Access to care, quality of care, and the cost of care are the top areas that hospitals are working to improve

Access to care, quality of care, and the cost of care are the top areas that hospitals are working to improve. The cost of health care and financing health care results in a national healthcare expenditure and sources of payment must be investigated. Healthcare costs are also inextricably bound to quality issues and therefore quality initiatives are linked to healthcare spending.

National Health Expenditures (NHE) and trends are reported annually by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The expenditures are reported and tracked over time using a standard format that identifies both the private and public sources of funds as well as the objects of expense. Reports are issued annually, two years following closure of the reporting period. See Table 8-1 in the textbook.

In 2014, NHE totaled more than $3.0 trillion, 17.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and that equates to approximately $9,523 person (see Figure 8-1). There are a number of interrelated factors that contribute to healthcare expenditures. These include aging population; new drugs and medical and diagnostic technology; emphasis on specialty medicine; large numbers of uninsured and underinsured; volume-based reimbursement incentives; and labor intensity.

Assume you have been working as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and you receive a call from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who requests that the two of you work together on a healthcare spending project. Your first task is to conduct a PESTLE Analysis. Use Critical Thinking Skills and Metacognition to research current events in the macro environment. Then, prepare a Microsoft PowerPoint 10-slide narrative using a PESTLE Analysis. A PESTLE Analysisidentifies political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors.

Your 10-slide PESTLE PowerPoint should follow this format:

1. Slide 1: Cover Page
   1. Include the title of your presentation, your name, the course number and course title, your professor’s name, and the date.
2. Slide 2: Background / Executive Summary
   1. Describe the details of the situation. Use bullets with short sentences. The title of these slides should be Executive Summary.
3. Slide 3: Thesis Statement
   1. Identify the focus of your research. The title of this slide should be Thesis Statement.
4. Slides 4-9: Support
   1. Support your thesis statement following the SESC formula: State, Explain, Support, and Conclude. (An overview of using Sublevel 1 and Sublevel 2 headings is provided in the following video: APA Style – Formatting the Title Page, Abstract, and Body.
   2. You should include at least three court cases and related peer-reviewed articles from within the past five years. In-text citations should be in the American Psychological Association (APA) format.
5. Slide 10: References
   1. Use APA format for your Reference slide. (To help you with APA in-text citations and your Reference list, some students use Citation Machine.