Rising Healthcare Costs: Veterans Affairs Medical Center Analysis

This report examines the escalating healthcare costs in the United States and their specific impact on Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers. It explores the factors contributing to rising costs, including government policies, population growth, and service utilization, and analyzes the consequences for veterans' healthcare access and quality. The report details strategies implemented by the VA, such as the Home-based Primary Care (HBPC) program and the Tricare plan, to mitigate costs and improve patient outcomes. It also reviews relevant literature, including studies on the effectiveness of HBPC and alternative approaches adopted by other organizations to address the financial burden of healthcare. The analysis highlights the challenges faced by VA Medical Centers and proposes potential improvements, providing a comprehensive overview of the issue and its implications for veterans' healthcare.

Running head: VETERANS AFFAIR MEDICAL CENTER
National healthcare issue-Rising healthcare costs
Name of the Student:
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VETERANS AFFAIR MEDICAL CENTER
Table of Contents
Part one: Review........................................................................................................................3
Part two: Analysis......................................................................................................................3
Impact and strategies developed by the organisation.............................................................3
Article review.........................................................................................................................4
Strategies developed by other organisations..........................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Part one: Review
The healthcare costs in the United States is increasing every year which costs us vast sums of
money on health insurance premiums, deductibles and other expenses associated with health.
I believe government policy plays a huge part in this nationwide concern. Since the
introduction of programs such as Medicaid and Medicare to support the population that does
not have insurance, the providers have raised their prices. I believe that along with
government policies, factors such as population growth, ageing senior population, increasing
disease prevalence, service price and medical service utilisation are equally responsible for
the rising costs in healthcare services and products and the impact of this issue on the
Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
The feedback received from my colleagues displayed that the perspectives and impact of the
issue were well described and the analysis of the strategies adopted by the organisation was
well established.
Part two: Analysis
Rising prices of various healthcare substances and services is a significant disadvantage to
almost all the patients as well as consumers. With increasing costs of various medical
products and services, pertinent information on the price of the services and products should
also be accessible to the consumers. This section of the paper discusses the impact of rising
healthcare cost on Veteran Affairs Medical Center as well as other organisations, summarises
two articles which describe this healthcare stressor and propose strategies for improvement.

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Impact and strategies developed by the organisation
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs set up Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Centers to
provide health care services to the veterans suffering from medical conditions while serving
in the military. The rising costs in healthcare services in the United States have an impact on
the quality of services provided by the organization ("About VA health benefits | Veterans
Affairs", 2020). The healthcare costs proposed by the VA medical centres is about $91.8
billion in 2020 and is expected to increase further in 2021. The rising costs of healthcare
services affect the access and speciality care provided to the patients. As a result, there is a
shift from seeking these centres for medical health to private sectors. It is expected that the
VA medical centres will decline by 2024.
One of the strategies implemented by the VHA to reduce healthcare expenditures and provide
improved quality by VA Medical Centers is the Home-based Primary Care (HBPC) program
for chronically-ill veterans to meet patient goals within the budget. HBPC reported lowered
costs of the VA in healthcare which were provided as funds to the VA Medical Centers. Also,
patient satisfaction recorded was considerably higher than average (Edes et al., 2014).
Another strategy implemented by the organisations includes the Tricare plan which provides
subsidized treatment facilities to the veterans to improve to meet their healthcare needs
(Hosek et al., 2017).
Article review
Werner et al. (2014) conducted a study to review the effectiveness of the home-based primary
care program introduced by the VA Medical Centers as a solution to lower the rising costs of
healthcare facilities and the associated impacts on these organisations. The study revealed
that although the structure of care was affected by the home-based primary care, no
significant change was observed in the quality of care provided due to the cost constraints.

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According to Fulton & Brooks (2018, September), the issue of rising healthcare costs in the
nation and the ill-effects associated with it have led to adopting alternatives to the
conventional system of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Previous interventions in the
policy to reduce the gap between the annual budget and the cost of healthcare facilities
provided to improve the quality of services did not address the issue appropriately. Proposed
alternatives include shifting from the veteran Health Administration (VHA)-only
organisations to private medical centres to meet the quality standards at reduced rates.
Strategies developed by other organisations
Various organisations have found different means to tackle the issue of rising healthcare
costs. Some organisations have developed the strategy of supporting their chronically ill
employees/members with their expensive bills. The advantage of this strategy is that it targets
the most expensive health concerns of patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer
and various heart diseases. However, a significant disadvantage is that it only addresses a
small section of the employees (Asay et al., 2016). Another useful strategy adopted by
several organisations includes leveraging the employees with direct contracts with hospital
settings at pre-fixed guaranteed rates. The benefit of this strategy is that it lowers the price of
a fixed set of estimated expensive methodologies. A significant drawback is that it is
available only to large employers and not feasible for small-scale organisations (Schenkat et
al., 2018).

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References
About VA health benefits | Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs. (2020). Retrieved 9 March
2020, from https://www.va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits.
Asay, G. R. B., Roy, K., Lang, J. E., Payne, R. L., & Howard, D. H. (2016). Peer reviewed:
absenteeism and employer costs associated with chronic diseases and health risk
factors in the US workforce. Preventing chronic disease, 13.
Edes, T., Kinosian, B., Vuckovic, N. H., Olivia Nichols, L., Mary Becker, M., & Hossain, M.
(2014). Better access, quality, and cost for clinically complex veterans with home‐
based primary care. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 62(10), 1954-1961.
Fulton, L. V., & Brooks, M. S. (2018, September). An evaluation of alternatives for
providing care to veterans. In Healthcare (Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 92). Multidisciplinary
Digital Publishing Institute.
Hosek, S. D., Sorbero, M. E., Martsolf, G., & Kandrack, R. (2017). Introducing value-based
purchasing into TRICARE reform. Rand health quarterly, 6(2).
Schenkat, D., Rough, S., Hansen, A., Chen, D., & Knoer, S. (2018). Creating organizational
value by leveraging the multihospital pharmacy enterprise. The Bulletin of the
American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, 75(7), 437-449.
Werner, R. M., Canamucio, A., Shea, J. A., & True, G. (2014). The medical home
transformation in the Veterans Health Administration: an evaluation of early changes
in primary care delivery. Health services research, 49(4), 1329-1347.