Reply to the two responses. Include one reference for each response.

 

Response MP#1

According to Tracelink "The healthcare value chain is the chain of suppliers, producers, distributors, healthcare providers, and dispensers that provide clinicians with the drugs and supplies they need to care for patients and patients". The principle of the healthcare value chain would be to provide a complete overview of the business relationships that exist between the various healthcare departments’ manufacturers and maintain chain process throughout. As per the reports from American Health policy, the U.S. government plays a big role in the healthcare value chain as the federal government is the country’s largest single payer of health care, paying for more than a quarter of all health-care spending. When a single entity generates so much revenue for an industry, that entity gains disproportionate power in that business. As a result, as the country’s largest payer, the federal government has tremendous influence over the health-care sector. 

The value chain concept was first described in 1985 by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, in his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (Chai, W. 2021). As described in the article by Chai Wesley, the fundamental of value chain was describe in 1985 and it continued to be influenced by the government over the years. One of the biggest changes made by the government was during the year of 2008 and 2009 as there were economic recession and financial crisis which led the government to make some changes in the healthcare value chain. It pushed governments to prioritize health governance in the pursuit of a healthy workforce and health as a vital component of well-being, using both whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to improve societies beyond economic development. As a result, governments are continuously evaluating health-care returns more closely and pressuring health-care providers to reorganize wasteful and poorly functioning public systems. Because of this action from the government towards the healthcare value chain, the synergistic set of policies is becoming increasingly necessary, requiring cooperative action from the health and non-health sectors, public and commercial players, and citizens for a common interest.

One of the biggest role of every healthcare professional would be to tackle the effects of COVID 19 on the healthcare value chain. All of us have experienced that COVID-19 uncovered both the strengths and limitations of global healthcare value chains. It has demonstrated to healthcare organizations the advantages of collaboration and coordination in the healthcare value chain. It has highlighted the lack of redundancy and diversity especially in pharmacy and medical supplier procurement unit, as well as the urgent need to increase supply chain digitization. It has also revealed a lack of supply chain awareness, making it harder to track products, estimate demand effectively, and avoid potential shortages. All these roles are to be monitored as healthcare professionals in order to make the healthcare value chain as a smooth process. In order to overcome this problem, healthcare systems use healthcare supply chain technology to create a fully integrated supply chain that encourages supply chain leaders and medical teams to work together together to reduce costs, improve quality of patient care and patient outcomes while ensuring continual improvement of supply chain processes in terms of efficiency and responsiveness. All these creates a more patient-centric supply chain which make the healthcare value chain stronger.

 

Response AC #2

The delivery of healthcare in the United States is fluid and can be dependent on several different principles and agents supporting its effectiveness. As noted by Burns, the linking of payers, intermediaries, providers, purchasers and producers are all components of the healthcare value chain (Burns, pg.4) and contribute to the process. Further, these entities are considered major participants in the U.S. healthcare system through their applicability in the “iron triangle” of healthcare with impact in accessibility, cost and quality.

Having direct influence in healthcare, the U.S. government has been able to contribute through services as a payer and provide legislative augmentation through legislation such as with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. By way of this act, providers, such as hospital, and intermediaries were able to remain solvent through integration (Burns, Pg. 5).  Further, consolidation can be noted in healthcare organizations stemming from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and Balanced Budget Reformed Act of 1999 that effected reimbursement rates for services provided by healthcare systems.

Through the use of manufacturing partnerships and push/ pull methodology can impact larger costs, the use of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO’s) has had impact in the cost of goods. This cost is reflective of most healthcare organizations operating under normal conditions. Further, the normal supply and established value chain was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic through the shortage of many medical products and personal protective equipment for providers resulting in the deployment of the Strategic National Stockpile. As the Strategic National Stockpile is a stop-gap buffer intended to support healthcare (PHE, N.d.), the stockpiles use facilitated the continued delivery of healthcare during an evolving pandemic and until short term recovery allowed the restoration of current healthcare reform initiatives.


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