America faces many health-related difficulties. These issues include:
Neighborhoods that provide safe housing, transportation and food options support population health. Failures by health care systems to meet the needs of vulnerable populations lead to avoidable healthcare disparities that must be reduced or eradicated altogether.
United States ranks last out of 11 high-income nations when it comes to providing equitable access and affordable health care. To address this challenge, five actions need to be taken:
Invest in Community Health
Community health in the US refers to an individual or community’s ability to make healthy decisions and access essential resources. Unfortunately, many US communities lack sufficient resources for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and protecting themselves against social health threats; this is particularly evident among low-income families and communities of color who may be especially susceptible to poverty, racism, discrimination and environmental pollution.
Community health systems – comprised of organizations, local government agencies and nonprofits working collaboratively to improve population health – can be an invaluable tool for addressing such challenges. The healthiest states connect residents to services they require while serving as an open forum to discuss any challenges within a particular community. They can also ensure healthcare providers receive training in providing care that is culturally sensitive and sensitive.
Community health must be integrated into a larger effort to lower national healthcare expenses for it to be effective, with emphasis placed on nonclinical interventions that address social determinants of health like education, access to healthy foods, stress levels in both children and adults, affordable housing and transportation needs, among other considerations.
Although poverty and other social drivers of poor health cannot be eliminated entirely, cost reduction through system changes is certainly possible. Reducing high health insurance deductibles or out-of-pocket expenses may reduce the number of Americans forgoing medical treatment because they can’t afford it.
Investment in alternative treatment sites can facilitate access to health care for many who would otherwise face difficulty traveling long distances for care, like those living in remote areas where hospitals were closing down. Finally, rigorous evaluation of programs’ effects on community health can optimize execution and measure success; this can be done through real-time data tracking client demographics and outcomes or comparing similar programs’ success.
Address Social Determinants of Health
Historically, many Americans have placed their faith in their health care system to promote it as the cornerstone of their wellbeing. This perception was spurred by advances in medicine and funding of facilities like hospitals. Yet increasingly more individuals recognize that health care cannot address all factors impacting an individual’s wellbeing — these being known as social determinants of health.
Determinants are the conditions under which an individual lives, learns, and works. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education level and neighborhood environment; housing options available to them and accessibility to healthy foods among many others. Determinants may be affected by distribution of money and resources at various levels in society.
Research indicates that social determinants of health have the power to be even more influential on health outcomes than lifestyle choices or healthcare services, potentially accounting for 30-55% of population health outcomes. If we want to properly address America’s health challenges, then addressing these root issues must also become our goal.
To achieve this goal, we must bridge divides and work as one community. One way of doing this is to stop viewing people as diseases or diagnoses but instead see them as individuals with unique circumstances that we can begin supporting more efficiently.
Someone with limited economic resources, for instance, may struggle with access to healthy foods and housing issues; these obstacles could also hinder their education – an impact which has long-term ramifications on job prospects and quality of life in adulthood.
People living on limited income must also make tough choices regarding their health care, often making tough choices about which tests, treatments and visits they attend due to financial restraints. This could have significant ramifications on their overall wellbeing as it will limit how much medical information they are exposed to regarding their condition.
Invest in Technology
The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to structural flaws within America’s health care system. But it should come as welcome news that a complete revamp may not be as complex or challenging as some may believe, and meaningful reforms may occur without abandoning existing programs or sparking political opposition.
Structural change can occur by capitalizing on the strengths of existing programs and adapting them to meet strategic principles. Examples include developing a grassroots population health system that fosters community wellness, or an National Health Insurance Plan modeled after Medicare Advantage for All and providing equitable access to quality healthcare regardless of age, work status or income status.
Although considerable investments have been made into medical science, technology, and health care delivery systems in the US, it still suffers from several fundamental issues that undermine its promise of preventing disease, disability and increasing lifespans – due largely to an increasing population living with chronic conditions.
One of the greatest challenges we face today is a lack of access to quality healthcare, most acutely among low-income Americans, who often do not receive their health needs met. Furthermore, many countries’ health systems have struggled to keep pace with a rapidly aging global population, which has contributed to an increase in rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other serious ailments.
To enhance health care delivery effectiveness, a shift to a community-driven, multisector model focused on health equity is required. This approach seeks to build healthy communities by equipping federal and state agencies, industry funders, research institutions and community-based organizations with tools for equitable health improvement in partnership with local leaders; furthermore this strategy could spur local businesses and investors who contribute towards creating an ecosystem of community health that is sustainable over time.
To maximize the efficacy of this community-driven model, investing in communications and information technologies to enable data-driven decision-making is vital. To do this successfully requires forging relationships between patients and health care providers that are built upon mutual trust, commitment to reduce inequality and an understanding that health is both individual and communal in its impact.
Invest in Education
Americans often perceive health care costs to be too costly and value they receive insufficiently. While complete overhaul is unlikely, there are steps we can take to enhance its effectiveness and fairness within current systems.
One approach is to focus on social determinants of health, which have more of an effect on our wellbeing than medical services alone. Investment should be made both in quality medical care as well as non-medical programs aimed at addressing these social factors in communities that exhibit poorer health outcomes.
One example of such investments would be education. Studies have revealed a link between educational achievement and improved health outcomes; however, its importance lies in understanding its root cause – specifically structural inequalities, racial disparities and policy barriers which inhibit success – as well as health outcomes.
As part of our plan to improve America’s health, one way we can increase access to affordable, high-quality primary care is by expanding access. Unfortunately, millions of Americans lack this vital service – particularly low-income people and those living in rural areas. By making primary health services readily available across communities we can reduce costly emergency room visits and hospitalizations and ensure greater health in every American.
Telehealth services allow individuals to seek assistance without traveling long distances for treatment, like during the COVID-19 pandemic when many states provided mobile clinics where patients could receive care from trained staff in their own neighborhoods.
As we work toward increasing efficiency and fairness within our system, it is essential that we focus on increasing efficiency. Reducing paperwork burden would free up hours for patients, caregivers and physicians and ultimately improve patient care – especially important when treating chronic illnesses that take up much time managing themselves.
Finaly, we need to ensure that all Americans can have an equal say in local health care decisions. This can be accomplished by engaging health advocacy groups and community residents in developing local healthcare systems.
