Globalization of Healthcare
The Globalization of Health Care
May 9th, 2013
Health care has been essentially a service provided locally for centuries; a patient feels chest pains, takes a fall, or fractures a limb, and he/she immediately seeks medical assistance from the closest source. According to the case study introduction by Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), for that possible reason, it was long thought that “health care is one of the industries least vulnerable to dislocation from globalization” (p. 42). However, one could draw conclusion, using Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), that several mitigating factors have enabled not only the globalization of marketable production-based goods, but also of service-related industries such as legal services and using medical diagnostics as well as surgical procedures; the case makes a compelling, if somewhat incomplete, case for globalization based upon factors such as cost reduction and improved quality of care; however, further research supports the case study’s findings.
Facilitating Developments
Factors such as a perceived shortage of qualified cardiologists to meet a rising demand for services is a possible explanation. Although, in the Time Magazine article by Brill, Steven (2013, March 4), he exposed the widespread practice of ordering medically unnecessary CT scans. Statistics show that the use of CT scans alone has more than quadrupled in recent decades, many times to ward off a possible malpractice lawsuit, but oftentimes to drive up profits. The demand for more skilled physicians to interpret results may be genuine, yet it is exacerbated by profit-driven hospitals eager to pay for expensive equipment within a short time. As surmised by Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), making much-needed care more accessible and affordable certainly makes outsourcing to less costly, but equally skilled, physicians in Mexico, India, and Singapore more attractive. Additionally, escalating costs of health
May 9th, 2013
Health care has been essentially a service provided locally for centuries; a patient feels chest pains, takes a fall, or fractures a limb, and he/she immediately seeks medical assistance from the closest source. According to the case study introduction by Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), for that possible reason, it was long thought that “health care is one of the industries least vulnerable to dislocation from globalization” (p. 42). However, one could draw conclusion, using Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), that several mitigating factors have enabled not only the globalization of marketable production-based goods, but also of service-related industries such as legal services and using medical diagnostics as well as surgical procedures; the case makes a compelling, if somewhat incomplete, case for globalization based upon factors such as cost reduction and improved quality of care; however, further research supports the case study’s findings.
Facilitating Developments
Factors such as a perceived shortage of qualified cardiologists to meet a rising demand for services is a possible explanation. Although, in the Time Magazine article by Brill, Steven (2013, March 4), he exposed the widespread practice of ordering medically unnecessary CT scans. Statistics show that the use of CT scans alone has more than quadrupled in recent decades, many times to ward off a possible malpractice lawsuit, but oftentimes to drive up profits. The demand for more skilled physicians to interpret results may be genuine, yet it is exacerbated by profit-driven hospitals eager to pay for expensive equipment within a short time. As surmised by Hill, Charles W. L. (2011), making much-needed care more accessible and affordable certainly makes outsourcing to less costly, but equally skilled, physicians in Mexico, India, and Singapore more attractive. Additionally, escalating costs of health
References: Brill, Steven (2013, March 4). Bitter Pill: How outrageous pricing and egregious profits are destroying our health care. Times, 181, 16-55. Hill, Charles W. L. (2011). International Business (9th Edition). McGraw Hill Irwin.