Improvement in the Manufacturing Versus the health care industry

Introduction

Health insurance has risen in the past few years making it unaffordable to most US citizens. The affordable care act passed during March 2010 has not cut the expensive costs of health care and insurance despite being passed to cut the increasing costs in the health care sector. Health care services are seen to rise but in proportion with the increasing costs of other goods and services in the manufacturing industry as well.  Due to the inflation gap, many have argued out that medical expenses continue to become high thus need to be curbed. There is need to cut the medical costs for average Americans since the costs of other goods and services are not as high as the medical expenses. The health of people is important compared to the manufacturing goods such as vehicles thus medical care needs to be affordable. This paper will therefore look at the improvements in the manufacturing industry compared to the healthcare industry. The healthcare industry need to be improved and made affordable to the all Americans including those poor Americans.

To begin with, the increasing medical expenses are attributed to a number of factors that need to be considered when cutting off the expenses. Financial greed from the medical hospital and pharmaceuticals has been cited as one of the factors that contribute to the increasing medical expenses (Burns, 2012). Medical providers such as nurses and even doctors have been greedy since they want more money therefore charging more expenses on the patients. The healthcare industry through new technology has come up with various improvements that treat diseases such as cancer that claimed many lives before. Doctors have taken the advantage of new technology to charge patients high medical bills. Those who are not able to afford the high bills are left to suffer which is becoming a concern since health care need to become affordable. Health care cost is seen to increase in high rates compared to the increase in the rest goods and services. It is therefore a concern since healthcare should not be high compared to other products. Hospitals are making more profits since the cost charged is way above the cost of other products. Healthcare productivity is seen to glow at a slow rate compared to growth in other industries which means that medical costs will continue being high compared to other sectors (Burns, 2012).

Most people in the medical field argue out that the industry is the most complex industry to manage since it deals with the lives of patients directly (Kros & Brown, 2013). Health care industry has some few differences with other sectors but can still learn from other sectors such as the manufacturing industry. Toyota manufacturing industry for instance was the most successful company in 2010 when the rate of accidents was high (Burns, 2012). The company ensured that it provided high quality vehicles for its customers in order to ensure the customers remain safe and satisfied as all the time. The company ensured it delivered vehicles to customers at all the time in a manner the customers want at affordable costs without waste. This was a system used by the Toyota industry and later spread to other industries even the healthcare industry. The health care industry introduced the Lean system which saw the hospitals provide healthcare to patients at all the time which led to improvement in the healthcare field (Chalice et al, 2007). However the healthcare sector did not ensure that its services were affordable to all people while they should be affordable in order to curb the increasing mortality rates among the American people. Lean techniques have been successful in other industries with the exemption of the health care industry which insinuates that the healthcare sector is expensive.

Patients’ safety should be enhanced since people cannot be compared with the automobiles. The sector should ensure that patients are well catered for without discrimination. The healthcare industry has been considered as one of the fragile industries since it focuses on the life of patients. The industry needs to be vigilant and ensure its increases the quality of its services and ensure the customer service is the best. The industry needs to gain the trust of the patients and ensure patients are not charged high expenses which they end up failing to afford (Burns, 2012). Healthcare sector faces many safety and quality concerns. The industry is now a competitive industry where all the clinical officers in different hospitals they provide the best medical care to their patients (Chalice, 2005). Most of the clinical officers measure quality on their own and end up concluding they are providing the best services. This a key challenge in the healthcare sector therefore people should conduct a measure on the quality of care so that clinical officers can rate themselves. Clinical officers therefore need this data in order to ensure they check on the areas they need to improve on. The healthcare industry need to improve its quality and raise its quality since it will be one way of minimizing the healthcare costs.

Unlike the manufacturing industry, healthcare industry is complex and fragile since it deals directly with the life of patients. The industry should be affordable to all people since life is basic unlike automobiles which people can survive without. Currently, the hospitals are looking for ways of ensuring they provide quality healthcare services and cut costs as well in order to ensure healthcare is made affordable (Chalice, 2005). Hospitals are also looking for ways of eliminating the wastes that ensure healthcare services are expensive. Most hospitals have opted on using the manufacturing lean techniques which ensure healthcare will be provided affordably and the same time waste is eliminated. The progressive and successful hospitals are those using the lean techniques since they provide quality services to patients, ensure the patients are safe and waste is eliminated (Chalice, 2005). The healthcare industry grows at a slow pace compared to the manufacturing industry thus the difference in the rate of improvements and costs. The manufacturing industry moves at a faster pace with technology thus tends to provide quality services and goods to customers at affordable costs. The healthcare industry needs to move at a faster rate in proportion with the manufacturing industry so that the lean techniques can become successful in the industry.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry has lagged behind compared with the manufacturing industry from the above discussion. The healthcare industry needs to increase its pace so that the lean techniques can ensure the costs of healthcare are reduces and the quality of the healthcare services improved. Healthcare is an important sector since it directly deals with the life of patients therefore need to improved, quality of services increased and made affordable. Therefore hospitals and clinical officers need to ensure they come up with ways of reducing the costs of medical care and eliminating wastes that lead to high medical expenses.

References

Burns, L. R. (2012). The business of healthcare innovation. (The business of healthcare    innovation.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chalice, R. (2005). Stop rising healthcare costs using Toyota lean production methods:    38 steps for improvement. Milwaukee, Wis: ASQ Quality Press.

Chalice, R., Chalice, R., & American Society for Quality. (2007). Improving healthcare   using Toyota lean production methods: 46 steps for improvement. Milwaukee,            Wis: ASQ Quality Press.

Kros, J. F., & Brown, E. (2013). Health care operations and supply chain management:   Strategy, operations, planning, and control. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.