Management of Medicare

Management has been a serious issue affecting a large population of American workers. Despite the introduction of Obama care in America, its effectiveness is yet to be realized. This is due to management factors including political and organizational factors. Politics and medical care organization have both participated in and influenced health care in the United States. This paper identifies the implications of the implementation of the proposed expansion of Medicaid under the new Affordable Care Act in the United States. Inefficient healthcare organizations have been affecting the public health and have contributed to the unequal distribution of Medicare resources.

The instability emanates from the increased healthcare cost even with the introduction of Obama’s Medicare (McCullough et al, 2013, pg3). Poor organizational management also called for a need to have a uniform distribution of doctors and hospital beds. The unequal distribution of healthcare resources and inadequate facilities has been a source of poor health care. There have been inefficient policies that contribute to the deterioration of services within the healthcare centers. Poor management of healthcare accounts has resulted in dubious expenditures. In addition, poor management of Medicare has facilitated the adoption of unfair treatment to patients during their hospital stay (McCullough et al, 2013, pg 3).

Health care is undermined by the poor organization of respective health care providers; both government and non-government. As a result of these shortcomings, the Obama policy requires Medicare to have several departments and structures in which its effectiveness is enhanced. This ranges from top management to divisions in Medicare provision by different medics. Departments ranging from emergency to intensive care units have a cordial relation regarding the way they operate. Emergency departments are equipped with medics that are specialized in giving unique medical attention (Duckett & Peetoom, 2013, pg 44). This is implemented to avoid severe circumstances related to delay or normal medical attention. These departments have an interactive nature whereby medics are moved from one department to another to support care provisions. Various departments in medic care have a direct connection with the top managements.

The Medicare organizational structure ranges from directors, executives, department administrators, patient care managers, and service providers (Ott, 2011, pg 45). Medicare is controlled by the board of directors and aims at controlling and ensuring the provision of quality care. The board of directors’ decision and authority are left under the care of executives. This is to ensure that Medicare is performed efficiently. Every hospital is entitled to have a chief executive officer who makes sure that there is operational efficiency. However, this group of executives is the central management of the hospital (Miller, 2013, pg 57). Their representation goes further to administrators of various departments in a hospital. These individuals are responsible for a specific medical service or operation. Additionally, these administrators have assistant administrators who help in the implementation of operations.

Moreover, human resource initiatives have also increased equity and fairness in the health organizations. This is through the introduction of financial protection strategies that aim at targeting various needs and groups. The use of these measures and the re-deployment of services are used by a human resource to increase equity. Human resources play an essential responsibility in the success of reforms in the health sector. They also ensure that communication and cooperation exist between Medicare workers and individual workers to enhance organizational growth (Ott, 2011, pg 66). They also play a significant role in job analysis and staffing, measurement of the appraisal of workforce performance, professional development of workers, as well as the maintenance of the workforce.

The primary ways the budgeting part of the organizational structure effectively budget Medicare organizations has positively enhanced Medicare services. Proper budgeting of organizations ensures that Medicare benefits from rebates that Medicaid receives from brand-name and generic drugs provided to beneficiaries. This allows drug manufacturers to pay Medicare providers by their rebate levels. Organizational budgeting allows extension of qualified individual programs that pay the premium to the Medicare providers (Miller, 2013, p. 66). It also allows removal of mandatory cuts related to the Budget Control Act. Additionally, proper budgeting improves payment accuracy for Medicare advantages. This is enhanced by checking overpayments that create differences in coding medical conditions by Medicare providers and those in traditional Medicare.

Analysis of political environment

Medicare has been subjected to significant political interference through the creation and modification of reforms affecting Medicare providers. For instance, President Bush signed a Medicare drug prescription and modernization of health facilities act that authorized Medicare coverage of outpatients (McCullough et al., 2013, pg. 7). These reform changes and drug assistance have imposed additional costs on taxpayers making the application of the provision costly. The political impact of Medicare has affected health care provisions. This is because the management will be forced to accommodate the new bills that are designed to stabilize Medicare provisions. This prompts the management to review and study the Obama provisions to improve the quality of care (Duckett & Peetoom, 2013, pg. 55). Politics and healthcare management are two intertwined aspects; the well-being of one depends on the other. This is confirmed by the fact that decisions made by healthcare executives depend on rules and policies instituted by politicians. However, political instability jeopardizes the manner in which healthcare services are delivered. Political responsiveness poses a threat to healthcare management in terms of political interference which inhibits good management and service delivery, with a primary focus on the budgeting aspect. Political critiques have led to a reshuffling of funds meant for health services. Such resources are misappropriated by politicians due to self-interest for their well-being, impacting negatively by lower the working rate of Medicare providers. This budget reduction will impede management operations since there will be insufficient funds to buy drugs. Moreover, the funds disbursed by the management to casual hospital workers will also be reduced resulting in poor Medicare provision.

In conclusion, Human Resource Management has positively impacted Medicare service provision. In this context, both clinical and non-clinical staff are responsible for public and individual health interventions. Service delivery and performance are predicated on their knowledge, motivation, and skills. Human resources has enhanced efficiency by implementing various initiatives. This is accomplished by selecting service that converts labor expenditures into variable costs (Ott, 2011, pg. 67).

References

1. Duckett, S., & Peetoom, A. (2013). Canadian Medicare. Montreal: MQUP.
2. McCullough, J., Parente, S., & Town, R. (2013). Health Information Technology and Patient Outcomes. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
3. Miller, D. (2013). Medicare. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
4. Ott, C. (2011). Medicare Hospice Management. Danvers, Mass.: Beacon Health, HCPro.
5. Postema, D. (2013). Navigating Through Medicare. Oxford: Oxford Press.

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