Health Demand and Needs Discussion

Question: Discuss about the Health Demand and Needs Discussion. Answer: Introduction The purpose of this discussion is to provide a constructive feedback on students view on the difference between patients demand for health care and the needs of health care in health care setting. The subject and issue raised by student will be critically evaluated with evidence from different research studies and application of theoretical concepts. Based on the evaluation, feedback will be given regarding why I agree or disagree with students view on health care demand. Constructive feedback The students response depicts inappropriate usage of health service with some people seeking care service even when they do not need immediate medical attention and on the other hand, people with acute illness not being able to seek or demand health service even in case of worsening health. The research study by Fernandes et al., (2016) also provides evidence to the fact that expectation of high and safe quality of care is compromised due to inappropriate use of emergency care service. The performance and quality of health care suffers due to added cost on medical infrastructure due to inappropriate usage of service and decreased efficiency in service. The study gave the implication that misconception about the severity of disease condition among patients might be leading to inappropriate health care demand among patients. Therefore, socio-demographic characatristic and clinical profile of patient can act as an important determinant in anaysing the seriousness of health condition. Th is contrasting situation of usage of health care service reveals that it is leading to wastage of health care resource and sufficient action is needed to reduce unnecessary medical cost. The concept of demand and need is an economic concept. Demand is an indicator of the amount of purchase or consumption or use of product or services by people and need is a multifaceted concept based on individual views and judgment. The main reason for analysis of patients demand and needs in health care was to identify the factors affecting use of medical service and the students response revealed that education and human capital plays key role in determining the choice of consumer (Batinti, 2015). Therefore, well educated person will have greater idea in making healthier life choices and taking decision on level of engagement in health care service to prevent diseases. However, I do not agree with this view as evidence suggests that human factor system approaches is also a critical factor in balancing the work system of health care and improving the safety and quality of care (Carayon et al., 2014). The students response also suggested the impact of pricing on demand for health services. The supply and demand concept reveals that demand curve changes with changes in price. When the supply is high, then the consumer has option to choose many alternatives and this will lead to reduction in prices, while the dip in supply leads to increase in pricing. However, students response showed that demand is independent of supply and when a person is seriously ill, then he will have to seek medical service at any cost (Enthoven, 2014). The choice of service may differ according the financial status of patients. I also agree with this view of student as the technical approach to demand is not relevant for health care service. This is because many patients are not aware of this marginal valuation of price and they may be paying medical cost irrespective of their exact cost. The comparison of price of health care for different country is also difficult due to market power. A private firm may b e seeking maximum profit from patients while the government hospital may not be able to maximize profit. This may have affect on the performance of health care too (Stange, 2014). The students response also gave implications for overlap of need and demands. The main concept behind this statement was that health care plan often focuses on needs of population and not individual health care needs of patient. However, several studies reveals that health service and support is not equally distributed ill patients. A person in immediate need of service fails to get access to this service while those who do not require immediate medical attention get frequent medical treatment. This leads to wastage of medical resource and progression of vulnerability to fatal disease in certain group of people. Another important thought coming from the students response is regarding the choice of health service of patients based on four types of social needs which are as follows: Normative need which are defined by health professionals Felt need influenced by patients perception and knowledge in health care Expressed needs by which a felt need is converted into action which may not be required immediately. Comparative need based on needs required by patients with similar disease or illness characteristics (Levesque, Harris, Russell, 2013). Considering the students response on difference between patients demand and needs in medical service, I agree with students view that demand and supply is inelastic in medical market and it is not influenced by up and downs in the market. The patients choice in medical decision is influenced by their own perception and values in life, economic and non-economic variables of medical service and health care funds and insurance in countries (Chandra, Cutler, Song, 2012). Hence, it is quite possible that two patients with same illness might receive same medical treatment at drastically different cost. Therefore, action of health care is needed to provide holistic care to patients in actual need of health service and eliminating waste of health care resources. Conclusion The students response gave an idea about the demands in health care service and the key points was that patients demand is influenced by human capital however the demand is not dependent on price of health care service. The demand of health care market is flexible and it is based on immediate needs of patients. However, discrepancies in patients demand occur due to different in perception of social needs among individual. On the whole, the discussion is in agreement of students view and all argument and support statement was backed by valid evidence from literature. Reference Batinti, A. (2015). On Medical Progress and Health Care Demand: A Ces Perspective Using the Grossman Model of Health Status.Health economics,24(12), 1632-1637. Carayon, P., Wetterneck, T. B., Rivera-Rodriguez, A. J., Hundt, A. S., Hoonakker, P., Holden, R., Gurses, A. P. (2014). Human factors systems approach to healthcare quality and patient safety.Applied ergonomics,45(1), 14-25. Chandra, A., Cutler, D., Song, Z. (2012). Who ordered that? The economics of treatment choices in medical care.Handbook of health economics,2, 397-432. Enthoven, A. C. (2014).Theory and practice of managed competition in health care finance. Elsevier. Fernandes, T., Botelho, A., Dias, I. C., Pinto, L. C., Teixeira, J., Veiga-Benesch, P. (2016).Choice of emergency health services: an experimental study(No. 65). Ncleo de Investigao em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho. Levesque, J. F., Harris, M. F., Russell, G. (2013). Patient-centred access to health care: conceptualising access at the interface of health systems and populations.International journal for equity in health,12(1), 1. Stange, K. (2014). How does provider supply and regulation influence health care markets? Evidence from nurse practitioners and physician assistants.Journal of Health Economics,33, 1-27.