Technological Advances and Public Perception of US Healthcare System

This essay delves into the evolution of healthcare in the United States, examining the impact of technological advancements on public opinion and healthcare delivery. The essay begins by evaluating two historical perspectives on US healthcare, highlighting the shifts in public sentiment regarding the healthcare system. It then contrasts and describes two key technological advancements: Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and pharmacogenomics/genome sequencing, detailing their positive impacts on healthcare delivery. The analysis explores how these technologies have influenced public opinion, considering both positive and negative viewpoints. The essay forecasts the future impact of these advancements, predicting their influence on healthcare utilization and delivery. Furthermore, it identifies other factors, such as socioeconomic status, government policies, and physician supply, that may simultaneously affect healthcare utilization in America. The essay concludes with a comprehensive overview of the current state and future trajectory of healthcare technology in the United States.

Running Head: MEDICAL DISCOVERIES
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN USA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1MEDICAL DISCOVERIES
America has always been under scrutiny regarding the opinion of its public on several
issues. One of them is healthcare because historically the public opinion has been changing and
evolving in every century. From the health policies to healthcare accessibility, the public of
America has been highly opinionated about the facilities they have been getting. Various
presidents under their tenure have tried to change the healthcare system through the help of
policies and intervention of new medical discoveries, but the public of America used to be
dissatisfied. The two historical perspectives about healthcare are the changes required in the
healthcare system leading to dissatisfaction in the early 1990s and the concern over the shortage
of physicians to the surplus adequacy of physicians in the post-world war II period (Catlin, &
Cowan, 2015). During 1987, the Americans were positive about the healthcare system, and they
agreed that the system was working pretty well. 1991 prevailed the growth of the healthcare
system and the reform experienced by the people, but only 6% of the public agreed with a similar
idea. At the beginning of 1993, Americans showed dissatisfaction due to the affordability and
availability of healthcare, but it started declining from 45% in 1993 to 26% in 1997 and 27% in
2000. The people who agreed that there is a shortage of physicians declined from 38% in 1981 to
28% in 2000. There is an adequate amount of physicians that was agreed by people, which was
decreased by 10%, and the percentage had not changed in two decades. The implementation of
technology and the lack of technology has changed this perspective with time because the
satisfaction of the public is related to the technological advancements used to enhance the quality
of the facility (Blendon, Benson & Hero, 2014). The people who are dissatisfied with the
development of healthcare is influenced by the lack of technology.
The two technological advancements used in the United States of America has been the
Electronic Health Record (EHR) and pharmacogenomics/genome sequencing. United States is

2MEDICAL DISCOVERIES
religiously utilizing the technology of EHR as it is supported by the federal and state
government. It is a digitalized version of a patient’s detail and information, which helps the
patient as well as the staff to access essential data such as appointments, medical history,
pathological results, immunology, and medication without going to medical centers (Boonstra,
Versluis & Vos, 2014). Another technological advancement is the development of customized
medicines according to the genome sequencing of a patient. The treatment plans are tailored
depending on the individuals and the stages of their disease. This will help in reducing the cost of
misdiagnosis, inaccurate medications, and readmissions that occur when the treatment is not
accurate for the patient. These technologies have impacted the healthcare system of United States
of America by improving the quality of care and safety in patients, effectiveness is found in the
medical setting due to the advancement in patient care, less time and effort is wasted due to the
efficiency of these advancements (Dunnenberger et al., 2015)
The public of the USA is supportive of the national implementation of EHRs as it has
been helping and reducing their strain in terms of accessing healthcare. There are discrepancies
found in the opinion because the black British population and the elderly group are opinionated
about the widening gap between the healthcare accessibility depending on the ethnic group.
People have also criticized the use of full health information as they want the information to be
partial or anonymous in the EHRs. In the overall aspect, people are supportive of EHR if it turns
out to be practical and useful for specific patients and public groups. Pharmacogenomics requires
pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing that is not appreciated by a lot of people in America due to the
sovereignty, privacy, and unavailability of drugs related to genetic makeup. Another issue is the
expense of these drugs that will be produced with the help of pharmacogenetics as it will not be
affordable by the low socioeconomic group (Zhang et al., 2014).

3MEDICAL DISCOVERIES
The forecast for the efficiency of these health advancements shows that the EHR is useful
as a health tool for the future that will be used for collecting data about the population, which can
be used for several trials and researches. It will change and improve outcomes for the
consistency of healthcare services and medications being delivered. Similarly,
pharmacogenomics requires a tool that will help in collecting and analyzing all the data for the
implementation of digital health information. Specific factors that can affect healthcare
utilization in America such as socioeconomic status, changes in healthcare policies by the
government, health status, supply of physicians, and risk behaviors of the population (Popescu &
Gulay, 2019).

4MEDICAL DISCOVERIES
References
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Catlin, A. C., & Cowan, C. A. (2015). History of health spending in the United States, 1960-
2013. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Dunnenberger, H. M., Crews, K. R., Hoffman, J. M., Caudle, K. E., Broeckel, U., Howard, S. C.,
... & Relling, M. V. (2015). Preemptive clinical pharmacogenetics implementation:
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Popescu, C., & Gulay, K. (2019). The Need for an Integrative Approach of the Healthcare
System. LUMEN Proceedings, 8, 17-24.
Zhang, S. C., Bruce, C., Hayden, M., & Rieder, M. J. (2014). Public perceptions of
pharmacogenetics. Pediatrics, 133(5), e1258-e1267.