Terms Comparison Paper Hcs 552

Terms Comparison Paper HCS/552 February 4, 2013 John J. Schibler Terms Comparison Paper Health care economics involves making plenty of choices. Individuals, groups, businesses, and organizations choose how to use resources . Economics and health care are linked, because health care professionals apply economics in their everyday professional activities. They are able to do this through resource allocation. Any health care organization has to plan out how they will use their resources to their advantage. Health care economics are able to incorporate terms like cost, quality, and resources.

In this paper, I will compare these terms as they relate to health care economics. In this paper, I will also explain how they differ from one another. Resources are considered to be any physical thing or virtual element that has limited availability. A resource can also be anything that is used to help people earn a living. There are different types of resources such as human resources, and natural resources. In economics, human resources refer t human capital or employees in an organization (Getzen, 2007).

Many times resources are considered to be a means of factors of production. When health care organization is in production of something, natural resources are being used. Resources are usually limited, and most organizations have to look for ways of allocating resources that they need. Resources in health care means that all materials and funds are used to provide health care for people. The term “resource” has similar meaning in health care and economics. When used in health care, it means that all materials and funds are used to provide health care.

When referring to the economic portion of health care, resource means that they are the personnel, the funds, facilities, or any material used in production. Another similarity is that resources are limited and they have value. For example, funds, as well as personnel are limited, and they may hinder delivery of health care services and productivity. Most people prefer to have quality health care. Quality may also have many different meanings. Quality in health care economics means the superiority of something. This can also mean the best of something.

Quality in health care can be determined by determining if the health care is a great fit for the person. Quality of health care can be considered as the right treatment for the right illness, and also delivering health care at the right time. Quality in health care economics means to give the best health care possible. Getzen (2007), states that medicine often involves life and death situations (p. 12). In these situations, quality is crucial and quantity is irrelevant (Getzen, 2007). Quality cannot simply be added up or multiplied to arrive at a total spending limit.

In medical care, getting more ounces or pounds or boxes or whatever is usually not very important, but getting higher quality is. When referring to health care economics, “cost” refers to the funds that are used to deliver health care to patients. Cost can also mean the amount of funds used to access health care or to deliver health care (Getzen, 2007). It is applied in many different ways such as, health care professionals applying economic principles like cost benefit analysis, or cost effect analysis to determine if the choice is good or bad.

The principles help the government to provide the best intervention in health care (Getzen, 2007). In conclusion, all the terms are interlinked when discussing health care economics. This is so and will always be so, because health care professionals always apply economic principles in health care. All of these terms help when deciding how to make and provide the correct interventions when making difficult decisions. When referring to resources, it has the same meaning when dealing with health care as well as economics alone.

It means, materials, funds, employees and the facilities used in achieving goals set by the health care organization. While the term cost means something differently when separating health care and economics it all ties in when they are applied together in an organization. Cost means the funds used to deliver health care or when a patient is trying to access health care. Costs can also be rejected when making decisions about health care. Quality means to give the best possible when delivering care to a patient as well as when making decisions about a health care organization.

All of these terms are the same in making health care economical decisions. We depend on all the terms in this paper when trying to make an ethical decision as it relates to health care and health care organizations. The essence of health care economics is simply trade or making a buck (Getzen, 2007). Its focal point will always be the market and the place where buyers and sellers exchange dollars for goods and services (Getzen, 2007). References Getzen, T. E. (2007). Health, economics, and financing (3rd ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. http://www. healthcarefinance. org/HEtext_files/chap01. pdf