization.
• Using of Virtual Reality in Healthcare The paper argues it is necessary to analyze several cases of application of VR developments in the field of healthcare.
• The Challenges Faced by Healthcare Workers The challenges faced by healthcare workers include transitioning from volume-based healthcare to value-based healthcare, increasing costs and expenses, and provider shortages.
• Healthcare Delivery Systems in Different Countries The health care delivery system in Germany means accuracy, a high level of organization, and maximum efficiency.
• The Healthcare System: Effects of Social Media Healthcare professionals are grasping social media as an instrument in careers advancement. Registered nurses and health practitioners must be registered for vocational reasons.
• Analysis of Limited Access to Healthcare The analysis will primarily focus on geographic and related factors in regards to the issue of healthcare access.
• Modern Healthcare Management: The Role of Information Technologies The introduction of IT in medicine made it possible to bring its advancement to a new level and had a beneficial effect on improving the provision of medical care to the patients.
• Artificial Intelligence: Integrated in Healthcare This paper aims to talk about AI as an innovative idea that can be integrated into healthcare. It will detail the strategies used in executing AI.
• The Analysis of Healthcare Organization The paper analyzes various organizational style, their advantages and disadvantages and importance of management for control.
• Theory, Risk, and Quality Management in Healthcare Facilities Risk management approaches were incorporated into the health sector following the increased malpractice crises. Hospitals were encountering increased compensation demands.
• The German Healthcare System: Key Aspects The German Healthcare System is among the most advanced healthcare systems that provide quality healthcare services, which are not only accessible but also affordable.
• Cost Allocation in Healthcare Analysis This essay aims to discuss the cost allocation process in the context of healthcare, including its goals, key steps, and methods.
• Behavioral Cues in Healthcare Behaviors Behavioral cues in healthcare behaviors can provide an indicator for providers as to what interventions should be implemented in order to improve behaviors.
• Patient Safety Culture in the Healthcare Workplace The issue ofsafety became so polarizing and crucial, patient safety measures became one of the focuses of every health care institution.
• Healthcare Disparities and Potential Solutions The purpose of the paper is to expand on healthcare disparities, contributing factors, potential solutions, and the details of their implementation.
• Comparison of Healthcare Systems: The United States and Switzerland According to AHRQ, there are cases when health disparities in the quality of care and access may be observed. It particularly relates to ethnic minorities and immigrants with low income.
• Healthcare for Hindus: Purnell Model for Cultural Competence
• Effective Professional Teamwork in Healthcare
• Diagnosis-Related Groups in Healthcare Research
• Healthcare Quality, Safety, and High-Reliability
• Research Designs in Healthcare Research
• The Right to Healthcare as a Basic Human Right
• The Gibbs Reflection Cycle Method in Healthcare
• Healthcare Facility Expansion Funding
• Career in Healthcare Administration
• The Basic Level of Healthcare: H. Engelhardt’s and N. Daniels’ Perspectives
• Strategic Planning in Healthcare
• Clinical Career Ladders in Healthcare
• Healthcare Professional Burnout and Its Effects
• Interprofessional Communication in the Healthcare Team
• Women’s Healthcare: Eugenics and Sterilization
• Servant Leadership in Healthcare
• Compensation Structure in Healthcare
• Healthcare: Interprofessional Collaboration
• Organizational Performance and Structure in Healthcare
• Categorical Variables in a Healthcare Research
• Indian Healthcare Information System
• Implementing Effective Management in Healthcare
• Electronic Resources in Healthcare
• Healthcare Accreditation and Licensing
• Incivility Within the Healthcare Metaparadigm
• The Issue of Ethics in Healthcare
• Cash vs. Accrual Accounting for Healthcare Organization
• Developing a Feedback-Rich Environment in the Healthcare
• Incomplete or Missing Documentation: Patient Safety in Healthcare
• Evidence-Based Conflict Resolution Strategies in Healthcare
• Patient Safety in the Healthcare Workplace Culture
• Organizational Culture in Healthcare
• Information Systems in Healthcare
• Workplace Interpersonal Conflicts Among the Healthcare Workers
• Patients Safety and Needs in Healthcare Environment
• Conflict Management in Healthcare Facilities
• Nursing Quality Models in Healthcare Institutions
• Fraud and Abuse in Healthcare: Analysis
• Factors of Decision-Making by Healthcare Managers
• Risk and Quality Management in Healthcare
• Corruption in South Africa’s Healthcare Sector
• Strategic and Program Evaluation in Healthcare
• Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare
• Strategic Planning and Leadership in Healthcare
• Patient Identity Management Policy in Healthcare
• Cybersecurity and Protection in Healthcare
• Sexual Issues Confronting Healthcare Providers in the 21st Century
• The Implementation of a Safety Improvement Initiative in Healthcare Institutions
• Healthcare Marketing and Its Evolution
• Performance Management System in Healthcare
• Organizational Mission, Vision, and Values in Healthcare
• Quality and Risk Management in Healthcare
• Leadership in Healthcare Institutions
• Healthcare Issues: The Cultural Assessment Framework
• Theory of Planned Behavior and Educational Intervention in Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections
• Healthcare System in the Republic of Panama
• System Failures in Healthcare Facilities
• Cost, Access, and Quality in Healthcare
• The Importance of Effective Healthcare Communication
• Nursing Informatics in Healthcare
• Stage-Of-Life and Healthcare Experiences
• The Importance of Moral Courage in the Healthcare
• Autism and Associated Healthcare Issues
• Impact of Technology on the Healthcare System
• AIDET Communication Process in the Healthcare
• Big Data and Data Mining in Healthcare Education
• Robotic Technologies in the Healthcare Sector
• Pressure Ulcers as a Healthcare Project Topic
• Access of Healthcare: Factors Affecting the Access of Care and Barriers
• LGBT Healthcare Disparity: Theoretical Framework
• Blockchain Revolution in the Healthcare Industry
• Tenet Healthcare Corporation: Training and Development
• Code of Conduct in Healthcare Organizations
• Healthcare Quality Improvement Team Meeting Plan
• Healthcare Conflict Resolution Case
• Religion and Ethics in Healthcare Provision
• Healthcare Quality Improvement and Stakeholders
• Healthcare Information Technology: Information Needs and Implementation of the Health Information System
• Healthcare Quality Initiatives and Their Importance
• Data Breaches and Cyber Attacks on Healthcare Organizations
• Information Security Policies in Healthcare Organizations
• Constructing Team Values in Healthcare
• Information Technology Projects in the Healthcare Sector
• Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Views on Healthcare
• Beliefs, Perceptions, and Behaviors Impacting Healthcare Utilization
• Healthcare Administrator: Profession Overview
• Analysis of Innovation in Healthcare
• Healthcare Informatics: Introduction to Theory
• The Concept of Accountability in Healthcare
• Mental Healthcare Aspects of Latinos
• Telehealth and Its Impact on the Healthcare System
• Overworked Healthcare Systems: The Case of the US and Canada
• Fraud Schemes in the Healthcare Industry
• Healthcare Industry Challenges: Information and Service Integration
• The Pain Rating Scales in Healthcare
• Medication Error Impact on Healthcare Quality
• Safety Culture in the Healthcare Workplace
• Aspects of Healthcare Costs
• Informatics Technologies in Healthcare
• United Healthcare Firm’s Readiness to Meeting Healthcare Needs
• The Forced-Air Prewarming Strategy in Healthcare
• Artificial Intelligence and Its Usage in Modern Warfare and Healthcare
• Operation Management and Value Chain in Healthcare
• Poverty and Poor Health: Access to Healthcare Services
• Strategic Planning: Healthcare Organizations
• Ethics in the Healthcare Industry: Armando Dimas’ Case
• Nurse’s Role in Healthcare Sentinel Events
• Quality Improvement and Transformation of Healthcare
• Healthcare Innovations and Improvements
• Vanguard Healthcare Services, LLC: Health Organization Case Study
• The Issue of Healthcare Compliance
• Accountability in the Healthcare Industry
• Technology and Future Trends in Healthcare
• Mobile Apps Utilization in Modern Health Care
• Healthcare Root-Cause Analysis and Safety Improvement Plan
• Cloudlet Architecture in Healthcare Computing
• United Healthcare Organization and Citizens’ Needs
• New Sustainable Development Goals in Healthcare
• Chinese Cultural Beliefs: Healthcare Assessment
• Personality Type and Leadership in Healthcare
• Teamworking Skills in Healthcare
• Healthcare Project Management Office’s Responsibilities
• Cross-Cultural Healthcare and Its Implications
• Healthcare Financing: Equipment Replace Proposal
• Muslim Faith and Healthcare Relationship
• Trends in the Healthcare Sector
• Healthcare Informatics: Infrastructure Evaluation
• Emotional Intelligence and Feelings in Healthcare
• Levine’s Conservation Theory in Healthcare Research
• Healthcare Change Management and Workforce Retention
• Ways to Improve the US Healthcare System
• Three-Step Change Theory and Its Phases in Healthcare
• Team-Based Healthcare in Nursing Practice
• Emotional Intelligence in Healthcare Leaders and Nurses
• How Big Data Is Used in Health Care
• Healthcare Technological Advancements: Pros & Cons
• Healthcare Governance and Its Common Features
• The Implication of Information Technology on Marketing Strategy of Healthcare Industry
• Leadership Models in Healthcare
• Big Data in the Healthcare Sector: Pros and Cons
• Using Smartphones in Healthcare: Ethical Issues
• Epidemiological Data and Its Role in Healthcare
• Advocacy and Communication in Healthcare
• Culture of the Nacirema in Modern Healthcare
• Marijuana and Its Use in Healthcare
• Strategic Planning Processes in Healthcare
• Risk Management in Healthcare Settings
• Effective Communication and Quality in Healthcare
• Trinity Healthcare’s Internal and External Barriers
• Aspects of Palliative Care in Healthcare
• Stakeholders’ Conflict of Interests in Healthcare Provision
• Elder Abuse in the US Healthcare System
• Voluntary Accreditation in Healthcare: Requirements, Compliance, and Standards
• Occupational Stress Management in Healthcare
• Data Analytics and System Performance in Healthcare
• Integration of Health Information Management System (HIMS) into Healthcare
• Overcoming Personal Biases, Prejudice, and Stereotyping in Healthcare
• The Smartphone Technology in the Healthcare Sector
• “The HR Challenges Shaping the Healthcare Industry” Article Summary
• Racial Disparities in Healthcare Through the Lens of Systemic Racism
• Using of Statistics in Healthcare
• Abbreviated Quantitative Healthcare Research Plan
• Foundations in Professional Healthcare Practice
• Strategic Management Techniques and Tools in Healthcare
• Transformational Leadership in Healthcare
• Intentional Exaggeration: Healthcare Plans and Products
• Six Sigma’ Management Strategy in Healthcare
• Patient Rights When Interacting With Healthcare Providers
• Informatics in the Clinic Area Healthcare
• Leadership in Healthcare Overview
• The Practice Reality of Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Reducing the Number of Healthcare-Associated Infections
• Statistical Process Control in the Healthcare
• Replication and Its Importance in Healthcare Research
• Healthcare Management: Past, Present, and Future
• The Launch of Healthcare Projects
• Implementation Strategy in the Healthcare Sector: Implementation Stages Analysis
• Healthcare Marketing and Strategy in Prenatal Care Practice
• Theory of Control in the Healthcare
• Financial Management of Healthcare Organizations
• Healthcare: New Treatment Methods
• Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers in US Healthcare Organizations
• Leadership Styles and Theories in Healthcare
• Cultural Pluralism and Sexism in Healthcare
• Improving Healthcare Quality With Bar-Coded Medication Administration
• Science of Human Flourishing in Healthcare
• Medical Devices Trade Agreements for Healthcare
• Transgender People and Healthcare Barriers
• Importance Skills in Healthcare Environment
• Change Management in Healthcare: Using the Principles of Transformational Leadership
• Healthcare Delivery Models and Nursing Trends
• Healthy Relationships in the Healthcare Workplace
• Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Training and Development Plan
• ABC Healthcare Cyber and Computer Network Security
• Healthcare Marketing Communication and Strategies
• Healthcare Policy, Leadership and Performance
• Healthcare Workforce and Human Resource Management
• Healthcare Regulatory Agencies
• Using Technology in Healthcare Setting
• Nursing Definition and Healthcare Actors
• Austrian vs. American Healthcare Systems
• Sickle Cell Disease and Healthcare Decisions
• The PICOT Framework in Healthcare
• Financial Viability in Healthcare
• The Christian and Buddhist Perspectives in Healthcare
• Healthcare Mission and Philosophy: Mercy Hospital Inc.
• Healthcare in the United States: Timeline and Reforms
• Healthcare Access: Financial Barriers
• Simulation in Healthcare Operational Decision-Making
• The United States Healthcare System Analysis
• The National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
• Factors Facilitating Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Policies Addressing LGBT (Queer) Healthcare Disparities
• Quality Healthcare Improvement for Pregnant Women in New York City
• Negligence and Battery in Healthcare Units
• Risk Management, Quality and Safety in Healthcare
• Healthcare Affordability in the United States
• Healthcare Quality and Outcomes: Measurement and Management
• The Policy Standard in China’s Healthcare System
• Healthcare Financial Elements
• Patient-Centered Medical Home: Marketing in Healthcare
• How Analytics Can Help Improve Healthcare Decision-Making
• Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare Organizations
• The Impact of Genomics on Policy and Practice in Healthcare
• Healthcare Costs Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Monitoring Compliance of IV Pump Integration in a Healthcare Setting
• Geography and Healthcare Equity in the U.S.
• Navigating Organizational Theories in Healthcare
• Challenges and Complexities in the U.S. Healthcare System
• The US vs. New Zealand Healthcare Systems
• Application of Blockchain in Healthcare
• Dental Healthcare Persons’ Infection Control
• Monitoring and Controlling Functions in Healthcare Organizations
• Abuses in a Healthcare Context
• The Canadian Healthcare System’s Key Challenges
• Healthcare as a Basic Human Right
• Data Analytics and Its Role in Healthcare
• Business Analytics in Healthcare
• Impacts of Organizational Culture and Structure on Healthcare Outcomes
• Healthcare Service Management Course
• Healthcare Organization Assessment
• Advanced Practice Nurse: Healthcare Policy
• Business Needs in the Healthcare Sector
• Information Technologies in Healthcare
• Management Tasks in Healthcare Organizations
• Healthcare Risk Management – Balancing Safety and Efficiency
• Informed Decision-Making in Healthcare
• Diversity in Healthcare Organizations
• Managing Incremental Healthcare Costs in a Post Pandemic World
• Healthcare Change Implementation and Management Plan
• Healthcare Data Quality Elements
• Standardization as a Procedural Issue in Healthcare
• Cultural Diversity and Sensitivity in Healthcare
• Leading Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare
• Barriers to Healthcare in Refugee Communities
• Policy Analysis in Healthcare Industry
• Healthcare Research: Systematic Search Strategy
• Refugees’ Adjustment and Accessibility of Healthcare
• Professional Services Automation System in Healthcare
• VITAS Healthcare: Program Evaluation Proposal
• Healthcare Research Designs and Sampling Methods
• Healthcare Policy Evaluation in the US vs. Mexico
• Prevention in Healthcare and Social Science
• Interprofessional Team Management in Healthcare
• Implications of Healthcare Fraud and Abuse
• Impacts of Technology on the Healthcare System
• Healthcare Advocacy Plan for Nassau County
• Incorporating Telehealth Into the Healthcare System
• Healthcare Program: Informational Campaign on Dementia
• Initial Beliefs: Evidence-Based Management in Healthcare
• Q.I. Program for Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers
• How Healthcare Organizations Deal With COVID-19 Financial Issues
• Billing and Coding Regulations in Healthcare
• Vocal Biomarkers in Healthcare
• Communication Problems in Healthcare Attendants
• Climate Change as a Healthcare Priority
• Rising Healthcare Costs as a Policy Issue
• Electronic Vulnerability in Healthcare
• Statistical Analysis in Healthcare
• Interprofessional Collaboration Examples in Nursing Case Study
• Access to Healthcare Services and Language Interpretation
• The Healthcare Labour Shortage: Practice, Theory, Evidence
• Healthcare Financing: USA vs. Switzerland
• Discussion: The Use of RFID in Healthcare
• Healthcare Insurance Organizations’ Risk of Fraud
• The Healthcare Center for the Homeless
• Project Evaluation in Healthcare
• Healthcare Language Barrier for Afghani Refugees
• The Socio-Ecological Model of Access to Healthcare
• Advantages of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
• Technologies in Healthcare Delivery
• Antibiotics: The Use in Healthcare
• Challenges of Virtual Assistance Technology Implementation for Healthcare
• Universal Healthcare as a Basic Right of Humanity
• Evaluation of Virtual Reality in Healthcare
• Healthcare Interprofessional Team Members’ Perspectives on Caring
• Leadership Versus Management: Healthcare Leadership
• Third-Party Payers in Healthcare Reimbursement
• Organizational Change Regarding Language Barriers in Healthcare
• The Triple Aim Framework and Financial Issues in Healthcare
• How 911 Dispatcher Technology Has Reduced Healthcare Costs
• Applying Lean Principles in Healthcare
• Reducing Healthcare Expenses: Structural and Individual Measures
• Hansen vs. Baxter Healthcare Corporation
• The Role of Differential Diagnosis in Healthcare
• Issues in Healthcare and Effective Communication with Organization Stakeholders
• Healthcare Collection Policies and Procedures
• Issues of Healthcare in the US
• Healthcare Services for Vulnerable Populations in Georgia
• Report Specifications in Healthcare
• Importance of Healthcare Advocacy Plan
• The Healthcare Costs Regulation Strategies
• Malpractice, Abuse, and Neglect in Healthcare
• Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
• The Healthcare Administrator: Leadership Abilities
• Queer People (LGBTQIA) in Healthcare System Context
• Informatics Systems in Healthcare
• Auburn Hospital’s Comprehensive Healthcare Strategies
• Healthcare during Tornados: Business Continuity
• Qualitative Research in Healthcare
• Interoperability in Healthcare
• Theories and Approaches in Healthcare
• The Significance of Healthcare Policy
• Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare System
• Consumer Involvement in the Healthcare System
• Significance of Accreditation in Healthcare
• Healthcare Trends and Innovations
• Pediatric and Adult Anatomy for Healthcare Providers
• Organizational Theory in Healthcare
• Licensed Professional Counseling in Mental Healthcare
• Healthcare Errors, Risks, and Project Management
• A Strategic Plan for a Healthcare Organization
• Technology in the Healthcare System
• Healthcare Insurance in the USA
• Population Aging and Healthcare Concerns
• Implementing and Evaluating a Healthcare Organization’s Strategic Plan
• Galen’s Experiential Philosophic Approach to Healthcare
• Economic Issues Confronting Healthcare System
• Doctor Michael R. Walker as Leader in Healthcare
• Role of Advance Directives in Healthcare
• Nursing Informatics: Healthcare Blockchain System
• “Top Challenges Facing the Healthcare Industry Today”: Three Challenges
• Healthcare Information Systems
• Technology in Healthcare and Care Coordination
• Universal Healthcare in the United States
• Simulation Training for Healthcare Staff
• Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination for Healthcare Employees
• Regulation of Patient Healthcare Records Release
• Telemedicine as a Healthcare Provision Technique
• Healthcare for Queer (LGBTQIA+) Patients
• The American College of Healthcare Executives: Leadership Reflection
• Strategic Planning Process in Healthcare
• The Assessment Process in Healthcare
• Competitive Forces in the Healthcare Market
• Impact of Obesity on Healthcare System
• Care Coordination Process in the Healthcare
• Social Welfare Policy and Healthcare Insurance
• Interprofessional Teamwork in Healthcare
• Quality Performance Is a Goal in Healthcare
• Revenue Cycle Processes and Pricing in Healthcare
• Billing Specialists in Healthcare
• Healthcare: Auditing Practices
• Community Healthcare Agency at Fairfax
• The Adoption of the EHR Framework in Healthcare Facilities
• Should Free Healthcare be a Right in America?
• Unlisted Procedures and Services in Healthcare
• Creating Value in Healthcare Settings
• Healthcare Disparity in the African American Community
• The Introduction of a Vaccine Against COVID-19 Among Healthcare Staff in Moldova
• The Healthcare Availability in the USA
• Improving a Healthcare Compliance Program
• The Healthcare Situation in the USA
• Human Resource Management: Healthcare
• Artificial Intelligence: Human Trust in Healthcare
• Researching of Fraud and Abuse in Healthcare
• Ethics of Care (EOC) and Healthcare
• Genetic Technologies in the Healthcare
• Racial Inequality, Immigration, and Healthcare in the US
• Cybersecurity in Healthcare Organizations
• Impact of IT on Healthcare During COVID-19
• Nurses’ Knowledge to Be Successful Healthcare Professionals
• The Risk of Using Abbreviations in Modern Healthcare
• The Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Healthcare
• Women’s Healthcare and Social Darwinism
• Telepsychiatry as Innovative Healthcare Practice
• Language and Culture: Impact on Healthcare
• Health Costs and Insurance in Healthcare
• Fraud in the Healthcare Industry
• Providing Quality Care in Healthcare Setting
• Occupational Therapy in Modern Healthcare Market
• Responsible Citizenship in Healthcare Administration
• Handwashing Compliance of Healthcare Workers
• Healthcare and Governmental Efforts
• Followership and Leadership in Healthcare
• Reducing Risks Facing a Healthcare Organization
• Public Education Initiatives in the Area of Healthcare
• Followership-Leadership Interaction in Healthcare
• The Importance of In-Team Communication in Primary and Emergency Healthcare
• Healthcare Leadership and Management Functions
• Mental Healthcare Services for Transgender Individuals
• Social Justice and Barriers in Healthcare
• Analysis of Implicit Bias in Healthcare
• Accreditation, Regulation, and Certification in the Healthcare Field
• Healthcare Settings: Financial Challenges
• Patient Consent in Healthcare Diagnostics
• Cultural Diversity in Healthcare
• Standard of Care in Healthcare System
• Joe Biden’s New Reform on Healthcare
• The Culture of an Open Attitude in Healthcare
• Global Issues in Healthcare: Cultural Competence and Patient Safety
• Language, Culture, and Healthcare
• International Classification of Functioning in Healthcare
• Analyzing Errors in Healthcare
• Healthcare Programs in Wyandotte County
• Affordable Healthcare Approach and Best Strategies
• Non- and Governmental Structures in Public Healthcare
• Statistics in Healthcare: Sun Rays Exposure
• Devices to Improve Healthcare Service Delivery
• What Are the Cross Cultural Healthcare Perspectives?
• How to Estimate the Optimal Size of Secondary Healthcare Providers in Slovenia?
• How Health Policy Shapes Healthcare Sector Productivity?
• How HRM Provides a Mandatory Organized Structure in the Healthcare System?
• How Medical Robotics Affect Healthcare Costs and Patient Care?
• How Medicare Has Impacted Healthcare Within the United States of America?
• How Reliable Are Surveys of Client Satisfaction With Healthcare Services?
• How Retractable Syringe Development Impacted Society and Healthcare?
• What Are the Applications of Simulation Within the Healthcare Context?
• What Are the Factors Influencing Healthcare Service Quality?
• What Is “Quality Improvement” and How Can It Transform Healthcare?
• What Is Interprofessional and Multiprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare?
• What Is Jamaica’s Ethnomedicine Potential in the Healthcare System?
• What Are the Characteristics of Healthcare Wastes?
• What Is a Canadian Model of Integrated Healthcare?
• What Are the Trends and Approaches in Lean Healthcare?
• Whar Are the Emerging Information Technologies for Enhanced Healthcare?
• What Are the Challenges for Design Researchers in Healthcare?
• How Well-organized Logistics Can Service Healthcare?
• What Are the Theories on Implementation of Change in Healthcare?
• How the Blockchain Technology Was Implemented in Healthcare?
• How To Improve Healthcare With Interactive Visualization?
• What Are the Essentials of Economic Evaluation in Healthcare?
• How Mobile Devices Are Transforming Healthcare?
• How to Develop Machine Learning Models for Healthcare?

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StudyCorgi. (2021, December 21). 610 Healthcare Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write About. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/healthcare-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "610 Healthcare Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write About." December 21, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/healthcare-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "610 Healthcare Essay Topics & Research Questions to Write About." December 21, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/healthcare-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Healthcare were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 8, 2024 .

Research Topics & Ideas: Healthcare

100+ Healthcare Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a healthcare-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of healthcare-related research ideas and topic thought-starters across a range of healthcare fields, including allopathic and alternative medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, optometry, pharmacology and public health.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the healthcare domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic.

Overview: Healthcare Research Topics

• Allopathic medicine
• Alternative /complementary medicine
• Veterinary medicine
• Physical therapy/ rehab
• Optometry and ophthalmology
• Pharmacy and pharmacology
• Public health
• Examples of healthcare-related dissertations

Allopathic (Conventional) Medicine

• The effectiveness of telemedicine in remote elderly patient care
• The impact of stress on the immune system of cancer patients
• The effects of a plant-based diet on chronic diseases such as diabetes
• The use of AI in early cancer diagnosis and treatment
• The role of the gut microbiome in mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety
• The efficacy of mindfulness meditation in reducing chronic pain: A systematic review
• The benefits and drawbacks of electronic health records in a developing country
• The effects of environmental pollution on breast milk quality
• The use of personalized medicine in treating genetic disorders
• The impact of social determinants of health on chronic diseases in Asia
• The role of high-intensity interval training in improving cardiovascular health
• The efficacy of using probiotics for gut health in pregnant women
• The impact of poor sleep on the treatment of chronic illnesses
• The role of inflammation in the development of chronic diseases such as lupus
• The effectiveness of physiotherapy in pain control post-surgery

Topics & Ideas: Alternative Medicine

• The benefits of herbal medicine in treating young asthma patients
• The use of acupuncture in treating infertility in women over 40 years of age
• The effectiveness of homoeopathy in treating mental health disorders: A systematic review
• The role of aromatherapy in reducing stress and anxiety post-surgery
• The impact of mindfulness meditation on reducing high blood pressure
• The use of chiropractic therapy in treating back pain of pregnant women
• The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine such as Shun-Qi-Tong-Xie (SQTX) in treating digestive disorders in China
• The impact of yoga on physical and mental health in adolescents
• The benefits of hydrotherapy in treating musculoskeletal disorders such as tendinitis
• The role of Reiki in promoting healing and relaxation post birth
• The effectiveness of naturopathy in treating skin conditions such as eczema
• The use of deep tissue massage therapy in reducing chronic pain in amputees
• The impact of tai chi on the treatment of anxiety and depression
• The benefits of reflexology in treating stress, anxiety and chronic fatigue
• The role of acupuncture in the prophylactic management of headaches and migraines

Topics & Ideas: Dentistry

• The impact of sugar consumption on the oral health of infants
• The use of digital dentistry in improving patient care: A systematic review
• The efficacy of orthodontic treatments in correcting bite problems in adults
• The role of dental hygiene in preventing gum disease in patients with dental bridges
• The impact of smoking on oral health and tobacco cessation support from UK dentists
• The benefits of dental implants in restoring missing teeth in adolescents
• The use of lasers in dental procedures such as root canals
• The efficacy of root canal treatment using high-frequency electric pulses in saving infected teeth
• The role of fluoride in promoting remineralization and slowing down demineralization
• The impact of stress-induced reflux on oral health
• The benefits of dental crowns in restoring damaged teeth in elderly patients
• The use of sedation dentistry in managing dental anxiety in children
• The efficacy of teeth whitening treatments in improving dental aesthetics in patients with braces
• The role of orthodontic appliances in improving well-being
• The impact of periodontal disease on overall health and chronic illnesses

Tops & Ideas: Veterinary Medicine

• The impact of nutrition on broiler chicken production
• The role of vaccines in disease prevention in horses
• The importance of parasite control in animal health in piggeries
• The impact of animal behaviour on welfare in the dairy industry
• The effects of environmental pollution on the health of cattle
• The role of veterinary technology such as MRI in animal care
• The importance of pain management in post-surgery health outcomes
• The impact of genetics on animal health and disease in layer chickens
• The effectiveness of alternative therapies in veterinary medicine: A systematic review
• The role of veterinary medicine in public health: A case study of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The impact of climate change on animal health and infectious diseases in animals
• The importance of animal welfare in veterinary medicine and sustainable agriculture
• The effects of the human-animal bond on canine health
• The role of veterinary medicine in conservation efforts: A case study of Rhinoceros poaching in Africa
• The impact of veterinary research of new vaccines on animal health

Topics & Ideas: Physical Therapy/Rehab

• The efficacy of aquatic therapy in improving joint mobility and strength in polio patients
• The impact of telerehabilitation on patient outcomes in Germany
• The effect of kinesiotaping on reducing knee pain and improving function in individuals with chronic pain
• A comparison of manual therapy and yoga exercise therapy in the management of low back pain
• The use of wearable technology in physical rehabilitation and the impact on patient adherence to a rehabilitation plan
• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions in physical therapy in adolescents
• The effects of resistance training on individuals with Parkinson’s disease
• The role of hydrotherapy in the management of fibromyalgia
• The impact of cognitive-behavioural therapy in physical rehabilitation for individuals with chronic pain
• The use of virtual reality in physical rehabilitation of sports injuries
• The effects of electrical stimulation on muscle function and strength in athletes
• The role of physical therapy in the management of stroke recovery: A systematic review
• The impact of pilates on mental health in individuals with depression
• The use of thermal modalities in physical therapy and its effectiveness in reducing pain and inflammation
• The effect of strength training on balance and gait in elderly patients

Topics & Ideas: Optometry & Opthalmology

• The impact of screen time on the vision and ocular health of children under the age of 5
• The effects of blue light exposure from digital devices on ocular health
• The role of dietary interventions, such as the intake of whole grains, in the management of age-related macular degeneration
• The use of telemedicine in optometry and ophthalmology in the UK
• The impact of myopia control interventions on African American children’s vision
• The use of contact lenses in the management of dry eye syndrome: different treatment options
• The effects of visual rehabilitation in individuals with traumatic brain injury
• The role of low vision rehabilitation in individuals with age-related vision loss: challenges and solutions
• The impact of environmental air pollution on ocular health
• The effectiveness of orthokeratology in myopia control compared to contact lenses
• The role of dietary supplements, such as omega-3 fatty acids, in ocular health
• The effects of ultraviolet radiation exposure from tanning beds on ocular health
• The impact of computer vision syndrome on long-term visual function
• The use of novel diagnostic tools in optometry and ophthalmology in developing countries
• The effects of virtual reality on visual perception and ocular health: an examination of dry eye syndrome and neurologic symptoms

Topics & Ideas: Pharmacy & Pharmacology

• The impact of medication adherence on patient outcomes in cystic fibrosis
• The use of personalized medicine in the management of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease
• The effects of pharmacogenomics on drug response and toxicity in cancer patients
• The role of pharmacists in the management of chronic pain in primary care
• The impact of drug-drug interactions on patient mental health outcomes
• The use of telepharmacy in healthcare: Present status and future potential
• The effects of herbal and dietary supplements on drug efficacy and toxicity
• The role of pharmacists in the management of type 1 diabetes
• The impact of medication errors on patient outcomes and satisfaction
• The use of technology in medication management in the USA
• The effects of smoking on drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics: A case study of clozapine
• Leveraging the role of pharmacists in preventing and managing opioid use disorder
• The impact of the opioid epidemic on public health in a developing country
• The use of biosimilars in the management of the skin condition psoriasis
• The effects of the Affordable Care Act on medication utilization and patient outcomes in African Americans

Topics & Ideas: Public Health

• The impact of the built environment and urbanisation on physical activity and obesity
• The effects of food insecurity on health outcomes in Zimbabwe
• The role of community-based participatory research in addressing health disparities
• The impact of social determinants of health, such as racism, on population health
• The effects of heat waves on public health
• The role of telehealth in addressing healthcare access and equity in South America
• The impact of gun violence on public health in South Africa
• The effects of chlorofluorocarbons air pollution on respiratory health
• The role of public health interventions in reducing health disparities in the USA
• The impact of the United States Affordable Care Act on access to healthcare and health outcomes
• The effects of water insecurity on health outcomes in the Middle East
• The role of community health workers in addressing healthcare access and equity in low-income countries
• The impact of mass incarceration on public health and behavioural health of a community
• The effects of floods on public health and healthcare systems
• The role of social media in public health communication and behaviour change in adolescents

Examples: Healthcare Dissertation & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a healthcare-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various healthcare-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Improving Follow-Up Care for Homeless Populations in North County San Diego (Sanchez, 2021)
• On the Incentives of Medicare’s Hospital Reimbursement and an Examination of Exchangeability (Elzinga, 2016)
• Managing the healthcare crisis: the career narratives of nurses (Krueger, 2021)
• Methods for preventing central line-associated bloodstream infection in pediatric haematology-oncology patients: A systematic literature review (Balkan, 2020)
• Farms in Healthcare: Enhancing Knowledge, Sharing, and Collaboration (Garramone, 2019)
• When machine learning meets healthcare: towards knowledge incorporation in multimodal healthcare analytics (Yuan, 2020)
• Integrated behavioural healthcare: The future of rural mental health (Fox, 2019)
• Healthcare service use patterns among autistic adults: A systematic review with narrative synthesis (Gilmore, 2021)
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Combatting Burnout and Compassionate Fatigue among Mental Health Caregivers (Lundquist, 2022)
• Transgender and gender-diverse people’s perceptions of gender-inclusive healthcare access and associated hope for the future (Wille, 2021)
• Efficient Neural Network Synthesis and Its Application in Smart Healthcare (Hassantabar, 2022)
• The Experience of Female Veterans and Health-Seeking Behaviors (Switzer, 2022)
• Machine learning applications towards risk prediction and cost forecasting in healthcare (Singh, 2022)
• Does Variation in the Nursing Home Inspection Process Explain Disparity in Regulatory Outcomes? (Fox, 2020)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your healthcare dissertation or thesis, check out Topic Kickstarter service below.

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15 Comments

I need topics that will match the Msc program am running in healthcare research please

Hello Mabel,

I can help you with a good topic, kindly provide your email let’s have a good discussion on this.

Can you provide some research topics and ideas on Immunology?

Thank you to create new knowledge on research problem verse research topic

Help on problem statement on teen pregnancy

This post might be useful: https://gradcoach.com/research-problem-statement/

can you provide me with a research topic on healthcare related topics to a qqi level 5 student

Please can someone help me with research topics in public health ?

Hello I have requirement of Health related latest research issue/topics for my social media speeches. If possible pls share health issues , diagnosis, treatment.

I would like a topic thought around first-line support for Gender-Based Violence for survivors or one related to prevention of Gender-Based Violence

Please can I be helped with a master’s research topic in either chemical pathology or hematology or immunology? thanks

Can u please provide me with a research topic on occupational health and safety at the health sector

Good day kindly help provide me with Ph.D. Public health topics on Reproductive and Maternal Health, interventional studies on Health Education

may you assist me with a good easy healthcare administration study topic

May you assist me in finding a research topic on nutrition,physical activity and obesity. On the impact on children

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How to build a better health system: 8 expert essays

We need to focus on keeping people healthy, not just treating them when they're sick Image:  REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

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Introduction

By Francesca Colombo , Head, Health Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Helen E. Clark , Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008), The Helen Clark Foundation

Our healthy future cannot be achieved without putting the health and wellbeing of populations at the centre of public policy.

Ill health worsens an individual’s economic prospects throughout the lifecycle. For young infants and children, ill health affects their capacity to acumulate human capital; for adults, ill health lowers quality of life and labour market outcomes, and disadvantage compounds over the course of a lifetime.

And, yet, with all the robust evidence available that good health is beneficial to economies and societies, it is striking to see how health systems across the globe struggled to maximise the health of populations even before the COVID-19 pandemic – a crisis that has further exposed the stresses and weaknesses of our health systems. These must be addressed to make populations healthier and more resilient to future shocks.

Each one of us, at least once in our lives, is likely to have been frustrated with care that was inflexible, impersonal and bureaucratic. At the system level, these individual experiences add up to poor safety, poor care coordination and inefficiencies – costing millions of lives and enormous expense to societies.

This state of affairs contributes to slowing down the progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals to which all societies, regardless of their level of economic development, have committed.

Many of the conditions that can make change possible are in place. For example, ample evidence exists that investing in public health and primary prevention delivers significant health and economic dividends. Likewise, digital technology has made many services and products across different sectors safe, fast and seamless. There is no reason why, with the right policies, this should not happen in health systems as well. Think, for example, of the opportunities to bring high quality and specialised care to previously underserved populations. COVID-19 has accelerated the development and use of digital health technologies. There are opportunities to further nurture their use to improve public health and disease surveillance, clinical care, research and innovation.

To encourage reform towards health systems that are more resilient, better centred around what people need and sustainable over time, the Global Future Council on Health and Health Care has developed a series of stories illustrating why change must happen, and why this is eminently possible today. While the COVID-19 crisis is severally challenging health systems today, our healthy future is – with the right investments – within reach.

1. Five changes for sustainable health systems that put people first

The COVID-19 crisis has affected more than 188 countries and regions worldwide, causing large-scale loss of life and severe human suffering. The crisis poses a major threat to the global economy, with drops in activity, employment, and consumption worse than those seen during the 2008 financial crisis . COVID-19 has also exposed weaknesses in our health systems that must be addressed. How?

For a start, greater investment in population health would make people, particularly vulnerable population groups, more resilient to health risks. The health and socio-economic consequences of the virus are felt more acutely among disadvantaged populations, stretching a social fabric already challenged by high levels of inequalities. The crisis demonstrates the consequences of poor investment in addressing wider social determinants of health, including poverty, low education and unhealthy lifestyles. Despite much talk of the importance of health promotion, even across the richer OECD countries barely 3% of total health spending is devoted to prevention . Building resilience for populations also requires a greater focus on solidarity and redistribution in social protection systems to address underlying structural inequalities and poverty.

Beyond creating greater resilience in populations, health systems must be strengthened.

High-quality universal health coverage (UHC) is paramount. High levels of household out-of-pocket payments for health goods and services deter people from seeking early diagnosis and treatment at the very moment they need it most. Facing the COVID-19 crisis, many countries have strengthened access to health care, including coverage for diagnostic testing. Yet others do not have strong UHC arrangements. The pandemic reinforced the importance of commitments made in international fora, such as the 2019 High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage , that well-functioning health systems require a deliberate focus on high-quality UHC. Such systems protect people from health threats, impoverishing health spending, and unexpected surges in demand for care.

Second, primary and elder care must be reinforced. COVID-19 presents a double threat for people with chronic conditions. Not only are they at greater risk of severe complications and death due to COVID-19; but also the crisis creates unintended health harm if they forgo usual care, whether because of disruption in services, fear of infections, or worries about burdening the health system. Strong primary health care maintains care continuity for these groups. With some 94% of deaths caused by COVID-19 among people aged over 60 in high-income countries, the elder care sector is also particularly vulnerable, calling for efforts to enhance control of infections, support and protect care workers and better coordinate medical and social care for frail elderly.

Third, the crisis demonstrates the importance of equipping health systems with both reserve capacity and agility. There is an historic underinvestment in the health workforce, with estimated global shortages of 18 million health professionals worldwide , mostly in low- and middle-income countries. Beyond sheer numbers, rigid health labour markets make it difficult to respond rapidly to demand and supply shocks. One way to address this is by creating a “reserve army” of health professionals that can be quickly mobilised. Some countries have allowed medical students in their last year of training to start working immediately, fast-tracked licenses and provided exceptional training. Others have mobilised pharmacists and care assistants. Storing a reserve capacity of supplies such as personal protection equipment, and maintaining care beds that can be quickly transformed into critical care beds, is similarly important.

Fourth, stronger health data systems are needed. The crisis has accelerated innovative digital solutions and uses of digital data, smartphone applications to monitor quarantine, robotic devices, and artificial intelligence to track the virus and predict where it may appear next. Access to telemedicine has been made easier. Yet more can be done to leverage standardised national electronic health records to extract routine data for real-time disease surveillance, clinical trials, and health system management. Barriers to full deployment of telemedicine, the lack of real-time data, of interoperable clinical record data, of data linkage capability and sharing within health and with other sectors remain to be addressed.

Fifth, an effective vaccine and successful vaccination of populations around the globe will provide the only real exit strategy. Success is not guaranteed and there are many policy issues yet to be resolved. International cooperation is vital. Multilateral commitments to pay for successful candidates would give manufacturers certainty so that they can scale production and have vaccine doses ready as quickly as possible following marketing authorisation, but could also help ensure that vaccines go first to where they are most effective in ending the pandemic. Whilst leaders face political pressure to put the health of their citizens first, it is more effective to allocate vaccines based on need. More support is needed for multilateral access mechanisms that contain licensing commitments and ensure that intellectual property is no barrier to access, commitments to technology transfer for local production, and allocation of scarce doses based on need.

The pandemic offers huge opportunities to learn lessons for health system preparedness and resilience. Greater focus on anticipating responses, solidarity within and across countries, agility in managing responses, and renewed efforts for collaborative actions will be a better normal for the future.

OECD Economic Outlook 2020 , Volume 2020 Issue 1, No. 107, OECD Publishing, Paris

OECD Employment Outlook 2020 : Worker Security and the COVID-19 Crisis, OECD Publishing, Paris

OECD Health at a Glance 2019, OECD Publishing, Paris

https://www.un.org/pga/73/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2019/07/FINAL-draft-UHC-Political-Declaration.pdf

OECD (2020), Who Cares? Attracting and Retaining Care Workers for the Elderly, OECD Health Policy Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris

Working for Health and Growth: investing in the health workforce . Report of the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, Geneva.

Colombo F., Oderkirk J., Slawomirski L. (2020) Health Information Systems, Electronic Medical Records, and Big Data in Global Healthcare: Progress and Challenges in OECD Countries . In: Haring R., Kickbusch I., Ganten D., Moeti M. (eds) Handbook of Global Health. Springer, Cham.

2. Improving population health and building healthy societies in times of COVID-19

By Helena Legido-Quigley , Associate Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of the fragility of population health worldwide; at time of writing, more than 1 million people have died from the disease. The pandemic has already made evident that those suffering most from COVID-19 belong to disadvantaged populations and marginalised communities. Deep-rooted inequalities have contributed adversely to the health status of different populations within and between countries. Besides the direct and indirect health impacts of COVID-19 and the decimation of health systems, restrictions on population movement and lockdowns introduced to combat the pandemic are expected to have economic and social consequences on an unprecedented scale .

Population health – and addressing the consequences of COVID-19 – is about improving the physical and mental health outcomes and wellbeing of populations locally, regionally and nationally, while reducing health inequalities.¹ Moreover, there is an increasing recognition that societal and environmental factors, such as climate change and food insecurity, can also influence population health outcomes.

The experiences of Maria, David, and Ruben – as told by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE – exemplify the real challenges that people living in densely populated urban areas have faced when being exposed to COVID-19.¹

Maria is a Mexican migrant who has just returned from Connecticut to the Bronx. Her partner Jorge died in Connecticut from COVID-19. She now has no income and is looking for an apartment for herself and her three children. When Jorge became ill, she took him to the hospital, but they would not admit him and he was sent away to be cared for by Maria at home with their children. When an ambulance eventually took him to hospital, it was too late. He died that same night, alone in hospital. She thinks he had diabetes, but he was never diagnosed. They only had enough income to pay the basic bills. Maria is depressed, she is alone, but she knows she must carry on for her children. Her 10-year old child says that if he could help her, he would work. After three months, she finds an apartment.

David works as a hairdresser and takes an overcrowded train every day from Leganés to Chamberi in the centre of Madrid. He lives in a small flat in San Nicasio, one of the poorest working-class areas of Madrid with one of the largest ageing populations in Spain. The apartments are very small, making it difficult to be in confinement, and all of David’s neighbours know somebody who has been a victim of COVID-19. His father was also a hairdresser. David's father was not feeling well; he was taken to hospital by ambulance, and he died three days later. David was not able to say goodbye to his father. Unemployment has increased in that area; small local shops are losing their customers, and many more people are expecting to lose their jobs.

Ruben lives in Iztapalapa in Mexico City with three children, a daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. Their small apartment has few amenities, and no running water during the evening. At three o’clock every morning, he walks 45 minutes with his mobile stall to sell fruit juices near the hospital. His daily earnings keep the family. He goes to the central market to buy fruit, taking a packed dirty bus. He thinks the city's central market was contaminated at the beginning of the pandemic, but it could not be closed as it is the main source of food in the country. He has no health insurance, and he knows that as a diabetic he is at risk, but medication for his condition is too expensive. He has no alternative but to go to work every day: "We die of hunger or we die of COVID."

These real stories highlight the issues that must be addressed to reduce persistent health inequalities and achieve health outcomes focusing on population health. The examples of Maria, David and Ruben show the terrible outcomes COVID-19 has had for people living in poverty and social deprivation, older people, and those with co-morbidities and/or pre-existing health conditions. All three live in densely populated urban areas with poor housing, and have to travel long distances in overcrowded transport. Maria’s loss of income has had consequences for her housing security and access to healthcare and health insurance, which will most likely lead to worse health conditions for her and her children. Furthermore, all three experienced high levels of stress, which is magnified in the cases of Maria and David who were unable to be present when their loved ones died.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it evident that to improve the health of the population and build healthy societies, there is a need to shift the focus from illness to health and wellness in order to address the social, political and commercial determinants of health; to promote healthy behaviours and lifestyles; and to foster universal health coverage.² Citizens all over the world are demanding that health systems be strengthened and for governments to protect the most vulnerable. A better future could be possible with leadership that is able to carefully consider the long-term health, economic and social policies that are needed.

In order to design and implement population health-friendly policies, there are three prerequisites. First, there is a need to improve understanding of the factors that influence health inequalities and the interconnections between the economic, social and health impacts. Second, broader policies should be considered not only within the health sector, but also in other sectors such as education, employment, transport and infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation. Third, the proposed policies need to be designed through involving the community, addressing the health of vulnerable groups, and fostering inter-sectoral action and partnerships.

Finally, within the UN's Agenda 2030 , Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 sets out a forward-looking strategy for health whose main goal is to attain healthier lives and wellbeing. The 17 interdependent SDGs offer an opportunity to contribute to healthier, fairer and more equitable societies from which both communities and the environment can benefit.

The stories of Maria, David and Ruben are real stories featured in the Documentary: The impact of COVID19 in urban outskirts, Directed by Jose A Guardiola. Available here. Permission has been granted to narrate these stories.

Buck, D., Baylis, A., Dougall, D. and Robertson, R. (2018). A vision for population health: Towards a healthier future . [online] London: The King's Fund. [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020]

Wilton Park. (2020). Healthy societies, healthy populations (WP1734). Wiston House, Steyning. Retrieved from https://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/event/wp1734/ Cohen B. E. (2006). Population health as a framework for public health practice: a Canadian perspective. American journal of public health , 96 (9), 1574–1576.

3. Imagine a 'well-care' system that invests in keeping people healthy

By Maliha Hashmi , Executive Director, Health and Well-Being and Biotech, NEOM, and Jan Kimpen , Global Chief Medical Officer, Philips

Imagine a patient named Emily. Emily is aged 32 and I’m her doctor.

Emily was 65lb (29kg) above her ideal body weight, pre-diabetic and had high cholesterol. My initial visit with Emily was taken up with counselling on lifestyle changes, mainly diet and exercise; typical advice from one’s doctor in a time-pressured 15-minute visit. I had no other additional resources, incentives or systems to support me or Emily to help her turn her lifestyle around.

I saw Emily eight months later, not in my office, but in the hospital emergency room. Her husband accompanied her – she was vomiting, very weak and confused. She was admitted to the intensive care unit, connected to an insulin drip to lower her blood sugar, and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I talked to Emily then, emphasizing that the new medications for diabetes would only control the sugars, but she still had time to reverse things if she changed her lifestyle. She received further counselling from a nutritionist.

Over the years, Emily continued to gain weight, necessitating higher doses of her diabetes medication. More emergency room visits for high blood sugars ensued, she developed infections of her skin and feet, and ultimately, she developed kidney disease because of the uncontrolled diabetes. Ten years after I met Emily, she is 78lb (35kg) above her ideal body weight; she is blind and cannot feel her feet due to nerve damage from the high blood sugars; and she will soon need dialysis for her failing kidneys. Emily’s deteriorating health has carried a high financial cost both for herself and the healthcare system. We have prevented her from dying and extended her life with our interventions, but each interaction with the medical system has come at significant cost – and those costs will only rise. But we have also failed Emily by allowing her diabetes to progress. We know how to prevent this, but neither the right investments nor incentives are in place.

Emily could have been a real patient of mine. Her sad story will be familiar to all doctors caring for chronically ill patients. Unfortunately, patients like Emily are neglected by health systems across the world today. The burden of chronic disease is increasing at alarming rates. Across the OECD nearly 33% of those over 15 years live with one or more chronic condition, rising to 60% for over-65s. Approximately 50% of chronic disease deaths are attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD). In the coming decades, obesity, will claim 92 million lives in the OECD while obesity-related diseases will cut life expectancy by three years by 2050.

These diseases can be largely prevented by primary prevention, an approach that emphasizes vaccinations, lifestyle behaviour modification and the regulation of unhealthy substances. Preventative interventions have been efficacious. For obesity, countries have effectively employed public awareness campaigns, health professionals training, and encouragement of dietary change (for example, limits on unhealthy foods, taxes and nutrition labelling).⁴,⁵ Other interventions, such as workplace health-promotion programmes, while showing some promise, still need to demonstrate their efficacy.

The COVID-19 crisis provides the ultimate incentive to double down on the prevention of chronic disease. Most people dying from COVID-19 have one or more chronic disease, including obesity, CVD, diabetes or respiratory problems – diseases that are preventable with a healthy lifestyle. COVID-19 has highlighted structural weaknesses in our health systems such as the neglect of prevention and primary care.

While the utility of primary prevention is understood and supported by a growing evidence base, its implementation has been thwarted by chronic underinvestment, indicating a lack of societal and governmental prioritization. On average, OECD countries only invest 2.8% of health spending on public health and prevention. The underlying drivers include decreased allocation to prevention research, lack of awareness in populations, the belief that long-run prevention may be more costly than treatment, and a lack of commitment by and incentives for healthcare professionals. Furthermore, public health is often viewed in a silo separate from the overall health system rather than a foundational component.

Health benefits aside, increasing investment in primary prevention presents a strong economic imperative. For example, obesity contributes to the treatment costs of many other diseases: 70% of diabetes costs, 23% for CVD and 9% for cancers. Economic losses further extend to absenteeism and decreased productivity.

Fee-for-service models that remunerate physicians based on the number of sick patients they see, regardless the quality and outcome, dominate healthcare systems worldwide. Primary prevention mandates a payment system that reimburses healthcare professionals and patients for preventive actions. Ministries of health and governmental leaders need to challenge skepticism around preventive interventions, realign incentives towards preventive actions and those that promote healthy choices by people. Primary prevention will eventually reduce the burden of chronic diseases on the healthcare system.

As I reflect back on Emily and her life, I wonder what our healthcare system could have done differently. What if our healthcare system was a well-care system instead of a sick-care system? Imagine a different scenario: Emily, a 32 year old pre-diabetic, had access to a nutritionist, an exercise coach or health coach and nurse who followed her closely at the time of her first visit with me. Imagine if Emily joined group exercise classes, learned where to find healthy foods and how to cook them, and had access to spaces in which to exercise and be active. Imagine Emily being better educated about her diabetes and empowered in her healthcare and staying healthy. In reality, it is much more complicated than this, but if our healthcare systems began to incentivize and invest in prevention and even rewarded Emily for weight loss and healthy behavioural changes, the outcome might have been different. Imagine Emily losing weight and continuing to be an active and contributing member of society. Imagine if we invested in keeping people healthy rather than waiting for people to get sick, and then treating them. Imagine a well-care system.

Anderson, G. (2011). Responding to the growing cost and prevalence of people with multiple chronic conditions . Retrieved from OECD.

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. GBD Data Visualizations. Retrieved here.

OECD (2019), The Heavy Burden of Obesity: The Economics of Prevention, OECD Health Policy Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris.

OECD. (2017). Obesity Update . Retrieved here.

Malik, V. S., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B. (2013). Global obesity: trends, risk factors and policy implications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology , 9 (1), 13-27.

Lang, J., Cluff, L., Payne, J., Matson-Koffman, D., & Hampton, J. (2017). The centers for disease control and prevention: findings from the national healthy worksite program. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine , 59 (7), 631.

Gmeinder, M., Morgan, D., & Mueller, M. (2017). How much do OECD countries spend on prevention? Retrieved from OECD.

Jordan RE, Adab P, Cheng KK. Covid-19: risk factors for severe disease and death. BMJ. 2020;368:m1198.

Richardson, A. K. (2012). Investing in public health: barriers and possible solutions. Journal of Public Health , 34 (3), 322-327.

Yong, P. L., Saunders, R. S., & Olsen, L. (2010). Missed Prevention Opportunities The healthcare imperative: lowering costs and improving outcomes: workshop series summary (Vol. 852): National Academies Press Washington, DC.

OECD. (2019). The Heavy Burden of Obesity: The Economics of Prevention. Retrieved here .

McDaid, D., F. Sassi and S. Merkur (Eds.) (2015a), “Promoting Health, Preventing Disease: The Economic Case ”, Open University Press, New York.

OECD. (2019). The Heavy Burden of Obesity: The Economics of Prevention. Retrieved from OECD.

4. Why e arly detection and diagnosis is critical

By Paul Murray , Head of Life and Health Products, Swiss Re, and André Goy , Chairman and Executive Director & Chief of Lymphoma, John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center

Although healthcare systems around the world follow a common and simple principle and goal – that is, access to affordable high-quality healthcare – they vary significantly, and it is becoming increasingly costly to provide this access, due to ageing populations, the increasing burden of chronic diseases and the price of new innovations.

Governments are challenged by how best to provide care to their populations and make their systems sustainable. Neither universal health, single payer systems, hybrid systems, nor the variety of systems used throughout the US have yet provided a solution. However, systems that are ranked higher in numerous studies, such as a 2017 report by the Commonwealth Fund , typically include strong prevention care and early-detection programmes. This alone does not guarantee a good outcome as measured by either high or healthy life expectancy. But there should be no doubt that prevention and early detection can contribute to a more sustainable system by reducing the risk of serious diseases or disorders, and that investing in and operationalizing earlier detection and diagnosis of key conditions can lead to better patient outcomes and lower long-term costs.

To discuss early detection in a constructive manner it makes sense to describe its activities and scope. Early detection includes pre-symptomatic screening and treatment immediately or shortly after first symptoms are diagnosed. Programmes may include searching for a specific disease (for example, HIV/AIDS or breast cancer), or be more ubiquitous. Prevention, which is not the focus of this blog, can be interpreted as any activities undertaken to avoid diseases, such as information programmes, education, immunization or health monitoring.

Expenditures for prevention and early detection vary by country and typically range between 1-5% of total health expenditures.¹ During the 2008 global financial crisis, many countries reduced preventive spending. In the past few years, however, a number of countries have introduced reforms to strengthen and promote prevention and early detection. Possibly the most prominent example in recent years was the introduction of the Affordable Care Act in the US, which placed a special focus on providing a wide range of preventive and screening services. It lists 63 distinct services that must be covered without any copayment, co-insurance or having to pay a deductible.

Whilst logic dictates that investment in early detection should be encouraged, there are a few hurdles and challenges that need to be overcome and considered. We set out a few key criteria and requirements for an efficient early detection program:

1. Accessibility The healthcare system needs to provide access to a balanced distribution of physicians, both geographically (such as accessibility in rural areas), and by specialty. Patients should be able to access the system promptly without excessive waiting times for diagnoses or elective treatments. This helps mitigate conditions or diseases that are already quite advanced or have been incubating for months or even years before a clinical diagnosis. Access to physicians varies significantly across the globe from below one to more than 60 physicians per 10,000 people.² One important innovation for mitigating access deficiencies is telehealth. This should give individuals easier access to health-related services, not only in cases of sickness but also to supplement primary care.

2. Early symptoms and initial diagnosis Inaccurate or delayed initial diagnoses present a risk to the health of patients, can lead to inappropriate or unnecessary testing and treatment, and represents a significant share of total health expenditures. A medical second opinion service, especially for serious medical diagnoses, which can occur remotely, can help improve healthcare outcomes. Moreover, studies show that early and correct diagnosis opens up a greater range of curative treatment options and can reduce costs (e.g. for colon cancer, stage-four treatment costs are a multiple of stage-one treatment costs).³

3. New technology New early detection technologies can improve the ability to identify symptoms and diseases early: i. Advances in medical monitoring devices and wearable health technology, such as ECG and blood pressure monitors and biosensors, enable patients to take control of their own health and physical condition. This is an important trend that is expected to positively contribute to early detection, for example in atrial fibrillation and Alzheimers’ disease. ii. Diagnostic tools, using new biomarkers such as liquid biopsies or volatile organic compounds, together with the implementation of machine learning, can play an increasing role in areas such as oncology or infectious diseases.⁴

4. Regulation and Intervention Government regulation and intervention will be necessary to set ranges of normality, to prohibit or discourage overdiagnosis and to reduce incentives for providers to overtreat patients or to follow patients' inappropriate requests. In some countries, such as the US, there has been some success through capitation models and value-based care. Governments might also need to intervene to de-risk the innovation paradigm, such that private providers of capital feel able to invest more in the development of new detection technologies, in addition to proven business models in novel therapeutics.

OECD Health Working Papers No. 101 "How much do OECD countries spend on prevention" , 2017

World Health Organization; Global Health Observatory (GHO) data; https://www.who.int/gho/health_workforce/physicians_density/en/

Saving lives, averting costs; A report for Cancer Research UK, by Incisive Health, September 2014

Liquid Biopsy: Market Drivers And Obstacles; by Divyaa Ravishankar, Frost & Sullivan, January 21, 2019

Liquid Biopsies Become Cheap and Easy with New Microfluidic Device; February 26, 2019

How America’s 5 Top Hospitals are Using Machine Learning Today; by Kumba Sennaar, February 19, 2019

5. The business case for private investment in healthcare for all

Pascal Fröhlicher, Primary Care Innovation Scholar, Harvard Medical School, and Ian Wijaya, Managing Director in Lazard’s Global Healthcare Group

Faith, a mother of two, has just lost another customer. Some households where she is employed to clean, in a small town in South Africa, have little understanding of her medical needs. As a type 2 diabetes patient, this Zimbabwean woman visits the public clinic regularly, sometimes on short notice. At her last visit, after spending hours in a queue, she was finally told that the doctor could not see her. To avoid losing another day of work, she went to the local general practitioner to get her script, paying more than three daily wages for consultation and medication. Sadly, this fictional person reflects a reality for many people in middle-income countries.

Achieving universal health coverage by 2030, a key UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), is at risk. The World Bank has identified a $176 billion funding gap , increasing every year due to the growing needs of an ageing population, with the health burden shifting towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now the major cause of death in emerging markets . Traditional sources of healthcare funding struggle to increase budgets sufficiently to cover this gap and only about 4% of private health care investments focus on diseases that primarily affect low- and middle-income countries.

In middle-income countries, private investors often focus on extending established businesses, including developing private hospital capacity, targeting consumers already benefiting from quality healthcare. As a result, an insufficient amount of private capital is invested in strengthening healthcare systems for everyone.

Why is this the case? We discussed with senior health executives investing in Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) and the following reasons emerged:

• Small market size . Scaling innovations in healthcare requires dealing with country-specific regulatory frameworks and competing interest groups, resulting in high market entry cost.
• Talent . Several LMICs are losing nurses and doctors but also business and finance professionals to European and North American markets due to the lack of local opportunities and a significant difference in salaries.
• Untested business models with relatively low gross margins. Providing healthcare requires innovative business models where consumers’ willingness to pay often needs to be demonstrated over a significant period of time. Additionally, relatively low gross margins drive the need for scale to leverage administrative costs, which increases risk.
• Government Relations. The main buyer of health-related products and services is government; yet the relationship between public and private sectors often lacks trust, creating barriers to successful collaboration. Add to that significant political risk, as contracts can be cancelled by incoming administrations after elections. Many countries also lack comprehensive technology strategies to successfully manage technological innovation.
• Complexity of donor funding. A significant portion of healthcare is funded by private donors, whose priorities might not always be congruent with the health priorities of the government.

Notwithstanding these barriers, healthcare, specifically in middle-income settings, could present an attractive value proposition for private investors:

• Economic growth rates . A growing middle class is expanding the potential market for healthcare products and services.
• Alignment of incentives . A high ratio of out-of-pocket payments for healthcare services is often associated with low quality. However, innovative business models can turn out of pocket payments into the basis for a customer-centric value proposition, as the provider is required to compete for a share of disposable income.
• Emergence of National Health Insurance Schemes . South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and others are building national health insurance schemes, increasing a population’s ability to fund healthcare services and products .
• Increased prevalence of NCDs. Given the increasing incidence of chronic diseases and the potential of using technology to address these diseases, new business opportunities for private investment exist.

Based on the context above, several areas in healthcare delivery can present compelling opportunities for private companies.

• Aggregation of existing players.
• Leveraging primary care infrastructure. Retail companies can leverage their real estate, infrastructure and supply chains to deploy primary care services at greater scale than is currently the case.
• Telemedicine . Telecommunications providers can leverage their existing infrastructure and customer base to provide payment mechanisms and telehealth services at scale. As seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in telemedicine can ensure that patients receive timely and continuous care in spite of restrictions and lockdowns.
• Cost effective diagnostics . Diagnostic tools operated by frontline workers and combined with the expertise of specialists can provide timely and efficient care.

To fully realize these opportunities, government must incentivise innovation, provide clear regulatory frameworks and, most importantly, ensure that health priorities are adequately addressed.

Venture capital and private equity firms as well as large international corporations can identify the most commercially viable solutions and scale them into new markets. The ubiquity of NCDs and the requirement to reduce costs globally provides innovators with the opportunity to scale their tested solutions from LMICs to higher income environments.

Successful investment exits in LMICs and other private sector success stories will attract more private capital. Governments that enable and support private investment in their healthcare systems would, with appropriate governance and guidance, generate benefits to their populations and economies. The economic value of healthy populations has been proven repeatedly , and in the face of COVID-19, private sector investment can promote innovation and the development of responsible, sustainable solutions.

Faith – the diabetic mother we introduced at the beginning of this article - could keep her client. As a stable patient, she could measure her glucose level at home and enter the results in an app on her phone, part of her monthly diabetes programme with the company that runs the health centre. She visits the nurse-led facility at the local taxi stand on her way to work when her app suggests it. The nurse in charge of the centre treats Faith efficiently, and, if necessary, communicates with a primary care physician or even a specialist through the telemedicine functionality of her electronic health system.

Improving LMIC health systems is not only a business opportunity, but a moral imperative for public and private leaders. With the appropriate technology and political will, this can become a reality.

6. How could COVID-19 change the way we pay for health services?

John E. Ataguba, Associate Professor and Director, University of Cape Town and Matthew Guilford, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Common Health

The emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2), causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has challenged both developing and developed countries.

Countries have approached the management of infections differently. Many people are curious to understand their health system’s performance on COVID-19, both at the national level and compared to international peers. Alongside limited resources for health, many developing countries may have weak health systems that can make it challenging to respond adequately to the pandemic.

Even before COVID-19, high rates of out-of-pocket spending on health meant that every year, 800 million people faced catastrophic healthcare costs ,100 million families were pushed into poverty, and millions more simply avoided care for critical conditions because they could not afford to pay for it.

The pandemic and its economic fallout have caused household incomes to decline at the same time as healthcare risks are rising. In some countries with insurance schemes, and especially for private health insurance, the following questions have arisen: How large is the co-payment for a COVID-19 test? If my doctor’s office is closed, will the telemedicine consultation be covered by my insurance? Will my coronavirus care be paid for regardless of how I contracted the virus? These and other doubts can prevent people from seeking medical care in some countries.

In Nigeria, like many other countries in Africa, the government bears the costs associated with testing and treating COVID-19 irrespective of the individual’s insurance status. In the public health sector, where COVID-19 cases are treated, health workers are paid monthly salaries while budgets are allocated to health facilities for other services. Hospitals continue to receive budget allocations to finance all health services including the management and treatment of COVID-19. That implies that funds allocated to address other health needs are reduced and that in turn could affect the availability and quality of health services.

Although health workers providing care for COVID-19 patients in isolation and treatment centres in Nigeria are paid salaries that are augmented with a special incentive package, the degree of impact on the quality improvement of services remains unclear. The traditional and historical allocation of budgets does not always address the needs of the whole population and could result in poor health services and under-provision of health services for COVID-19 patients.

In some countries, the reliance on out-of-pocket funding is hardly better for private providers, who encounter brand risks, operational difficulties, and – in extreme cases – the risk of creating “debtor prisons” as they seek to collect payment from patients. Ironically, despite the huge demand for medical services to diagnose and treat COVID-19, large healthcare institutions and individual healthcare practitioners alike are facing financial distress.

Dependence on a steady stream of fee-for-service payments for outpatient consultations and elective procedures is leading to pay cuts for doctors in India , forfeited Eid bonuses for nurses in Indonesia , and hospital bankruptcies in the United States . In a recent McKinsey & Company survey, 77% of physicians reported that their business would suffer in 2020 , and 46% were concerned about their practice surviving the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 is exposing how fee-for-service, historical budget allocation and out-of-pocket financing methods can hinder the performance of the health system. Some providers and health systems that deployed “value-based” models prior to the pandemic have reported that these approaches have improved financial resilience during COVID-19 and may support better results for patients. Nevertheless, these types of innovations do not represent the dominant payment model in any country.

How health service providers are paid has implications for whether service users can get needed health services in a timely fashion, and at an appropriate quality and an affordable cost. By shifting from fee-for-service reimbursements to fixed "capitation" and performance-based payments, these models incentivize providers to improve quality and coordination while also guaranteeing a baseline income level, even during times of disruption.

Health service providers could be paid either in the form of salaries, a fee for services they provide, by capitation (whether adjusted or straightforward), through global budgets, or by using a case-based payment system (for example, the diagnostics-related groups), among others. Because there are different incentives to consider when adopting any of the methods, they could be combined to achieve a specific goal. For example, in some countries, health workers are paid salaries , and some specific services are paid on a fee-for-service basis.

Ideally, health services could be purchased strategically , incorporating aspects of provider performance in transferring funds to providers and accounting for the health needs of the population they serve.

In this regard, strategic purchasing for health has been advocated and should be highlighted as crucial with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need to ensure value in the way health providers are paid, inter alia to increase efficiency, ensure equity, and improve access to needed health services. Value-based payment methods, although not new in many countries, provide an avenue to encourage long-term value for money, better quality, and strategic purchasing for health, helping to build a healthier, more resilient world.

7. L essons in integrated care from the COVID-19 pandemic

Sarah Ziegler, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Zurich, and Ninie Wang, Founder & CEO, Pinetree Care Group.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, people suffering non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been at higher risk of becoming severely ill or dying. In Italy, 96.2% of people who died of COVID-19 lived with two or more chronic conditions.

Beyond the pandemic, cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes are the leading burden of disease, with 41 million annual deaths. People with multimorbidity - a number of different conditions - often experience difficulties in accessing timely and coordinated healthcare, made worse when health systems are busy fighting against the pandemic.

Here is what happened in China with Lee, aged 62, who has been living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for the past five years.

Before the pandemic, Lee’s care manager coordinated a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses, pulmonary rehabilitation therapists, psychologists and social workers to put together a personalized care plan for her. Following the care plan, Lee stopped smoking and paid special attention to her diet, sleep and physical exercises, as well as sticking to her medication and follow-up visits. She participated in a weekly community-based physical activity program to meet other COPD patients, including short walks and exchange experiences. A mobile care team supported her with weekly cleaning and grocery shopping.

Together with her family, Lee had follow-up visits to ensure her care plan reflected her recovery and to modify the plan if needed. These integrated care services brought pieces of care together, centered around Lee’s needs, and provided a continuum of care that helped keep Lee in the community with a good quality of life for as long as possible.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, such NCD services have been disrupted by lockdowns, the cancellation of elective care and the fear of visiting care service . These factors particularly affected people living with NCDs like Lee. As such, Lee was not able to follow her care plan anymore. The mobile care team was unable to visit her weekly as they were deployed to provide COVID-19 relief. Lee couldn’t participate in her community-based program, follow up on her daily activities, or see her family or psychologists. This negatively affected Lee’s COPD management and led to poor management of her physical activity and healthy diet.

The pandemic highlights the need for a flexible and reliable integrated care system to enable healthcare delivery to all people no matter where they live, uzilizing approaches such as telemedicine and effective triaging to overcome care disruptions.

Lee’s care manager created short videos to assist her family through each step of her care and called daily to check in on the implementation of the plan and answer questions. Lee received tele-consultations, and was invited to the weekly webcast series that supported COPD patient communities. When her uncle passed away because of pneumonia complications from COVID-19 in early April, Lee’s care manager arranged a palliative care provider to support the family through the difficult time of bereavement and provided food and supplies during quarantine. Lee could even continue with her physical activity program with an online training coach. There were a total of 38 exercise videos for strengthening and stretching arms, legs and trunk, which she could complete at different levels of difficulty and with different numbers of repetitions.

Lee’s case demonstrates that early detection, prevention, and management of NCDs play a crucial role in a global pandemic response. It shows how we need to shift away from health systems designed around single diseases towards health systems designed for the multidimensional needs of individuals. As part of the pandemic responses, addressing and managing risks related to NCDs and prevention of their complications are critical to improve outcomes for vulnerable people like Lee.

How to design and deliver successful integrated care

The challenge for the successful transformation of healthcare is to tailor care system-wide to population needs. A 2016 WHO Framework on integrated people-centered health services developed a set of five general strategies for countries to progress towards people-centered and sustainable health systems, calling for a fundamental transformation not only in the way health services are delivered, but also in the way they are financed and managed . These strategies call for countries to:

• Engage and empower people / communities: an integrated care system must mobilize everyone to work together using all available resources, especially when continuity of essential health and community services for NCDs are at risk of being undermined.
• Strengthen governance and accountability, so that integration emphasizes rather than weakens leadership in every part of the system, and ensure that NCDs are included in national COVID-19 plans and future essential health services.
• Reorient the model of care to put the needs and perspectives of each person / family at the center of care planning and outcome measurement, rather than institutions.
• Coordinate services within and across sectors, for example, integrate inter-disciplinary medical care with social care, addressing wider socio-economic, environmental and behavioral determinants of health.
• Create an enabling environment, with clear objectives, supportive financing, regulations and insurance coverage for integrated care, including the development and use of systemic digital health care solutions.

Whether due to an unexpected pandemic or a gradual increase in the burden of NCDs, each person could face many health threats across the life-course.

Only systems that dynamically assess each person’s complex health needs and address them through a timely, well-coordinated and tailored mix of health and social care services will be able to deliver desired health outcomes over the longer term, ensuring an uninterrupted good quality of life for Lee and many others like her.

• Wang B, Li R, Lu Z, Huang Y. Does comorbidity increase the risk of patients with COVID-19: evidence from meta-analysis. Aging (Albany NY) 2020;12: 6049–57.
• WHO. Noncommunicable diseases in emergencies. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2016.
• WHO. COVID-19 significantly impacts health services for noncommunicable diseases. June 2020.
• Kluge HHP, Wickramasinghe K, Rippin HL, et al. Prevention and control of non-communicalbe diseases in the COVID-19 response. The Lancet. 2020. 395:1678-1680
• WHO. Framework on integrated people-centred health services. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2016.

8 . Why access to healthcare alone will not save lives

Donald Berwick, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; Nicola Bedlington, Special Adviser, European Patient Forum; and David Duong, Director, Program in Global Primary Care and Social Change, Harvard Medical School.

Joyce lies next to 10 other women in bare single beds in the post-partum recovery room at a rural hospital in Uganda. Just an hour ago, Joyce gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She is now struggling with abdominal pain. A nurse walks by, and Joyce tries to call out, but the nurse was too busy to attend to her; she was the only nurse looking after 20 patients.

Another hour passes, and Joyce is shaking and sweating profusely. Joyce’s husband runs into the corridor to find a nurse to come and evaluate her. The nurse notices Joyce’s critical condition - a high fever and a low blood pressure - and she quickly calls the doctor. The medical team rushes Joyce to the intensive care unit. Joyce has a very severe blood stream infection. It takes another hour before antibiotics are started - too late. Joyce dies, leaving behind a newborn son and a husband. Joyce, like many before her, falls victim to a pervasive global threat: poor quality of care.

Adopted by United Nations (UN) in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all. The 2019 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) reaffirmed the need for the highest level of political commitment to health care for all.

However, progress towards UHC, often measured in terms of access, not outcomes, does not guarantee better health, as we can see from Joyce’s tragedy. This is also evident with the COVID-19 response. The rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted long-term structural inefficiencies and inequities in health systems and societies trying to mitigate the contagion and loss of life.

Systems are straining under significant pressure to ensure standards of care for both COVID-19 patients and other patients that run the risk of not receiving timely and appropriate care. Although poor quality of care has been a long-standing issue, it is imperative now more than ever that systems implement high-quality services as part of their efforts toward UHC.

Poor quality healthcare remains a challenge for countries at all levels of economic development: 10% of hospitalized patients acquire an infection during their hospitalization in low-and-middle income countries (LMIC), whereas 7% do in high-income countries. Poor quality healthcare disproportionally affects the poor and those in LMICs. Of the approximately 8.6 million deaths per year in 137 LMICs, 3.6 million are people who did not access the health system, whereas 5 million are people who sought and had access to services but received poor-quality care.

Joyce’s story is all too familiar; poor quality of care results in deaths from treatable diseases and conditions. Although the causes of death are often multifactorial, deaths and increased morbidity from treatable conditions are often a reflection of defects in the quality of care.

The large number of deaths and avoidable complications are also accompanied by substantial economic costs. In 2015 alone, 130 LMICs faced US $6 trillion in economic losses. Although there is concern that implementing quality measures may be a costly endeavor, it is clear that the economic toll associated with a lack of quality of care is far more troublesome and further stunts the socio-economic development of LMICs, made apparent with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Poor-quality care not only leads to adverse outcomes in terms of high morbidity and mortality, but it also impacts patient experience and patient confidence in health systems. Less than one-quarter of people in LMICs and approximately half of people in high-income countries believe that their health systems work well.

A lack of application and availability of evidenced-based guidelines is one key driver of poor-quality care. The rapidly changing landscape of medical knowledge and guidelines requires healthcare workers to have immediate access to current clinical resources. Despite our "information age", health providers are not accessing clinical guidelines or do not have access to the latest practical, lifesaving information.

Getting information to health workers in the places where it is most needed is a delivery challenge. Indeed, adherence to clinical practice guidelines in eight LMICs was below 50%, and in OECD countries, despite being a part of national guidelines, 19-53% of women aged 50-69 years did not receive mammography screening.4 The evidence in LMICs and HICs suggest that application of evidence-based guidelines lead to reduction in mortality and improved health outcomes.

Equally, the failure to change and continually improve the processes in health systems that support the workforce takes a high toll on quality of care. During the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam, which adapted and improved their health systems after the SARS and H1N1 outbreaks, were able to rapidly mobilize a large-scale quarantine and contact tracing strategy, supported with effective and coordinated mass communication.

These countries not only mitigated the economic and mortality damage, but also prevented their health systems and workforce from enduring extreme burden and inability to maintain critical medical supplies. In all nations, investing in healthcare organizations to enable them to become true “learning health care systems,” aiming at continual quality improvement, would yield major population health and health system gains.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance for health systems to be learning systems. Once the dust settles, we need to focus, collectively, on learning from this experience and adapting our health systems to be more resilient for the next one. This implies a need for commitment to and investment in global health cooperation, improvement in health care leadership, and change management.

With strong political and financial commitment to UHC, and its demonstrable effect in addressing crises such as COVID-19, for the first time, the world has a viable chance of UHC becoming a reality. However, without an equally strong political, managerial, and financial commitment to continually improving, high-quality health services, UHC will remain an empty promise.

1. United Nations General Assembly. Political declaration of the high-level meeting on universal health coverage. New York, NY2019.

2. Marmot M, Allen J, Boyce T, Goldblatt P, Morrison J. Health equity in England: the Marmot review 10 years on. Institute of Health Equity;2020.

3. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Committee on Improving the Quality of Health Care Globally. Crossing the global quality chasm: Improving health care worldwide. Washington, DC: National Academies Press;2018.

4. World Health Organization, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank Group. Delivering quality health services: a global imperative for universal health coverage. World Health Organization; 2018.

5. Kruk ME, Gage AD, Arsenault C, et al. High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution. The Lancet Global Health. 2018;6(11):e1196-e1252.

6. Ricci-Cabello I, Violán C, Foguet-Boreu Q, Mounce LT, Valderas JM. Impact of multi-morbidity on quality of healthcare and its implications for health policy, research and clinical practice. A scoping review. European Journal of General Practice. 2015;21(3):192-202.

7. Valtis YK, Rosenberg J, Bhandari S, et al. Evidence-based medicine for all: what we can learn from a programme providing free access to an online clinical resource to health workers in resource-limited settings. BMJ global health. 2016;1(1).

8. Institute of Medicine. Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America . Washington, DC: National Academies Press 2012.

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114 Healthcare Administration Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Healthcare administration is a crucial aspect of the healthcare industry, as it involves managing the operations and resources of healthcare facilities to ensure optimal patient care and organizational effectiveness. If you are studying healthcare administration and need some inspiration for essay topics, look no further! Here are 114 healthcare administration essay topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The role of healthcare administrators in improving patient outcomes
• The impact of technology on healthcare administration
• Strategies for managing healthcare costs
• The importance of data analytics in healthcare administration
• Ethical considerations in healthcare administration
• The challenges of managing a healthcare facility during a pandemic
• The role of leadership in healthcare administration
• The impact of healthcare policies on healthcare administration
• The future of healthcare administration
• Improving patient satisfaction in healthcare facilities
• Managing healthcare staff effectively
• The role of communication in healthcare administration
• The importance of quality improvement in healthcare administration
• Strategies for managing healthcare supply chains
• The impact of cultural competence on healthcare administration
• The challenges of healthcare administration in rural areas
• The role of healthcare administrators in disaster preparedness
• The impact of population health management on healthcare administration
• Strategies for promoting patient safety in healthcare facilities
• The role of healthcare administrators in addressing healthcare disparities
• The impact of healthcare reform on healthcare administration
• The challenges of managing healthcare information systems
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting innovation in healthcare
• Strategies for managing healthcare facilities in a global context
• The impact of healthcare regulations on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting evidence-based practice
• The challenges of managing healthcare finances
• The importance of strategic planning in healthcare administration
• The impact of healthcare mergers and acquisitions on healthcare administration
• Strategies for managing healthcare workforce diversity
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting patient-centered care
• The challenges of managing healthcare quality metrics
• The impact of healthcare accreditation on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting interprofessional collaboration
• Strategies for managing healthcare risk
• The importance of ethical leadership in healthcare administration
• The impact of healthcare marketing on healthcare administration
• The challenges of managing healthcare compliance
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting health equity
• Strategies for managing healthcare innovation
• The impact of healthcare technology on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare sustainability
• The challenges of managing healthcare performance metrics
• The importance of continuous quality improvement in healthcare administration
• The impact of healthcare regulation on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting patient safety
• Strategies for managing healthcare workforce shortages
• The challenges of managing healthcare information technology
• The impact of healthcare reimbursement models on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare transparency
• Strategies for managing healthcare supply chain disruptions
• The importance of data-driven decision making in healthcare administration
• The impact of healthcare policy on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare ethics
• The challenges of managing healthcare staffing ratios
• The importance of healthcare leadership development in healthcare administration
• Strategies for managing healthcare facility design and construction
• The impact of healthcare quality improvement initiatives on healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare innovation
• The challenges of managing healthcare patient satisfaction scores
• The importance of healthcare workforce diversity in healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare teamwork
• Strategies for managing healthcare risk management
• The challenges of managing healthcare financial performance
• The importance of healthcare strategic planning in healthcare administration
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare quality improvement
• Strategies for managing healthcare workforce engagement
• The challenges of managing healthcare regulatory compliance
• The role of healthcare administrators in promoting healthcare access
• The role of

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Mastering the Art of Writing a Health Care Essay on a Good Topic

'A healthy nation is a wealthy nation' - this famous proverb inspires many young people to pursue a career in healthcare, becoming nurses, physicians, therapists, etc. However, some of them fail to realize the responsibility that comes with such occupations. This may bring about a situation whereby colleges and universities turn out unqualified healthcare and nursing experts. To prevent it from happening, professors who teach respective disciplines assign their students the task of writing a health care essay. Being either an essay or research paper, it presents the students with a choice: to examine the problem on their own using various tools and equipment or analyze all available sources on the given research question, offering some personal findings.

14 Amazing Health Care Essay Topics with Introduction Examples

In your essay about health care, you may either talk about various diseases, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, or methods used by doctors to help their patients, as well as their roles in general. In most cases, students should criticize the modern healthcare system as it really is in need of improvement. It is necessary that they provide some vivid real-life examples if they wish to convince their audience of their point of view.

Approaches to healthcare in the US, UK, and Australia differ, so you may focus on discussing their pros and cons in the essays about health care.

To help you understand which issues to discuss, we have listed the best health care essay topics below. You can also find short answers to each question.

Why is Healthcare Important to Society?

"Healthcare and medicine is a broad term that refers to a system involving maintenance and enhancement of medical services to cater to the health demands of human beings and other living creatures. The quality of healthcare services is one of the most critical factors that predetermines a country's well-being. The system usually varies depending on the healthcare policies of the region. In highly industrialized countries (i.e.countries of the First World), the system is advanced, with almost every citizen having unrestricted access to healthcare services. The low economic level in underdeveloped countries exerts an adverse impact on the healthcare system of these nations."

Is Healthcare a Right or a Privilege

"In the countries of the Third World, healthcare and medicine are not developed enough to save the lives of all of their citizens. Most of them cannot afford quality services, and that is the main difference between developed and underdeveloped countries as far as healthcare is concerned. Unlike poor people, the rich should make health their priority. However, they often neglect to do so, wasting almost all their money on things that harm their body, such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, drugs, etc. In other words, they tend to have more bad habits, and they value their health less."

Overweight is Putting Strain on the Health Care in the United States

"Childhood obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. This type of disorder has adverse effects on both physical and mental health, as obese kids tend to fall victim to school bullies. The worst consequence of being overweight is Diabetes Type II, and, unfortunately, more and more US children are facing this problem. The pivotal role in the increase in fat intake is played by environmental factors, tastes and preferences, and culture. Highly stressful activities like homework assignments may cause the child to eat more sweets, while their parents do nothing to restrict their consumption of sugar-rich foods. And finally, the lack of physical exercises also takes its toll."

Is Healthcare a Human Right?

"According to NCBI, healthcare is not a human right. To understand why it is important to define both terms. 'Human right' refers to a moral right of great significance that each human being should be entitled to. Dictionaries define healthcare as 'the act of taking prevention or important procedures to make a person's well-being better.' Healthcare is even more complex and confusing to define. Its meaning is too broad to be considered a human right. So, is there a person ultimately responsible for providing healthcare to the entire world? Insisting that healthcare is a human right is, therefore, wrong and pointless."

Should the Government Provide Health Care Insurance?

"The US government is not the only one responsible for providing healthcare insurance to all its citizens. It is only typical of the representatives of the political left to believe that the government should do that. All parties agree that health care is a valuable service, but the government has other important things to take care of. Rather than take care of medicine and nursing, the government's main goal should be to monitor and control the political and economic situation in the country. In fact, each organization has its goals, and so does the government. The government may protect the customer's freedom to buy goods and services by putting in place the corresponding laws and regulations. That is the best thing the US government can do as far as healthcare is concerned."

Causes and Effects of Health Care Crisis in America

"While urban population is more or less OK with its healthcare system, the rural areas of the US keep on suffering from what they call an American healthcare crisis. Hospitals in these regions continue to close down, while those that remain operational provide services of increasingly poor quality. More than 80 rural hospitals have shuttered during the last eight years because their personnel lacked the qualifications to cure patients properly. More than 700 hospitals are at high risk of being closed down, as they lack qualified healthcare professionals. Therefore, emergency medical services are becoming very important, because this is the only way of providing help to patients suffering from strokes, heart attacks, and other heart-related conditions."

Professionalism in Healthcare

"Being a doctor is the most responsible job in the world. It is also the most in-demand one, even though not always properly remunerated. In the underdeveloped countries, the doctor's salaries are among the lowest. In the US, the situation is much better, but still needs improvement in many respects. Medical personnel in this country are granted a license to invest long hours in research and diligent evaluation. Licensure is the way to guarantee the doctor's excellent skills and rich experience in a specific field. It is their willingness to place personal needs after the needs of the patient."

What Has Been the Impact of Medicare on the Healthcare System?

"Quality medicare and teamwork are the essential prerequisites of professional attitude and behavior. The most essential qualities of any medical expert are integrity, accountability, motivation, altruism, and empathy. This way the crucial trust between the patient and professionals is developed. Advanced interpersonal and communication skills impact the quality of medicare as well. Over the past 20 years, we have been witnessing the resurgence of interest in professional training and fair evaluation in the US. It is, therefore, experienced doctors' job to support and guide young professionals on their way to success."

Why Do You Want to Pursue a Career in Healthcare?

"Several factors, the salary being probably the most important one, motivate a lot of young people to choose a career in healthcare. Everyone knows that good medical experts are valued extremely high in the United States. Jobs in healthcare guarantee great opportunities and full security. Quite a few students consider helping other people their priority because they lost their loved ones to fatal diseases. They want to contribute to the medical field by finding a cure to the most complicated disorders some day. And finally, a career in healthcare provides an excellent opportunity to live and work in different parts of the world."

Cultural Diversity in Healthcare

"The purpose of this research paper is to identify basic nuances and issues of cultural diversity in the context of medical treatment, as well as offer solutions aimed at preventing said issues. The main focus is on communication as a culture-based phenomenon, correlation between the patient's progress and expert's treatment, and possible communication characteristics that act as obstacles between healthcare staff and patients. Of the two theoretical approaches used in the study, the first one relates to the information processing, while the second one concerns changing behaviors and interpretation."

Healthcare in America

"Though considered one of the best in the world, the American health care system still has some catching up to do with other countries, including the US's closest neighbor Canada. The US lacks a uniform health system that could offer universal healthcare coverage. Its healthcare system can be referred to as hybrid as it is funded from different sources, such as private funds (48%), households funds (28%), and private businesses funds(20%). The majority of medical and nursing services in this country are privately-owned, even if they are financed by the government. What makes this system stand out from the rest of the world is its great professional staff."

Healthcare in Canada

"Canada has implemented one of the best healthcare reforms in the world. Over the past 4 decades, the country has introduced a number of improvements, making medical treatment affordable for almost every citizen. Urgent and essential health care services are provided based on the needs rather than financial opportunities. This fact alone shows how generous the Canadian government and its healthcare professionals are. When it comes to healthcare, they value fairness and equality more than other nations do. The local healthcare system keeps getting improved as the nation's population increases. It is also important to acknowledge that the very essence of healthcare is also undergoing change."

Public vs. Private Healthcare Sectors

"When comparing the public and private healthcare sectors, it is impossible to ignore the NHS or the National Health Service. The organization, whose staff is made up mostly of primary care nurses or emergency care nurses, provides free health care services to the UK population. That is the reason why the job of Registered Nurse is so prevalent in local healthcare institutions. Specialized caregivers account for another sizeable portion of the healthcare sector. Each young professional is provided with a lot of opportunities for professional development and further career growth.

Communication in Healthcare

"Communication is one of the most important factors in healthcare. Without knowing the details of the patient's conditions and their medical history, the doctor will not be able to make a proper diagnosis. The evidence obtained in the course of this study indicates that there's a direct correlation between the medical representative's communication skills and the patient's willingness to follow the doctor's advice. The doctor's duty is to help the patient control their chronic condition all by themselves, if needed, as well as acquire preventive behaviors. The doctor should not simply cure the patient, but rather teach them some significant lessons to help them remain healthy."

Hopefully, these samples of papers on medicine and nursing will help you choose the hottest topics and best introductions to your essays and research papers. Still having problems? We can offer affordably-priced assistance with any sort of academic writing, including an essay on health care! Try our services at any time, and you won't be disappointed!

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NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

2021 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2021 Dec.

2021 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report [Internet].

Overview of u.s. healthcare system landscape.

The National Academy of Medicine defines healthcare quality as “the degree to which health care services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge.” Many factors contribute to the quality of care in the United States, including access to timely care, affordability of care, and use of evidence-based guidelines to drive treatment.

This section of the report highlights utilization of healthcare services, healthcare workforce statistics, healthcare expenditures, and major contributors to morbidity and mortality. These factors help paint an overall picture of the U.S. healthcare system, particularly areas that need improvement. Quality measures show whether the healthcare system is adequately addressing risk factors, diseases, and conditions that place the greatest burden on the healthcare system and if change has occurred over time.

• Overview of the U.S. Healthcare System Infrastructure

The NHQDR tracks care delivered by providers in many types of healthcare settings. The goal is to provide high-quality healthcare that is culturally and linguistically sensitive, patient centered, timely, affordable, well coordinated, and safe. The receipt of appropriate high-quality services and counseling about healthy lifestyles can facilitate the maintenance of well-being and functioning. In addition, social determinants of health, such as education, income, and residence location can affect access to care and quality of care.

Improving care requires facility administrators and providers to work together to expand access, enhance quality, and reduce disparities. It also requires coordination between the healthcare sector and other sectors for social welfare, education, and economic development. For example, Healthy People 2030 includes 5 domains (shown in the diagram below) and 78 social determinants of health objectives for federal programs and interventions.

Healthy People 2030 social determinants of health domains.

The numbers of health service encounters and people working in health occupations illustrate the large scale and inherent complexity of the U.S. healthcare system. The tracking of healthcare quality measures in this report iii attempts to quantify progress made in improving quality and reducing disparities in the delivery of healthcare to the American people.

Number of healthcare service encounters, United States, 2018 and 2019.

• In 2018, there were 860 million physician office visits ( Figure 1 ).
• In 2019, patients spent 149 million days in hospice.
• In 2019, there were 100 million home health visits.
• Overview of Disease Burden in the United States

The National Institutes of Health defines disease burden as the impact of a health problem, as measured by prevalence, incidence, mortality, morbidity, extent of disability, financial cost, or other indicators.

This section of the report highlights two areas of disease burden that have major impact on the health system of the United States: years of potential life lost and leading causes of death. The NHQDR tracks measures of quality for most of these conditions. Variation in access to care and care delivery across communities contributes to disparities related to race, ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status.

The concept of years of potential life lost (YPLL) involves estimating the average time a person would have lived had he or she not died prematurely. This measure is used to help quantify social and economic loss from premature death, and it has been promoted to emphasize specific causes of death affecting younger age groups. YPLL inherently incorporates age at death, and its calculation mathematically weights the total deaths by applying values to death at each age. 1

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), unintentional injuries include opioid overdoses (unintentional poisoning), motor vehicle crashes, suffocation, drowning, falls, fire/burns, and sports and recreational injuries. Overdose deaths involving opioids, including prescription opioids , heroin , and synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl ), have been a major contributor to the increase in unintentional injuries. Opioid overdose has increased to more than six times its 1999 rate. 2

Age-adjusted years of potential life lost before age 65, by cause of death, 2010–2019. Key: YPLL = years of potential life lost. Note: The perinatal period occurs from 22 completed weeks (154 days) of gestation and ends 7 completed days after (more...)

• From 2010 to 2019, there were no changes in the ranking of the top 10 leading diseases and injuries contributing to YPLL. The top 5 were unintentional injury, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and complications during the perinatal period ( Figure 2 ). The remaining 5 were homicide, congenital anomalies, liver disease, diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease.
• Unintentional injury increased from 791.8 per 100,000 population in 2010 to 1,024.3 per 100,000 population in 2019.
• Cancer decreased from 635.2 per 100,000 population in 2010 to 533.3 per 100,000 population in 2019.
• Heart disease decreased from 474.3 per 100,000 population in 2010 to 453.2 per 100,000 population in 2019.

Age-adjusted years of potential life lost before age 65, by cause of death and race, 2019. Key: AI/AN = American Indian or Alaska Native; PI = Pacific Islander.

• In 2019, among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people, the top five contributing factors for YPLL were unintentional injuries (1,284.6 per 100,000 population), suicide (457.7 per 100,000 population), liver disease (451.6 per 100,000 population), heart disease (399.8 per 100,000 population), and cancer (339.6 per 100,000 population) ( Figure 3 ).
• In 2019, among Asian and Pacific Islander people, the top five contributing factors for YPLL were cancer (375.7 per 100,000 population), unintentional injuries (299.4 per 100,000 population), complications in the perinatal period (203.4 per 100,000 population), suicide (198.5 per 100,000), and heart disease (197.7 per 100,000 population).
• In 2019 among Black people, the top five contributing factors for YPLL were unintentional injuries (1,085.8 per 100,000 population), heart disease (843.5 per 100,000 population), homicide (801.7 per 100,000 population), cancer (652.7 per 100,000 population), and complications in the perinatal period (560.4 per 100,000 population).
• In 2019, among White people, the top five contributing factors for YPLL were unintentional injuries (1,080.0 per 100,000 population), cancer (530.1 per 100,000 population), heart disease (406.6 per 100,000 population), suicide (387.6 per 100,000 population), and complications in the perinatal period (215.7 per 100,000 population).

Leading causes of death for the total population, United States, 2018 and 2019.

• In 2019, heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes were among the leading causes of death for the overall U.S. population ( Figure 4 ).
• Overall, kidney disease moved from the 9 th leading cause of death in 2018 to the 8 th leading cause of death in 2019.
• Suicide remained the 10 th leading cause of death in 2018 and 2019.

The years of potential life lost, years with disability, and leading causes of death represent some aspects of the burden of disease experienced by the American people. Findings highlighted in this report attempt to quantify progress made in improving quality of care, reducing disparities in healthcare, and ultimately reducing disease burden.

• Overview of U.S. Community Hospital Intensive Care Beds

The United States has almost 1 million staffed hospital beds; nearly 800,000 are community hospital beds and 107,000 are intensive care beds. Figure 5 shows the numbers of different types of staffed intensive care hospital beds.

Medical-surgical intensive care provides patient care of a more intensive nature than the usual medical and surgical care delivered in hospitals, on the basis of physicians’ orders and approved nursing care plans. These units are staffed with specially trained nursing personnel and contain specialized equipment for monitoring and supporting patients who, because of shock, trauma, or other life-threatening conditions, require intensified comprehensive observation and care. These units include mixed intensive care units.

Pediatric intensive care provides care to pediatric patients that is more intensive in nature than that usually provided to pediatric patients. The unit is staffed with specially trained personnel and contains monitoring and specialized support equipment for treating pediatric patients who, because of shock, trauma, or other life-threatening conditions, require intensified, comprehensive observation and care.

Cardiac intensive care provides patient care of a more specialized nature than the usual medical and surgical care, on the basis of physicians’ orders and approved nursing care plans. The unit is staffed with specially trained nursing personnel and contains specialized equipment for monitoring, support, or treatment for patients who, because of severe cardiac disease such as myocardial infarction, open-heart surgery, or other life-threatening conditions, require intensified, comprehensive observation and care.

Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are distinct from the newborn nursery and provide intensive care to sick infants, including those with the very lowest birth weights (less than 1,500 grams). NICUs may provide mechanical ventilation, care before or after neonatal surgery, and special care for the sickest infants born in the hospital or transferred from another institution. Neonatologists typically serve as directors of NICUs.

Burn care provides care to severely burned patients. Severely burned patients are those with the following: (1) second-degree burns of more than 25% total body surface area for adults or 20% total body surface area for children; (2) third-degree burns of more than 10% total body surface area; (3) any severe burns of the hands, face, eyes, ears, or feet; or (4) all inhalation injuries, electrical burns, complicated burn injuries involving fractures and other major traumas, and all other poor risk factors.

Other intensive care unit beds are in specially staffed, specialty-equipped, separate sections of a hospital dedicated to the observation, care, and treatment of patients with life-threatening illnesses, injuries, or complications from which recovery is possible. This type of care includes special expertise and facilities for the support of vital functions and uses the skill of medical, nursing, and other staff experienced in the management of conditions that require this higher level of care.

U.S. community hospital intensive care staffed beds, by type of intensive care, 2019. Note: Community hospitals are defined as all nonfederal, short-term general, and other special hospitals. Other special hospitals include obstetrics and gynecology; (more...)

• In 2019, of the more than 900,000 staffed hospital beds in the United States, 86% were in community hospitals (data not shown).
• Most of the more than 107,000 intensive care beds in community hospitals were medical-surgical intensive care (51.9%) and neonatal intensive care beds (21.1%) ( Figure 5 ).

Critical access hospital (CAH) is a designation given to eligible rural hospitals by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The CAH designation is designed to reduce the financial vulnerability of rural hospitals and improve access to healthcare by keeping essential services in rural communities. To accomplish this goal, CAHs receive certain benefits, such as cost-based reimbursement for Medicare services. As of July 16, 2021, 1,353 CAHs were located throughout the United States. 3 , iv

Distribution of critical access hospitals in the United States, 2021.

• According to CMS, CAHs must be located in a rural area or an area that is treated as rural, v so the number of CAHs varies by state ( Figure 6 ).
• In 2019, California had a population of 39.5 million and 36 CAHs compared with Iowa, which had a population of only 3.2 million but 82 CAHs.
• U.S. Healthcare Workforce

Healthcare access and quality can be affected by workforce shortages, particularly in rural areas. In addition, lack of racial, ethnic, and gender concordance between providers and patients can lead to miscommunication, stereotyping, and stigma, and, ultimately, suboptimal healthcare.

Healthcare Workforce Availability

Improving quality of care, increasing access to care, and controlling healthcare costs depend on the adequate availability of healthcare providers. 4 Physician shortages currently exist in many states across the nation, with relatively fewer primary care and specialty physicians available in nonmetropolitan counties compared with metropolitan counties. 5

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) further projects that the supply of key professions, including primary care providers, general dentists, adult psychiatrists, and addiction counselors, will fall short of demand by 2030. 6 These concerns have the potential to influence the delivery of healthcare and negatively affect patient outcomes.

Number of people working in health occupations, United States, 2019. Key: EMT = emergency medical technician. Note: Doctors of medicine also include doctors of osteopathic medicine. Active physicians include those working in direct patient care, administration, (more...)

• In 2019, there were 3.7 million registered nurses ( Figure 7 ).
• In 2019, there were 2.4 million healthcare aides, which includes nursing, psychiatric, home health, and occupational therapy aides and physical therapy assistants and aides.
• In 2019, there were 2.1 million health technologists.
• In 2019, 2.0 million other health practitioners provided care, including more than 145,000 physician assistants (PAs).
• In 2019, there were 972,000 active medical doctors in the United States, which include doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy.
• In 2019, there were 183,000 dentists.

In recent decades, promising approaches that address the supply-demand imbalance have emerged as alternatives to simply increasing the number of physicians. One strategy relies on telehealth technologies to improve physicians’ efficiency or to increase access to their services. For example, Project ECHO is a telehealth model in which specialists remotely support multiple rural primary care providers so that they can treat patients for conditions that might otherwise require traveling to distant specialty centers. 7

Another strategy relies on peer-led models, in which community-based laypeople receive the training and support needed to deliver care for a (typically) narrow range of conditions. Successful examples of this approach exist, including the deployment of community health workers to manage chronic diseases, 8 promotoras to provide maternal health services, 9 peer counselors for mental health and substance use disorders, 10 and dental health aides to deliver oral health services in remote locations. 11

The National Institutes of Health, HRSA, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have sponsored formative research to examine key issues that must be addressed to further develop these models, but all show promise for expanding access to care and increasing overall diversity within the healthcare workforce.

Workforce Diversity

The number of full-time, year-round workers in healthcare occupations has almost doubled since 2000, increasing from 5 million to 9 million workers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey .

A racially and ethnically diverse health workforce has been shown to promote better access and healthcare for underserved populations and to better meet the health needs of an increasingly diverse population. People of color, however, remain underrepresented in several health professions, despite longstanding efforts to increase the diversity of the healthcare field. 12

Additional research has found that physicians from groups underrepresented in the health professions are more likely to serve minority and economically disadvantaged patients. It has also been found that Black and Hispanic physicians practice in areas with larger Black and Hispanic populations than other physicians do. 13

Gender diversity is also important. Women currently account for three-quarters of full-time, year-round healthcare workers. Although the number of men who are dentists or veterinarians has decreased over the past two decades, men still make up more than half of dentists, optometrists, and emergency medical technicians/paramedics, as well as physicians and surgeons earning over $100,000. 14

Women working as registered nurses, the most common healthcare occupation, earn on average $66,000. Women working as nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, the second most common healthcare occupation, earn only $27,000. 14

The impact of unequal gender distribution in the healthcare workforce is observed in the persistence of gender inequality in heart attack mortality. Most physicians are male, and some may not recognize differences in symptoms in female patients. The fact that gender concordance correlates with whether a patient survives a heart attack has implications for theory and practice. Medical practitioners should be aware of the possible challenges male providers face when treating female heart attack patients. 15

Research has shown that some mental health workforce groups, such as psychiatrists, are more diverse than many other medical specialties, and this diversity has improved over time. However, this diversity has not translated as well to academic faculty or leadership positions for underrepresented minorities. It was found that there was more minority representation among psychiatry residents (16.2%) compared with faculty (8.7%) and practicing physicians (10.4%). This difference results in minority students and trainees having fewer minority mentors to guide them in the profession.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Physicians

Diversification of the physician workforce has been a goal for several years and could improve access to primary care for underserved populations and address health disparities. Family physicians’ race/ethnicity has become more diverse over time but still does not reflect the national racial and ethnic composition. 16 , vi

Racial and ethnic distribution of all active physicians (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due (more...)

• In 2019, White people were 60% of the U.S. population and approximately 64% of physicians ( Figure 8 ).
• Asian people were about 6% of the U.S. population and approximately 22% of physicians.
• Black people were 12% of the U.S. population but only 5% of physicians.
• Hispanic people were 18% of the U.S. population but only 7% of physicians.
• People of more than race made up about 3% of the U.S. population but less than 2% of physicians.
• AI/AN people and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) people accounted for 1% or less of the U.S. population and 1% or less of physicians (data not shown).

Preventive care, including screenings, is key to reducing death and disability and improving health. Evidence has shown that patients with providers of the same gender have higher rates of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings. 17

Physicians by race/ethnicity and sex, 2018. Key: AI/AN = American Indian or Alaska Native; NHPI = Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Note: Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working (more...)

• In 2018, among Black physicians, females (53.0%) constituted a larger percentage than males (47.0%) ( Figure 9 ).
• Among White physicians, 65.5% were male.
• Among Asian physicians, 55.7% were male.
• Among AI/AN physicians, 60.1% were male.
• Among Hispanic physicians, 59.5% were male.

White physicians by age and sex, 2018. Note : Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working at least 20 hours per week. Physicians who are retired, semiretired, temporarily not in practice, (more...)

• In 2018, among White physicians, males were the vast majority of those age 65 years and over (79.3%) and of those ages 55–64 years (71.5%) ( Figure 10 ).
• A little more than half of White physicians age 34 and younger were females (50.6%).
• Among White physicians age 35 and over, males made up a larger percentage of the workforce than females. This percentage increased with age.

Black physicians by age and sex, 2018. Note: Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working at least 20 hours per week. Physicians who are retired, semiretired, temporarily not in practice, (more...)

• In 2018, among Black physicians under age 55, females made up a larger percentage of the workforce than males. This percentage decreased with increasing age ( Figure 11 ).
• Females were 44.2% of Black physicians ages 55–64 and 34.9% of Black physicians age 65 and over.

Asian physicians by age and sex, 2018. Note: Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working at least 20 hours per week. Physicians who are retired, semiretired, temporarily not in practice, (more...)

• In 2018, among Asian physicians, males were the vast majority of those age 65 years and over (72.7%) and of those ages 55–64 years (66.3%) ( Figure 12 ).
• Among Asian physicians age 34 and younger, there were more females (52.0%) than males (48.0%).
• Among Asian physicians age 35 and over, males made up a larger percentage of the workforce than females. This percentage increased with age.

American Indian or Alaska Native physicians by age and sex, 2018. Note: Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working at least 20 hours per week. Physicians who are retired, semiretired, (more...)

• In 2018, among AI/AN physicians, males were the vast majority of those age 65 years and over (73.2%) and of those ages 55–64 years (62.6%) ( Figure 13 ).
• Among AI/AN physicians age 34 and younger, there were more females (57.9%) than males (42.1%).
• Among AI/AN physicians age 45 and over, males made up a larger percentage of the workforce than females. This percentage increased with age.

Hispanic physicians by age and sex, 2018. Note: Physicians (federal and nonfederal) who are licensed by a state are considered active, provided they are working at least 20 hours per week. Physicians who are retired, semiretired, temporarily not in practice, (more...)

• In 2018, most Hispanic physicians age 65 years and over (77.5%) and ages 55–64 years (67.5%) were males ( Figure 14 ).
• Among Hispanic physicians age 34 and younger, there were more females (55.3%) compared with males (44.7%).
• Among Hispanic physicians age 35 and over, males made up a larger percentage of the workforce than females. This percentage increased with age.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Dentists

The racial and ethnic diversity of the oral healthcare workforce is insufficient to meet the needs of a diverse population and to address persistent health disparities. 18 However, among first-time, first-year enrollees in dental school, improved diversity has been observed. The number of African American enrollees nearly doubled and the number of Hispanic enrollees has increased threefold between 2000 and 2020. 19 Increased diversity among dentists may improve access and quality of care, particularly in the area of culturally and linguistically sensitive care.

Dentists by race (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and Other are non-Hispanic. If estimates for certain racial and ethnic groups meet data suppression criteria, they are recategorized into (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of dentists (70%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 15 ).
• Asian people, 18%,
• Hispanic people, 6%
• Black people, 5%, and
• Other (multiracial and AI/AN people), 1.0%.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Registered Nurses

Ensuring workforce diversity and leadership development opportunities for racial and ethnic minority nurses must remain a high priority in order to eliminate health disparities and, ultimately, achieve health equity. 20

Registered nurses by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding and (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of RNs (69%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 16 ).
• Black people, 11%,
• Asian people, 9%,
• Hispanic people, 8%,
• Multiracial people, 2%, and
• Other (AI/AN and NHPI people), 1%.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Pharmacists

Most healthcare diagnostic and treating occupations such as pharmacists, physicians, nurses, and dentists are primarily White while healthcare support roles such as dental assistants, medical assistants, and personal care aides are more diverse. To decrease disparities and enhance patient care, racial and ethnic diversity must be improved on all levels of the healthcare workforce, not just in support roles. 21

Progress has been made toward increased racial and ethnic diversity, but more work is needed. As Bush notes in an article on underrepresented minorities in pharmacy school, “If we are determined to reduce existing healthcare disparities among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, then we must be determined to diversify the healthcare workforce.” 22

Pharmacists by race (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding and the exclusion of groups (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of pharmacists (65%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 17 ).
• Asian people, 20%,
• Black people, 7%,
• Hispanic people, 5%, and
• Multiracial people, 2%.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Therapists

Occupational therapists, physical therapists, radiation therapists, recreational therapists, and respiratory therapists are classified as health diagnosing and treating practitioners. Hispanic people are significantly underrepresented in all of the occupations in the category of Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners. Among non-Hispanic people, Black people are underrepresented in most of these occupations.

Asian people are underrepresented among speech-language pathologists, and AI/AN people are underrepresented in nearly all occupations. To the extent they can be reliably reported, data also show that NHPI people are underrepresented in all occupations in the Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners group. 21

Therapists include occupational therapists, physical therapists, radiation therapists, recreational therapists, respiratory therapists, speech-language pathologists, exercise physiologists, and other therapists.

Therapists by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding and the exclusion (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of therapists (74%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 18 ).
• Black people, 8%,
• Asian people, 8%,
• Hispanic people, 8%, and

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Advanced Practice Registered Nurses

The adequacy and distribution of the primary care workforce to meet the current and future needs of Americans continue to be cause for concern. Advanced practice registered nurses are increasingly being used to fill this gap but may include clinicians in areas beyond primary care, such as clinical nurse specialists, nurse-midwives, and nurse anesthetists.

Advanced practice registered nurses are registered nurses educated at the master’s or post-master’s level who serve in a specific role with a specific patient population. They include certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives.

While physicians continue to account for most of the primary care workforce (74%) in the United States, nurse practitioners represent nearly one-fifth (19%) of the primary care workforce, followed by physician assistants, accounting for 7%. 23

Nurse practitioners provide an extensive range of services that includes taking health histories and providing complete physical exams. They diagnose and treat acute and chronic illnesses, provide immunizations, prescribe and manage medications and other therapies, order and interpret lab tests and x rays, and provide health education and supportive counseling.

Nurse practitioners deliver primary care in practices of various sizes, types (e.g., private, public), and settings, such as clinics, schools, and workplaces. Nurse practitioners work independently and collaboratively. They often take the lead in providing care in innovative primary care arrangements, such as retail clinics. 24

Advanced practice registered nurses by race (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of advanced practice registered nurses (78 %) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 19 ).
• Asian people, 6%,
• Hispanic people, 6%, and

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Emergency Professionals

Workforce diversity can reduce communication barriers and inequalities in healthcare delivery, especially in settings such as emergency departments, where time pressure and incomplete information may worsen the effects of implicit biases. The racial and ethnic makeup of the paramedic and emergency medical technician workforce indicates that concerted efforts are needed to encourage students of diverse backgrounds to pursue emergency service careers. 25

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics by race (left), and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages do not add to 100 due to rounding. In addition, (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics (72%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 20 ).
• Hispanic people, 13%
• Asian people, 3%,

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Other Health Practitioners

Other health practitioners include physician assistants, medical assistants, dental assistants, chiropractors, dietitians and nutritionists, optometrists, podiatrists, and audiologists, as well as massage therapists, medical equipment preparers, medical transcriptionists, pharmacy aides, veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, phlebotomists, and healthcare support workers.

Other health practitioners by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding (more...)

• In 2019, the distribution of other health practitioners closely aligned with the racial and ethnic distribution of the U.S. population ( Figure 21 ).
• In 2019, 58% of other health practitioners were non-Hispanic White.
• In 2019, Hispanic people accounted for 20% of other health practitioners.
• Black people, 12%,
• Asian people, 7%,

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Physician Assistants

Physician assistants (PAs) are included in the Other Health Practitioners workforce group but are highlighted because they play a critical role in frontline primary care services in many settings, especially medically underserved and rural areas. With the demand for primary care services projected to grow and PAs’ roles in direct care, understanding this occupation’s racial and ethnic diversity is important.

Studies identify the value of advanced practice providers in patient care management, continuity of care, improved quality and safety metrics, and patient and staff satisfaction. These providers can also enhance the educational experience of residents and fellows. 26 However, a lack of workforce diversity has detrimental effects on patient outcomes, access to care, and patient trust, as well as on workplace experiences and employee retention. 27

Physician assistants by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of physician assistants (73%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 22 ).
• Black people, 6%,
• Multiracial people, 3%, and

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Other Health Occupations

Other health occupations include veterinarians, acupuncturists, all other healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, dental hygienists, and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses.

Other health occupations by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of staff in other health occupations (61%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 23 ).
• Black people, 19%,
• Hispanic people, 11%
• Asian people, 6 %,

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Health Technologists

Health technologists include clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, cardiovascular technologists and technicians, diagnostic medical sonographers, radiologic technologists and technicians, magnetic resonance imaging technologists, nuclear medicine technologists and medical dosimetrists, pharmacy technicians, surgical technologists, veterinary technologists and technicians, dietetic technicians and ophthalmic medical technicians, medical records specialists, and opticians (dispensing), miscellaneous health technologists and technicians, and technical occupations.

Health technologists by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding and the (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of health technologists (63%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 24 ).
• Black people, 14%,
• Hispanic people, 13%,
• Asian people, 8%, and

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Healthcare Aides

Healthcare aides include nursing, psychiatric, home health, occupational therapy, and physical therapy assistants and aides.

Healthcare aides by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, >1 Race, and Other are non-Hispanic. Percentages of the U.S. population do not add to 100 due to rounding and (more...)

• In 2019, 41% of healthcare aides were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 25 ).
• Black people, 32%,
• Hispanic people, 18%,

Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Psychologists

The United States has an inadequate workforce to meet the mental health needs of the population, 28 , 29 , 30 and it is estimated that in 2020, nearly 54% of the U.S. population age 18 and over with any mental illness did not receive needed treatment. 31 This unmet need is even greater for racial and ethnic minority populations. Nearly 80% of Asian and Pacific Islander people, vii 63% of African Americans, and 65% of Hispanic people with a mental illness do not receive mental health treatment. 29 , 32 , 33 , 34

These gaps in mental health care may be attributed to a number of reasons, including stigma, cultural attitudes and beliefs, lack of insurance, or lack of familiarity with the mental health system. 35 , 36 , 37 However, a significant contributor to this treatment gap is the composition of the workforce.

The current mental health workforce lacks racial and ethnic diversity. 34 , 38 Research has shown that racial and ethnic patient-provider concordance is correlated with patient engagement and retention in mental health treatment. 39 In addition, racial and ethnic minority providers are more likely to serve patients of color than White providers. 34 , 36

Among psychologists, a key practitioner group in the mental health workforce, 37 , 40 minorities are significantly underrepresented. Psychologists in the United States are predominantly non-Hispanic White, while all racial and ethnic minorities represented only about one-sixth of all psychologists from 2011 to 2015.

Reducing the serious gaps in mental health care for racial and ethnic minority populations will require a significant shift in the workforce. Workforce recruitment, training, and education of more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse practitioners will be essential to reduce these disparities.

Psychologists by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Note: White, Black, Asian, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. Psychologists include practitioners of general psychology, developmental and child (more...)

• In 2019, the vast majority of psychologists (79%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 26 ).
• Hispanic people,10%,
• Asian people, 4%, and
• Multiracial people, 2.0%.

Although the outpatient substance use treatment field has seen an increase in referrals of Black and Hispanic clients, there have been limited changes in the diversity of the workforce. This discordance may exacerbate treatment disparities experienced by these clients. 41

Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors by race/ethnicity (left) and U.S. population racial and ethnic distribution (right), 2019. Key: AI/AN = American Indian/Alaska Native. Note: White, Black, Asian, AI/AN, and >1 Race are non-Hispanic. (more...)

• In 2019, the majority of substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors (58%) were non-Hispanic White ( Figure 27 ).
• Black people, 18%,
• Hispanic people, 16 %,
• Asian people, 4%,
• AI/AN people, 1%.
• Overview of Healthcare Expenditures in the United States
• Hospital care expenditures grew by 6.2% to $1.2 trillion in 2019, faster than the 4.2% growth in 2018.
• Physician and clinical services expenditures grew 4.6% to $772.1 billion in 2019, a faster growth than the 4.0% in 2018.
• Prescription drug spending increased by 5.7% to $369.7 billion in 2019, faster than the 3.8% growth in 2018.
• In 2019, the federal government (29%) and households (28%) each accounted for the largest shares of healthcare spending, followed by private businesses (19%), state and local governments (16%), and other private revenues (7%). Federal government spending on health accelerated in 2019, increasing 5.8% after 5.4% growth in 2018.

Personal Healthcare Expenditures

“Personal healthcare expenditures” measures the total amount spent to treat individuals with specific medical conditions. It comprises all of the medical goods and services used to treat or prevent a specific disease or condition in a specific person. These include hospital care; professional services; other health, residential, and personal care; home health care; nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities; and retail outlet sales of medical products. 43

Distribution of personal healthcare expenditures by type of expenditure, 2019. Key: CCRCs = continuing care retirement communities. Note: Percentages do not add to 100 due to rounding. Personal healthcare expenditures are outlays for goods and services (more...)

• In 2019, hospital care expenditures were $1.192 trillion, nearly 40% of personal healthcare expenditures ( Figure 28 ).
• Expenditures for physician and clinical services were $772.1 billion, almost one-fourth of personal healthcare expenditures.
• Prescription drug expenditures were $369.7 billion, 10% of personal healthcare expenditures.
• Expenditures for dental services were $143.2 billion, 5% of personal healthcare expenditures.
• Nursing care facility expenditures were $172.7 billion and home health care expenditures were $113.5 billion, 5% and 4% of personal healthcare expenditures, respectively.

Personal healthcare expenditures, by source of funds, 2019. Note: Data are available at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html. Personal healthcare (more...)

• In 2019, private insurance accounted for 33% of personal healthcare expenditures, followed by Medicare (23%), Medicaid (17%), and out of pocket (13%) ( Figure 29 ).
• Private insurance accounted for 37% of hospital, 40% of physician, 15% of home health, 10% of nursing home, 43% of dental, and 45% of prescription drug expenditures.
• Medicare accounted for 27% of hospital, 25% of physician, 39% of home health, 22% of nursing home, 1.0% of dental, and 28% of prescription drug expenditures.
• Medicaid accounted for 17% of hospital, 11% of physician, 32% of home health, 29% of nursing home, 10% of dental, and 9% of prescription drug expenditures.
• Out-of-pocket payments accounted for 3% of hospital, 8% of physician, 11% of home health, 26% of nursing home, 42% of dental, and 15% of prescription drug expenditures.

Prescription drug expenditures, by source of funds, 2019. Note: Data are available at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html. Percentages do (more...)

• Private health insurance companies accounted for 44.5% of retail drug expenses ($164.6 billion in 2019).
• Medicare accounted for 28.3% of retail drug expenses ($104.6 billion).
• Medicaid accounted for 8.5% of retail drug expenses ($31.4 billion).
• Other health insurance programs accounted for 3.0% of retail drug expenses ($11.0 billion).

Other third-party payers had the smallest percentage of costs (1.2%), which represented $4.3 billion in retail drug costs.

• Variation in Healthcare Quality

State-level analysis included 182 measures for which state data were available. Of these measures, 140 are core measures and 42 are supplemental measures from the National CAHPS Benchmarking Database (NCBD), which provides state data for core measures with MEPS national data only.

The state healthcare quality analysis included all 182 measures, and the state disparities analysis included 108 measures for which state-by-race or state-by-ethnicity data were available. State-level data are also available for 136 supplemental measures. These data are available from the Data Query tool on the NHQDR website but are not included in data analysis.

State-level data show that healthcare quality and disparities vary widely depending on state and region. Although a state may perform well in overall quality, the same state may face significant disparities in healthcare access or disparities within specific areas of quality.

Overall quality of care, by state, 2015–2020. Note: All state-level measures with data were used to compute an overall quality score for each state based on the number of quality measures above, at, or below the average across all states. States (more...)

• Some states in the Northeast (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island), some in the Midwest (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin), two states in the West (Colorado and Utah), and North Carolina and Kentucky had the highest overall quality scores.
• Some Southern and Southwestern states (District of Columbia, viii Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, and Texas), two Western states (California and Nevada), some Northwestern states (Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming), and New York and Alaska had the lowest overall quality scores.
• More information about the measures and data sources included in the creation of this map can be found in Appendix C .
• More information about healthcare quality in each state can be found on the NHQDR website, https://datatools ​.ahrq.gov/nhqdr .
• Variation in Disparities in Healthcare

The disparities map ( Figure 32 ) shows average differences in quality of care for Black, Hispanic, Asian, NHPI, AI/AN, and multiracial people compared with the reference group, non-Hispanic White or White people. States with fewer than 50 data points are excluded.

Average differences in quality of care for Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and multiracial people compared with White people, by state, 2018–2019. Note: All measures in this report that (more...)

• Some Western and Midwestern states (Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington), several Southern states (Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, and West Virginia), and Maine had the fewest racial and ethnic disparities overall.
• Several Northeastern states (Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania), two Midwestern states (Illinois and Ohio), two Southern States (Louisiana and Tennessee), and Texas had the most racial and ethnic disparities overall.

Major updates made to three data sources since 2018, specifically the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, and National Health Interview Survey, have had an outsized impact on what the 2021 NHQDR can include. Trend data were provided in prior versions of the NHQDR but were not directly comparable for almost half of the core measures at the time this report was developed. Therefore, the 2021 NHQDR does not include a summary figure showing all trend measures or all changes in disparities. The report includes summary figures for trends and change in disparities for some populations and the results for individual measures.

More information on providers that may be eligible to become CAHs and the criteria a Medicare-participating hospital must meet to be designated by CMS as a CAH can be found at https://www ​.cms.gov/Medicare ​/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification ​/CertificationandComplianc/CAHs .

All the criteria for a Medicare-participating hospital to be designated by CMS as a CAH can be found at https://www ​.cms.gov/Medicare ​/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification ​/CertificationandComplianc/CAHs .

The most recent data year available is 2018 from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the current source for workforce data broken down by both race/ethnicity and sex.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration combines data for Asian and Pacific Islander populations, which include Native Hawaiian populations.

For purposes of this report, the District of Columbia is treated as a state.

This document is in the public domain and may be used and reprinted without permission. Citation of the source is appreciated.

• Cite this Page 2021 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2021 Dec. OVERVIEW OF U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM LANDSCAPE.
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5 Critical Priorities for the U.S. Health Care System

• Marc Harrison

A guide to making health care more accessible, affordable, and effective.

The pandemic has starkly revealed the many shortcomings of the U.S. health care system — as well as the changes that must be implemented to make care more affordable, improve access, and do a better job of keeping people healthy. In this article, the CEO of Intermountain Healthcare describes five priorities to fix the system. They include: focus on prevention, not just treating sickness; tackle racial disparities; expand telehealth and in-home services; build integrated systems; and adopt value-based care.

Since early 2020, the dominating presence of the Covid-19 pandemic has redefined the future of health care in America. It has revealed five crucial priorities that together can make U.S. health care accessible, more affordable, and focused on keeping people healthy rather than simply treating them when they are sick.

• Marc Harrison , MD, is president and CEO of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare.

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Health Care in the United States, Essay Example

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In the United States, there has long been discussion about the quality and nature of the delivery of healthcare.  The debates have included who may receive such services, whether or not healthcare is a privilege or an entitlement, whether and how to make patient care affordable to all segments of the population, and the ways in which the government should, or should not, be involved in the provision of such services.  Indeed, many people feel that the healthcare in this country is the best in the world; others believe tha (The Free Dictionary)t our health delivery system is broken.  This paper shall examine different aspects of the healthcare system in our country, discussing whether it has been successful in providing essential services to American citizens.

The delivery of healthcare services is considered to be a system; according to the Free Diction- ary (Farlex, 2010), a system is defined as “a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole.” This is an apt description of our healthcare structure, as it is compiled of patients, medical and mental health providers, hospitals, clinics, laboratories, insurance companies, and many other parties that are reliant on each other and that, when combined, make up the entity known as our healthcare system.

Those who believe that our healthcare system is the best in the world often point to the fact that leaders as well as private citizens from countries throughout the world frequently come to the United States to have surgeries and other treatments that they require for survival.  A more cynical view of this phenomenon is that if people have the money, they are able to purchase quality care in the U.S., a “survival of the fittest” situation.  Those who lack the resources to travel to the U.S. for medical treatment are simply out of luck, and often will die without the needed care.

In fact, reports by the World Health Organization and other groups consistently indicate that while the United States spends more than any other country on healthcare costs, Americans receive lower quality, less efficient and less fairness from the system.  These conclusions come as a result of studying quality of care, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, productive lives.  (World Health Organization,2001.) What cannot be disputed is that the cost of healthcare is constantly rising, a fact which was the precipitant to the large movement to reform healthcare in our country in 2010.  More than 10 years ago, the goal of managed care was to drive down the costs of healthcare, but those promises did not materialize (Garsten, 2010.) A large segment of the population is either uninsured or underinsured, and it is speculated that over the next decade, these problems will only increase while other difficulties will arise (Garson, 2010.)

When examining the healthcare system, there are three aspects of care that call for evaluation: the impact of delivering care on the patient, the benefits and harms of that treatment, and the functioning of the healthcare system, as described in an article by Adrian Levy.  Levy argues that each of these outcomes should be assessed and should include both the successes and the limitations of each aspect.  The idea is that there should be operational measurements of patients’ interactions with the healthcare system that would include patients’ experiences in hospitals, using measurements of their functional abilities and their qualities of life following discharge.  The results of patients’ interactions with the healthcare system should be utilized to develop and improve the delivery of healthcare treatment, as well as to develop policy changes that would affect the entire field of healthcare in the United States.

One view of the state of American healthcare is that the system is fragmented; there have been many failed attempts by several presidents to introduce the idea of universal healthcare.  Instead, American citizens are saddled with a system in which government pays either directly or indirectly for over 50% of the healthcare in our country, but the actual delivery of insurance and of care is undertaken by an assortment of private insurers, for-profit hospitals, and other parties who raise costs without increasing quality of service (Wells, Krugman, 2006.) If the United States were to switch to a single-payer system such as that provided in Canada, the government would directly provide insurance which would most likely be less expensive and provide better results than our current system.

It is clear that throwing money at a problem does not necessarily resolve it; the fact that the United States spends more than twice as much on healthcare provision as any other country in the world only makes it more ironic that when it comes to evaluating the service, Americans fall appallingly flat.  In my opinion, if the new healthcare reform bill had included a public option which would have taken the profit margin out of the equation, the nation and its citizens would have been in a much better position to receive quality healthcare.  The fact that people die every day from preventable illnesses and conditions simply because they do not have affordable insurance is a national disgrace.  In addition, many of the people who have been the most adamantly against government “intrusion” into their healthcare are actually on Medicaid or Medicare, federally-funded programs.  Their lack of understanding of what the debate actually involves is striking, and they are rallying against what is in their own best interests.  These are people that equate Federal involvement in healthcare as socialism.  Unless and until our healthcare system is able to provide what is needed to all of its citizens, all claims that we have the best healthcare system in the world are, sadly, utterly hollow.

Adrian R Levy (2005, December). Categorizing outcomes of Health Care delivery. Clinical and investigative medicine, pp. 347-351.

Arthur Garson (2000). The U.S. Healthcare System 2010: Problems Principles and Potential Solutions. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Association: http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/101/16/2015

The Free Dictionary. (n.d.). Farlex. Retrieved July 3, 2010. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/system

World Health Organization. (2003, July). WHO World Health Report 2000. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from State of World Health: http://faculty.washington.edu/ely/Report2000.htm

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The Significance of “Help411” in Modern Support Systems

This essay about “Help411” explores its evolution from traditional directory assistance services to a comprehensive support system in our digitally connected era. It highlights the transition from providing basic contact information to offering extensive customer service, technical support, and emergency assistance through digital platforms. The essay discusses the accessibility and efficiency of “Help411” services, emphasizing their importance in enhancing customer experiences and building loyalty. It also addresses the challenges of integrating technology with the human element essential for handling complex issues. Ultimately, the essay underscores the role of “Help411” in modernizing customer support to meet contemporary needs and expectations.

How it works

In an era where information is at our fingertips, the concept of “Help411” has emerged as a pivotal element in the sphere of customer service and support systems. The idea is simple yet profoundly effective—providing a centralized hub where individuals can access information and assistance for a wide range of issues. This concept, rooted in the traditional 411 information services, has evolved to encompass much more, adapting to the needs of a digitally connected society.

The original 411 service was essentially a directory assistance number used in the United States and Canada, offering a straightforward way for people to obtain phone numbers and addresses.

As technology advanced, so did the scope of these services. “Help411” represents this evolution, symbolizing a comprehensive support system that leverages digital platforms to offer help beyond mere phone numbers—encompassing technical support, customer service, and even emergency assistance.

One of the significant advantages of “Help411” services is their accessibility. They embody the principle that support should be readily available at just the touch of a button. This accessibility is crucial in today’s fast-paced world, where time is often of the essence. Whether it’s resolving a technical issue with an internet service provider, navigating customer service for a major retailer, or seeking immediate help in emergency situations, “Help411” services provide a quick and efficient way to connect with the necessary resources.

Moreover, “Help411” plays an essential role in enhancing customer experiences. In the competitive landscape of business, the ability to provide quick, reliable assistance can significantly influence customer loyalty and satisfaction. Companies have recognized this and have integrated “Help411” systems into their operations, ensuring that help is not just available, but also effective and tailored to meet customer needs. This integration often involves sophisticated AI technologies that can predict common issues and offer solutions without the need for human intervention, streamlining the process and reducing wait times.

However, the implementation of “Help411” is not without challenges. The reliance on technology means that systems must be continuously updated and maintained to handle the volume and complexity of requests. Moreover, there is a human element to consider. Despite advances in AI, human interaction remains a critical component of customer service. The empathy and understanding that come from human interaction are often necessary for resolving more complex or sensitive issues. Balancing technological efficiency with human touch is a delicate dance that organizations must master as part of their “Help411” services.

In conclusion, “Help411” represents a modern adaptation of traditional information and assistance services, tailored to meet the demands of today’s digital and fast-paced environment. It stands as a testament to how technology can be harnessed to enhance accessibility and efficiency in customer support. While challenges remain, particularly in integrating human and digital resources, the evolution of “Help411” continues to play a crucial role in shaping positive user experiences across various sectors. As we move forward, the continued refinement of these systems will be vital in ensuring they remain effective and responsive to the ever-changing needs of society.

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Urban gardening may improve human health: Microbial exposure boosts immune system

A one-month indoor gardening period increased the bacterial diversity of the skin and was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory molecules in the blood demonstrated a collaborative study between the University of Helsinki, Natural Resources Institute Finland and Tampere University.

In his doctoral thesis, Mika Saarenpää investigated, among other things, how microbial exposure that promotes the health of urban residents, particularly enhancing their immune regulation, could be increased easily through meaningful activities integrated into everyday life.

Previously, it has been shown that contact with nature-derived, microbially rich materials alters the human microbiota. In Saarenpää's study, research subjects committed to urban gardening, a natural activity for them, which may result in long-term changes in the functioning of the immune system.

"One month of urban indoor gardening boosted the diversity of bacteria on the skin of the subjects and was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood. The group studied used a growing medium with high microbial diversity emulating the forest soil," says Doctoral Researcher Mika Saarenpää from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.

In contrast, the control group used a microbially poor peat-based medium. According to Saarenpää, no changes in the blood or the skin microbiota were seen. Peat is the most widely used growing medium in the world, and the environmental impact of its production is strongly negative. Moreover, Saarenpää's research indicates that it does not bring health benefits similar to a medium mimicking diverse forest soil.

"The findings are significant, as urbanisation has led to a considerable increase in immune-mediated diseases, such as allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases, generating high healthcare costs. We live too 'cleanly' in cities," Saarenpää says.

"We know that urbanisation leads to reduction of microbial exposure, changes in the human microbiota and an increase in the risk of immune-mediated diseases. This is the first time we can demonstrate that meaningful and natural human activity can increase the diversity of the microbiota of healthy adults and, at the same time, contribute to the regulation of the immune system."

Urban gardening is an effortless way to improve health

Microbial exposure can be increased easily and safely at home throughout the year. The space and financial investment required is minor: in the study, the gardening took place in regular flower boxes, while the plants cultivated, such as peas, beans, mustards and salads, came from the shop shelf. Changes were observed already in a month, but as the research subjects enjoyed the gardening, many of them announced that they would continue the activity and switch to outdoor gardening in the summer.

According to Saarenpää, microbe-mediated immunoregulation can, at its best, reduce the risk of immune-mediated diseases or even their symptoms. If health-promoting microbial exposure could be increased at the population level, the healthcare costs associated with these diseases could be reduced and people's quality of life improved.

"We don't yet know how long the changes observed in the skin microbiota and anti-inflammatory cytokines persist, but if gardening turns into a hobby, it can be assumed that the regulation of the immune system becomes increasingly continuous," Saarenpää notes.

Saarenpää considers it important to invest in children's exposure to nature and microbes, as the development of the immune system is at its most active in childhood. Planter boxes filled with microbially rich soil could be introduced at kindergartens, schools and, for example, hospitals, especially in densely built urban areas. For urban gardening to bring health benefits instead of risks, the skin of the hands in particular must be unbroken, and the inhalation of dusty growing media avoided.

"My research emphasises the dependence of our health on the diversity of nature and that of soil in particular. We are one species among others, and our health depends on the range of other species. Ideally, urban areas would also have such a diverse natural environment that microbial exposure beneficial to health would not have to be sought from specifically designed products," Saarenpää sums up.

• Immune System
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• Diseases and Conditions
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Materials provided by University of Helsinki . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Mika Saarenpää, Marja I. Roslund, Noora Nurminen, Riikka Puhakka, Laura Kummola, Olli H. Laitinen, Heikki Hyöty, Aki Sinkkonen. Urban indoor gardening enhances immune regulation and diversifies skin microbiota — A placebo-controlled double-blinded intervention study . Environment International , 2024; 187: 108705 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108705

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• Correctional Health
• Reentry for Formerly Incarcerated
• CDC Recommendations

Public Health Considerations for Correctional Health

• To provide people who are justice system-involved, correctional facility staff, public health professionals, community organizations, and anyone else with an interest in correctional health with resources.
• Review CDC resources, guidelines, and data on correctional health and justice-involved populations

Correctional health is community health

Correctional health encompasses all aspects of health and well-being for adults and juveniles who are justice system*-involved. This starts at the point of arrest, continues at detention or incarceration, and carries through after they return to their community (called "reentry"). Correctional health also includes the health of families and communities of persons who are justice system-involved, as well as the health administrators and staff who work in facilities.

Justice System-Involved‎

Persons who are justice system-involved are more likely to experience risk factors for HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), tuberculosis (TB), latent TB infection (LTBI), and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and concussions . The prevalence of these infections, diseases, and injuries is higher than in the general population. Additionally, a high proportion of people with justice system involvement have a history of unstable housing and mental health and substance use disorders, which increases vulnerability and risk for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, tuberculosis/latent tuberculosis infection, and injuries like TBI. This puts many in need of linkage to substance use and mental health treatment, employment, and permanent housing upon release. Justice-involvement also leads to family and community instability and adverse childhood events , with 1 in 28 children having a caregiver who is incarcerated.

Taken together, these multiple health conditions and social determinates of health contribute to the health disparities found in this population and their communities.

CDC has worked to provide people who are justice system-involved, correctional facility staff, public health professionals, community organizations, and anyone else with an interest in correctional health with data, testing and treatment guidelines, educational materials, and other correctional health resources.

How CDC supports correctional health

Community support.

• Funds partners working with health departments to improve health in the communites of justice-involved persons, particularly related to priority pathogens such as HIV, hepatitis, STIs, and TB.
• Develops programs and guidance that address community health disparities and social determinants of health (SDOH).

Intake / entry

• Develops intake screening and treatment guidance for use by clinicians/administrators of correctional health services and health departments.

During incarceration

• Works with state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to investigate disease outbreaks.
• Develops and provides useful health education materials for staff and justice-involved persons.
• Supports projects that improve the continuity of care for people returning to their communities.
• Offers policy and planning guidance that support efforts to improve the continuity of care within communities.

Surveillance

• Identifies/monitors cases and potential exposures to HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, TB, and other pathogens among persons who are justice-involved or work in correctional facilities.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics , over 5 million people are estimated to be under the supervision of U.S. adult correctional systems (in prison or jail, or on probation or parole). Many persons who are justice-involved experience multiple risk factors for HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), tuberculosis (TB) and latent TB infection (LTBI), and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and concussions . The prevalence of these infections, diseases, and injuries among people who are incarcerated is higher than in the general population.

• In 2021, about 1.1% of persons incarcerated in state and federal prisons were known to be persons with HIV; this rate was three times higher than the prevalence in the general U.S. population.
• In 2021, 16 U.S. states conducted mandatory HIV testing of all persons under state law enforcement custody, and 23 states and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons offered opt-out HIV testing, accounting for 84% of all persons admitted and sentenced to more than 1 year in the custody of state and federal correctional authorities.
• In a 2013 survey of women across 20 metropolitan areas with high HIV prevalence, women who were recently incarcerated were significantly more likely to have factors that increase their risk for HIV infection than those who were never incarcerated, including receiving money or drugs in exchange for sex with a partner, multiple casual partners, multiple casual condomless partners, and sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis.

More information on HIV Surveillance in the United States .

Viral hepatitis

• In 2009, a systematic review of 23 studies from incarcerated populations in the U.S. reported a wide chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevalence range of 0.9%–11.4%.
• HBV prevalence has been estimated to be 3 to 38 times higher in correctional settings than in the general population in 2009.
• From 2013–2016, people who were incarcerated were estimated to have a rate of current hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection 10 times higher (10.7% vs 1%) than persons in the general population.
• Approximately 30% of all persons infected with HCV in the United States spend at least part of the year in correctional facilities.

More information on viral hepatitis surveillance in the United States.

• Males and females 35 years of age and younger in juvenile and adult detention facilities have been reported to have higher rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea than nonincarcerated persons in the community.
• Jail-based chlamydia screen-and-treat programs can potentially decrease chlamydia prevalence in communities with higher incarceration rates —as much as 13% in large communities and 54% in small communities.

More information on STIs among persons detained or incarcerated .

Tuberculosis (TB)

• In 2021, 2.4% of persons 15 years of age or older diagnosed with tuberculosis were current residents of correctional facilities at the time of diagnosis.
• From 2003–2013, annual median tuberculosis incidence was about 6 times higher for persons in jails and federal prisons compared with the general population.
• An analysis during 2011–2019 demonstrated that large tuberculosis outbreaks still occur in state prisons and account for a large proportion of total tuberculosis cases in some states.

For more information on Tuberculosis cases by residence in and type of correctional facility .

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

• Research in the United States and from other countries suggests almost half (46%) of people in correctional or detention facilities such as prisons and jails have a history of TBI, but the exact number is not known.
• Studies show an association between people in correctional or detention facilities with a history of TBI and mental health problems, such as severe depression and anxiety, substance use disorders, difficulty controlling anger, and suicidal thoughts and/or attempts.
• People in correctional or detention facilities with TBI-related problems may not be screened for a TBI or may face challenges with getting TBI-related care. These challenges may continue after a person is released from the facility.

Find more information about TBI and other brain injuries .

CDC guidance and resources

HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and tuberculosis

• At-A-Glance: CDC Recommendations for Correctional and Detention Settings for Testing, Vaccination, and Treatment for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, TB, and STIs – Summary of current CDC guidelines and recommendations for testing, vaccination, and treatment of HIV, viral hepatitis, TB, and STIs for persons who are detained or incarcerated. Links to full guidance documents are included.
• Guidance on Management of COVID-19 in Homeless Service Sites and in Correctional and Detention Facilities – Guidance that can be used to inform COVID-19 prevention actions in homeless service sites and correctional and detention facilities.

Worker safety

• Safe and Proper Use of Disinfectants to Reduce Viral Surface Contamination in Correctional Facilities – Steps to reduce viral surface contamination through safe and proper use of disinfectants for persons who work in correctional facilities, including a companion printable poster to be displayed throughout the facility. The poster is available in English and Spanish.
• Reducing Work-Related Needlestick and Other Sharps Injuries Among Law Enforcement Officers (PDF) – Provides recommendations for reducing needlesticks and other sharps injuries to law enforcement officers, which specifically includes guidance for correctional employees.

Overdose prevention

• Partnerships Between Public Health and Public Safety – Overview of CDC partnerships built through multiple public health and public safety collaborations to strengthen and improve efforts to reduce drug overdoses.
• Public Health and Public Safety Resources – Resources for jails and prisons that support public health and public safety related to overdose prevention and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder.
• What Health Departments Need to Know When Responding to Mumps Outbreaks in Correctional and Detention Facilities – Job-aid with guidance for health departments and facilities during mumps outbreaks.
• LM Maruschak. HIV in Prisons, 2021—Statistical Tables. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC (Published May 2022). https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/hivp21st.pdf , Accessed 16 Mar 2023
• Wise A, Finlayson T, Nerlander L, Sionean C, Paz-Bailey G; NHBS Study Group. Incarceration, Sexual Risk-related Behaviors, and HIV Infection Among Women at Increased Risk of HIV Infection, 20 United States cities. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017 Jul 1;75 Suppl 3:S261-S267. Incarceration, Sexual Risk-Related Behaviors, and HIV Infection Among Women at Increased Risk of HIV Infection, 20 United States Cities – PubMed (nih.gov)
• Harzke AJ, Goodman KJ, Mullen PD, Baillargeon J. Heterogeneity in Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Seroprevalence Estimates from U.S. Adult Incarcerated Populations. Ann Epidemiol. 2009;19(9):647-650. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.04.001. Heterogeneity in Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Seroprevalence Estimates from U.S. Adult Incarcerated Populations | Elsevier Enhanced Reader
• Roberts H, Kruszon-Moran D, Ly KN, Hughes E, Iqbal K, Jiles RB, Holmberg SD. Prevalence of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection in U.S. Households: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1988-2012. Hepatology. 2016 Feb;63(2):388-97. doi: 10.1002/hep.28109. Epub 2015 Oct 27. PMID: 26251317. Prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in U... : Hepatology (lww.com)
• Hofmeister MG, Rosenthal EM, Barker LK, et al. Estimating Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in the United States, 2013-2016. Hepatology. 2019;69(3):1020-1031. doi:10.1002/hep.30297. Estimating Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in the United States, 2013-2016 – PubMed (nih.gov)
• CDC 2021 Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Treatment Guidelines: Persons in Correctional Facilities
• Bernstein KT, Chow JM, Pathela P, Gift TL. Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Disease Screening Outside the Clinic–Implications for the Modern Sexually Transmitted Disease Program. Sex Transm Dis. 2016;43(2 Suppl 1):S42-S52. Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Disease Screening Outside the Clinic–Implications for the Modern Sexually Transmitted Disease Program – PubMed (nih.gov)
• Owusu-Edusei K Jr, Gift TL, Chesson HW, Kent CK. Investigating the potential public health benefit of jail-based screening and treatment programs for chlamydia. Am J Epidemiol. 2013 Mar 1;177(5):463-73. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws240. Epub 2013 Feb 12. PMID: 23403986. Investigating the potential public health benefit of jail-based screening and treatment programs for chlamydia – PubMed (nih.gov)
• CDC Tuberculosis Data & Statistics: Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2021 in Residents of Correctional Facilities https://www.cdc.gov/tb/statistics/reports/2020/risk_factors.htm Lambert LA, Armstrong LR, Lobato MN, Ho C, France AM, Haddad MB. Tuberculosis in Jails and Prisons: United States, 2002-2013. Am J Public Health. 2016 Dec;106(12):2231-2237. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303423. Epub 2016 Sep 15. PMID: 27631758; PMCID: PMC5104991. Tuberculosis in Jails and Prisons: United States, 2002-2013 – PubMed (nih.gov)
• Stewart RJ, Raz KM, Burns SP, Kammerer JS, Haddad MB, Silk BJ, Wortham JM. Tuberculosis Outbreaks in State Prisons, United States, 2011 – 2019. Am J Public Health. 2022, 112(8), 1170-1179. PMID: 35830666; PMCID: PMC934802. Doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2022.306864
• Hunter S, Kois L, Peck A, Elbogen E, LaDuke C. (2023). The prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among people impacted by the criminal legal system: An updated meta-analysis and subgroup analyses. Law and Human Behavior , 47(5), 539–565.
• Moore E, Indig D, Haysom L. Traumatic brain injury, mental health, substance use, and offending among incarcerated young people. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. 2014;29(3):239-247.
• Ray B, Sapp D, Kincaid A. Traumatic brain injury among Indiana state prisoners. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 2014;59(5):1248-1253.
• Walker R, Hiller M, Staton M, Leukefeld C. Head injury among drug abusers: An indicator of co-occurring problems. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 2003;35(3):343-353.
• Slaughter B, Fann J, Ehde D. Traumatic brain injury in a county jail population: Prevalence, neuropsychological functioning and psychiatric disorders. Brain Injury. 2003;17(9):731-741.
• Blaauw E, Arensman E, Kraaij V, Winkel F, Bout R. Traumatic life events and suicide risk among jail inmates: The influence of types of events, time period and significant others. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 2002;15(1):9-16.
• Allely C. Prevalence and assessment of traumatic brain injury in prison inmates: A systematic PRISMA review. Brain Injury. 2016;30(10):1161-1180.
• Williams W, Mewse A, Tonks J, Mills S, Burgess C, Cordan G. Traumatic brain injury in a prison population: Prevalence and risk for re-offending. Brain Injury. 2010;24(10):1184-1188.
• “Criminal legal system” may also be used as an alternative to “justice system” to reflect historic and current challenges to achieving justice in the U.S. criminal legal system.

CDC provides health resources to protect the health of people in correctional settings who are at higher risk for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STIs, and Tuberculosis.

Healthcare Information Systems: Optimization for Delivery of Quality Service Essay

Overview of healthcare information technologies, improving the quality of medication, reducing the cost of healthcare.

Lack of relevant system-wide healthcare Information technology causes significant expenses that come in the form of the increased number of the workforce and wasted time. Research suggests that lack of appropriate IT platforms to deliver healthcare service contributes to over 10% increase in healthcare costs.

Therefore, IT systems are inextricably connected to healthcare costs for healthcare institutions, which trickle down to the population. Increased healthcare costs have prompted healthcare institutions to adopt cost-saving IT systems to optimize their returns while ensuring the delivery of quality service (Rodrigues, 2009).

There are many IT applications from which healthcare institutions can choose to improve the quality of service and reduce costs of delivering healthcare services. However, every institution must be able to select an IT base that is relevant and appropriate to its condition.

Information technology has the potential to improve the quality of healthcare services. Studies show that most healthcare providers believe that adopting clinical IT systems improve the extent to which they can deliver quality patient care. IT systems can solve some of the problems posed by fragmented IT systems. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) has become of the key clinical IT systems that have gained significant application in most clinical and medical institutions (Rodrigues, 2009).

Research shows that the application of CPOE reduces the frequency of repeat tests. The quality of healthcare service is connected with the number of repeat tests that a patient undergoes before a successful diagnosis is achieved. Surveys conducted on patients reveals that patients rated physicians based on the number of unsuccessful diagnosis or tests for their illness. The use of CPOE reduces turnaround times for laboratory, pharmacy and radiography request applications made.

Some medical studies have suggested that using CPOE reduces the error frequency during medical surgeries. According to a survey conducted by Bates et al. (1998), the application of CPOE systems had the ability to reduce medication errors by 55%. Out of 11 studies that aimed at estimating the accuracy of medication using CPOE, four studies showed that CPOE achieved to reduce errors, and improved the quality of medication and patient safety.

Studies show that the introduction of CPOE as an IT platform is a nonfinancial incentive for healthcare professionals. Surveys conducted in hospitals using CPOE shows that healthcare professionals are motivated to deliver quality service compared to hospitals that did not implement these technologies. It is significant to note that the professionals’ perception of quality service is inextricably linked to availability of alternative IT tools (Bates & Gawande, 2003).

Recent studies have surveyed the value of using CPOE in ambulatory procedures. These studies suggest that a worldwide application of CPOE can improve quality healthcare among patients while saving their money.

Reduction of drug events is a key focus by many physicians (Bates & Gawande, 2003). Given this need, many clinicians have indicated that CPOE helps to reduce adverse drug events and other related medication errors because it offers cost effective medications, drug prescriptions, and laboratory tests (Bates & Gawande, 2003).

The use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) reduces the costs of handling medical records and increases the level of access. Studies show that the costs of collecting, storing, and retrieving medical records can have significant cost implication on institutional costs. One of the main problems facing healthcare professionals is the lack of access to centralized information sharing platforms.

Research has shown that the use of EHR has the potential of providing better documentation of patient histories (Bates & Gawande, 2003). The extent to which professionals can share medical information with ease enables physicians to use medical histories, which reduces the costs of beginning new diagnosis and medication (Scalet, 2003). Evidence suggests that reduced transcription and medical management expenses are linked with the physicians’ use of electronic health records.

According Bates & Gawande (2003), financial returns depend on the extent to which a medical organization adapts to effective use of EHR. The paths toward a cost-effective healthcare system stem from getting the critical mass of physicians choosing to use electronic health record systems.

Some studies suggest that the use of electronic health records can save up to $20,000 per healthcare professional. The adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) is a centerpiece in reducing the costs of providing healthcare services (Memorial Care, 2010). The use of traditional manila folders is believed to cost many hospitals millions of money due to loss or inaccessibility of critical patient and administrative records.

EMR transmits important medical records in real-time and helps medical practitioners to have access to information in a timely manner. This avoids waste of time, which reduces costs of searching and retrieving medical histories (Memorial Care, 2010). Lack of systemized record management increases clinicians’ time and workload, which exerts pressure and workload.

Studies content that it can cost a medical organization over $20,000 per clinician due to errors caused by increased workload and service time. Therefore, implementing electronic medical records has the potential of reducing workloads and extra working hours, which has a significant impact on the quality and cost of providing medical services to patients (Bates & Gawande, 2003).

Bates, D. W., & Gawande, A. A. (2003). Improving safety with information technology. New England Journal of Medicine 348(25), 2526-2534.

Memorial Care. (2010). How electronic medical records reduce costs and improve patient outcomes. Retrieved from https://www.memorialcare.org/about/pressroom/media/how-electronic-medical-records-reduce-costs-and-improve-patient-outcomes-2010

Rodrigues, J. (2009). Health Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications. New York, NY: Idea Group Inc (IGI).

Scalet, S. 2003. Saving money, saving lives. CIO Magazine . Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/

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IvyPanda. (2019, May 10). Healthcare Information Systems: Optimization for Delivery of Quality Service. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthcare-information-systems-essay/

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How long should TOEFL Essay be?

We recommend that your toefl integrated writing essay be 250-300 words long. it’s important to note that the same word count is suggested for the independent writing task, for which you have 30 minutes to complete..

The length of a TOEFL essay depends on which essay you are writing. The TOEFL iBT test includes two essays: the Integrated Writing Task and the Independent Writing Task. For the Integrated Writing Task, where you must read a passage, listen to a short lecture, and then write a response, your essay should typically be about 150 to 225 words. For the Independent Writing Task, which requires you to express and support an opinion on a topic, a more substantial essay of about 300 to 350 words is expected. 

Writing within these word limits is advisable as it allows sufficient scope to develop ideas while demonstrating your ability to write concisely and effectively. Essays that fall significantly short may not fully demonstrate your ability to develop and express ideas, while overly long essays might be penalized for lack of conciseness.

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