Health Production Function

December 13, 2022/395 Comments/in /by

Write a 2-4-page executive summary recommending resource investment in a program based on its potential to deliver positive health and economic outcomes.

As a health care professional, you must have a foundational, high-level understanding of health care economics:

One part of this foundation comes from understanding:
- The basic laws of economics as they apply to the health care industry.
- How the health care system creates unique economic challenges and burdens on all stakeholders.
Another part of this foundation comes from understanding:
- The history and trends in health care economics around such topics as the role of the government and government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
- Trends in patient payments.
- The resulting changes in health care expenditures, as well as areas for improvement in the health care system (Feldstein, 2012).
Another key is understanding the concepts and processes involved in the production of health care:
- Multiple inputs influence health and wellness.
- Medical care is only one input, although a significant one.

The health production function and decision rules for allocating health care resources is a key component of the first assessment in this course. For this assessment, think about the ways in which health production efficiency, both technical and economical, can help drive decisions on the allocation of resources (inputs) to drive improved patient health and results (outcomes) (Feldstein, 2012).

Reference

Feldstein, P. J. (2012). Health care economics (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

Competency 1: Analyze historical perspectives and current trends in the health care industry.
- Describe the current state of a health care organization with regards to alignments to historical health care industry trends.
- Explain how a health care organization needs to change to better align itself with current trends in the health care industry.
Competency 3: Analyze the evolving economic reimbursement trends, methods, and technology.
- Analyze two current programs in a health care setting with regards to the inputs required to operate and its outputs with regards to health outcome rates and patients served.
Competency 4: Analyze how economic and stakeholder influences affect operational planning and decision making.
- Propose whether to reallocate, maintain, or increase funding for current programs based upon available resources and projects outputs.
- Explain how opinions and agendas of stakeholders influence decisions related to the funding of programs in a health care setting.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with expectations for health care professionals.
- Write following APA style for in-text citation, quotes, and references.
- Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

Professional Context

The ability to research, examine, and determine the most efficient ways to allocate resources in order to produce to best health outcomes is a key competency for health care economic professionals. In the complex field of health care, there will always be multiple ways and multiple programs in which an organization can invest resources. It is the health care economics professional’s responsibility to examine the cost of the inputs in comparison to the historic or projected output of health and then make recommendations regarding investment. Looking at investment is not always entirely about the amount of positive outputsâ€”technical efficiency, economic efficiency, and stakeholder priorities will all also play a part (Feldstein, 2012). Being able to not only understand and crunch the numbers, but also navigate these other considerations, is vital in becoming an effective health care economics professional.

Scenario

You are a health care economics professional with specific expertise in using a health production function to allocate resources. A member of the Board of Directors has asked you to prepare an executive summary that will help the board understand the current practices of the organization and where the organization should align itself in light of current and emerging trends. Additionally, you have been asked to analyze the inputs and outputs of two current programs in the organization in order to make allocation recommendations about how to best utilize the available resources to achieve the best possible outputs for the programs.

Instructions

This assessment has three main parts:

The first part is your examination of the organization’s current practices and alignments with historical health care trends, as well as how the organization needs to change to align itself with current and emerging trends.
The second part is your analysis of two existing programs that could be candidates for further investment (Note: You may use two program examples from your textbook, your own research, or your own organization as the context for your analysis and this executive summary.).
The third part is your proposal on how to allocate resources for the two programs, as well as a brief explanation of how the views of the stakeholders influenced your decision making project.

If you have not already, it may be helpful to complete theformative activity to check your understanding of the economic concepts relevant to this assessment.

Economic Elements in Health Care | Transcript.

Consult the scoring guide to make sure you are meeting the communication criteria and achieving your desired rubric level.

Part I: Current State of Organization and Potential Changes to Align with Trends

Describe the current state of a health care organization with regards to alignments to historical health care industry trends. (Competency 1)
- For this, use either an organization that you currently or previously had worked for, have researched as an organization you would like to work for in the future, or one that was present in the textbook or other research you conducted.
Explain how a health care organization needs to change to better align itself with current trends in the health care industry. (Competency 1)
- Continue using the organization that you described to meet the first scoring guide criteria.

Part II: Analysis of Current Programs

Analyze two current programs in a health care setting with regards to the inputs required to operate and its outputs with regards to health outcome rates and patients served. (Competency 3)
- As noted in the instructions above, you may use program examples from your textbook, your own research, or your own organization. Be sure you choose examples for which you can report the inputs, outputs, and approximate patients served.

Part III: Resource Allocation and Stakeholder Reflections

Propose whether to reallocate, maintain, or increase funding for current programs based upon available resources and projects outputs. (Competency 4)
- Use the two programs you analyzed in Part II. It will be helpful to cite evidence (literature, your textbook, or current health improvement initiatives [like those being pursued via your state’s Department of Health] to help support your proposals.
Explain how opinions and agendas of stakeholders influence decisions related to the funding of programs in a health care setting. (Competency 4)
- Make explicit reference to the stakeholders and their statements in the Scenario section for this assessment, or to specific examples from your current or former career experiences.

Additional Requirements

Written Communication: Prepare an executive summary free of errors that detract from the overall message. Writing must be clear, precise, and scholarly, with concepts that flow in a logical order.
References: Cite at least three references from peer-reviewed journals, in addition to your text.
Length: Submit a 2â€“3-page executive summary, not including any title or reference page.
APA: Use correct APA style and formatting. You may find it helpful to use the following: