Resource Allocation in Healthcare: A General Overview
In the medical system, it is not surprising that there has been much discussion regarding the allocation of resources and choosing the deserving person for the limited resources. The resource allocation is a much-discussed topic that concerns the right distribution of the resources driven by high cost and pressure from the state. Medical supplies have been witnessing a steep rise in price for it is present in a limited amount in society. Many researchers have proposed various solutions based on multiple aspects, however, the topic is debatable, and experts view it from different perspectives. Also, the issue is not only questionable but also about setting the priority. On what basis patients should be prioritized to become more eligible to receive medical resources than the other patient. Although healthcare providers demands for more resources as per the judiciary one of the key factors of health system performance is the decision of determining appropriate priority. Under the broad aspect of resource distribution, one of the branch topics is prioritizing available resources for the care of children versus care for elderly. This essay presents a perspective of prioritizing resource allocation between children and the elderly. The essay also discusses the ethical issues that may arise in the decision making of resource allocation for the care of the elderly and the care of children.
All the health organizations across the world are required to set priorities to allocate resources among the patients within the limited funding available to them. The health organizations have the responsibility to meet the health needs of the population as best as possible. However, due to limited resources, it is often not possible to provide the pre-defined population with every need. The issue has grabbed the attention of various healthcare researchers, and the problems are studied worldwide to bring a solution to it. Resources are scarce and limited, and there are more claims of resources than actual resources presence to the healthcare organization. Therefore, the healthcare organizations are continually demanding for more supplies from the nation and the nation constantly pressurize the healthcare to make appropriate decisions while allocating the limited resources. Also, it is of very much significance to say that there will always be the need to prioritize before allocating resources regardless of any amount of resources. The decision makers have various grounds on which they decide the priority for allocating resources. Researches have shown that the decisions makers were often assisted for priority setting and many times the allocation in the health organizations were conducted on the basis of political or historical patterns that interprets as the sub-optimal use of resources.
Prioritization of Healthcare Resources
Age has been one of the criteria that is used as the basis of decision making for prioritizing health services. A patient’s age is often considered as the main criteria when the health experts decide on the distribution of resources. There arises the question that is asking reasons for preference of elderly patients over the young ones or the younger patients over the elderly. The problem is for giving priority to age as a criterion that would determine the allocation of medical services. The biological age gets more importance than the chronological age frequently. However, assuming age as the factor determining the decision which age group should be given the priority? Also, why should the elderly patients be preferred than the young ones or the young patients be preferred over the elderly? Also, how would one prioritize while establishing the medical services and resources depending on the age? It is a critical as well as a crucial determinant to discuss and come to a concrete conclusion since along with limited medical resources there are many more aspects related to it.
Health is often considered as the fundamental right where everyone is liable and equally deserve the right the health. Although age is used as a criterion to make decisions on the healthcare distribution, it is considered inappropriate by many debaters. According to the commenters, a person’s age cannot define the value of life. Moreover, regulating access on the basis of age is against the philosophy of egalitarian followed in society, the principle of all human life is sacred and equally deserving of protection. Allocating health resources cannot be based on age for the principle of a natural lifespan. The goal of establishing an age that is acceptable after which limiting health care should be able to explain the reason for creating homogeneity in the heterogeneous society. A person’s age cannot determine the value of the person’s life. It is hard to develop a generalized idea of calculating human life value as the contribution made by the older citizens varies to a large extent. It is difficult to assume the elder citizen’s contribution towards the society and to make any attempt to value the human life on age, and natural lifespan would not be possible. Also, in the healthcare field, a significant portion is covered by the elderly only as older citizens are prone to illness and disability. The elderly seek the healthcare more frequently than the children, and it is to be accepted that the elderly are equally liable to claim for healthcare resources.
Prioritizing Available Resources for the Care of Children Vs Care for Elderly
The expensive treatment and medical resources to be spent on the elderly are also seen a decline in productivity in the later years. To define precisely, the investment is in the aged population that will not give any long-term returns. Since the medical resources are very high in cost and it is indeed needed to be used on much rationalization, the commenters are found spending on the elderly population as a less preferred option. In a simple calculation, the decisions are made on the return theory. According to the return theory, the calculation is to invest the resources spend on the elderly should be spent on the patients who have the potential to give benefit to the nation. Also, another part of the perspective is to allow every citizen the same span of time to live like others. The health care resources and services should be provided to the elderly only till the age which is considered the same as the other elderly. By the process of limiting funds for the elderly will contribute as a way to allow the elderly to reach a certain age. The age-based distribution of healthcare services also argues that it is a way of creating ‘new natural lifespan’ in a country. The health care provided to the elderly is also seen as one of the primary reason due to which the children do not get the adequate care in the healthcare services with a bigger problem in the long-term. Also, in this argument, another point is that an older person has less chance of achieving a successful clinical outcome. Therefore it is assumed that resources spend on elderly is merely spent on care for the dying elderly.
Health cannot be called as an absolute condition however, factors such as age evaluate it. To meet the rising curb of meeting the health needs, it is important to make rational decisions regarding the allocation of medical services. The distribution of health care resources is performed typically on a macro level where the effect is usually on only statistic lives. A common ground on which decisions are made for the distribution of resources is through political processes. Government plays a vital role in this process as the decisions pertaining to healthcare spending and funds regarding healthcare expenditure lies with them. Rationalizing the decision is the major part of this process which is not conducted appropriately or often it fails to satisfy the public. The rationalizing the decision should be strict and should be able to convince the public. The choice of allocating the resources should be based on the need and not the age. The decisions made on the proper rationalization are also even seen through skeptical views for the fact people fail to understand the reasons. The older people are often susceptible to rationing efforts. It is argued that according to the rationalization it is not much in for the care of older adults. Therefore, there is a restriction in high technology, expensive treatment, life-sustaining when the elderly people are concerned. The principle that is implicit in the argument is that in the care of elderly people it takes an investment of scarce resources however there is not assured return or minimal return.
Ethical Issues in Prioritizing Resource Allocation
In a discussion like this where the question is regarding the preference of age group in a medical setting, it is bound to come across the ethical aspects. Elderly are always more prone to illness and disability than children, and therefore they demand special attention regarding healthcare. One of the notable point under the ethical issue is that no matter how much resources are available to the healthcare providers it is unlikely to give support to persons who are unable to pay. Often the elderly are not preferred for care in healthcare as they are not economically productive and they will not be able to pay for the expensive healthcare. The consumerist image is adapted by several physicians and patients where the knowledge and skills are sold only to the one capable of paying for it. A contractual model of medical care overlooks the moral and ethical considerations. Even for the profit of the hospitals’ decisions are often made on the rational choice are built neglecting the ethical aspects. Several countries should be offended by conducting patient dumping, mostly the elderly. Healthcare should be able to keep the ethics of fairness such as self-respect, achievement of the elderly, the contribution of the elderly and respect for wisdom in place when society gives adequate resources and permit to make the profit in any community. There should be respect for the elderly and dignity to eliminate the mere reason of supporting consumerist behavior. The only way of bringing this into practice is by restricting physicians, hospitals and healthcare providers who only aim at making profit and care for elderly as a condition for doing business. The society needs to act to prevent the healthcare providers from working without ethics of fairness, and it is only then when the elderly as patient dumping will diminish.
Conclusion:
The only reason for discussing the distribution of health care services and resources is due to the fact that there are inadequate resources. It an unavoidable consequence it needs an appropriate solution and approach to the problem. The decision of allocating medical resources solely depends on society’s perception of viewing the value of the elderly and the capabilities of the community. For example, a culture that holds high values regarding its elderly age group will make its decision of allocating based on similar perspectives. This process of decision making inevitably includes societal values in policy formulation, especially for the treatments which require expensive health resources for the elderly. Although making the social perception the deciding factor of allocating the healthcare resources tends to create hindrance in the allocation process, it will again depend on the society if it is an accepted criterion or not. Therefore, the decision maker of the resource allocator should take into consideration the public’s perspective before concluding and before deciding appropriate candidate who is considered deserving. The main factor affecting the decision is the putting economic reasons as the priority and not the ethics. Therefore, the proper solution would only be able to develop when the ethics would be put in the priority setting.
References:
- Bakman A, Panov S, inventors; Quest Software Inc, assignee. Method, system and apparatus for managing, modeling, predicting, allocating and utilizing resources and bottlenecks in a computer network. United States patent US 8,903,983. 2014 Dec 2.
- Kahneman D, Tversky A. Choices, values, and frames. InHandbook of the Fundamentals of Financial Decision Making: Part I 2013 (pp. 269-278).
- Campbell S, Uzzo RG, Allaf ME, Bass EB, Cadeddu JA, Chang A, Clark PE, Davis BJ, Derweesh IH, Giambarresi L, Gervais DA. Renal mass and localized renal cancer: AUA guideline. The Journal of urology. 2017 Sep 1;198(3):520-9.
- Davies JC. Comparing environmental risks: tools for setting government priorities. Routledge; 2014 Apr 4.
- Smith N, Mitton C, Davidson A, Williams I. A politics of priority setting: Ideas, interests and institutions in healthcare resource allocation. Public Policy and Administration. 2014 Oct;29(4):331-47.
- Whitty JA, Lancsar E, Rixon K, Golenko X, Ratcliffe J. A systematic review of stated preference studies reporting public preferences for healthcare priority setting. The Patient-Patient-Centered Outcomes Research. 2014 Dec 1;7(4):365-86.
- Gu Y, Lancsar E, Ghijben P, Butler JR, Donaldson C. Attributes and weights in health care priority setting: a systematic review of what counts and to what extent. Social Science & Medicine. 2015 Dec 1;146:41-52.
- Baker R, Wildman J, Mason H, Donaldson C. Q?ing for health—A new approach to eliciting the public’s views on health care resource allocation. Health economics. 2014 Mar;23(3):283-97.
- van Exel J, Baker R, Mason H, Donaldson C, Brouwer W, Team E. Public views on principles for health care priority setting: Findings of a European cross-country study using Q methodology. Social science & medicine. 2015 Feb 1;126:128-37.
- Tanios N, Wagner M, Tony M, Baltussen R, van Til J, Rindress D, Kind P, Goetghebeur MM. Which criteria are considered in healthcare decisions? Insights from an international survey of policy and clinical decision makers. International journal of technology assessment in health care. 2013 Oct;29(4):456-65.
- Smith S, Nolan A, Normand C, McPake B. Health economics: an international perspective. Routledge; 2013 Jun 7.
- Cornelissen E, Mitton C, Davidson A, Reid RC, Hole R, Visockas AM, Smith N. Changing priority setting practice: The role of implementation in practice change. Health Policy. 2014 Aug 1;117(2):266-74.
- Smith S, Nolan A, Normand C, McPake B. Health economics: an international perspective. Routledge; 2013 Jun 7.
- Whitty JA, Lancsar E, Rixon K, Golenko X, Ratcliffe J. A systematic review of stated preference studies reporting public preferences for healthcare priority setting. The Patient-Patient-Centered Outcomes Research. 2014 Dec 1;7(4):365-86.
- Hirose I, Bognar G. The ethics of health care rationing: an introduction. Routledge; 2014 Jun 5.
- Marsh K, Lanitis T, Neasham D, Orfanos P, Caro J. Assessing the value of healthcare interventions using multi-criteria decision analysis: a review of the literature. Pharmacoeconomics. 2014 Apr 1;32(4):345-65.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
