Impact of Integrated Healthcare Networks on Community Health and ACA Compliance
For people to enjoy health at the optimal level, either as individuals or as a community, then, they must be beneficiaries of excellent healthcare services. These services must also be well coordinated within a robust public health system. The different players in the healthcare sector usually encounter minimal interaction, systems planning, collaboration, and communication among these entities is almost incidental and limited to their operations (Nellans & Waljee, 2014). When a community has a communication channel that enables frequent feedback and information flow among the different stakeholders (acute care settings, local primary care providers, and community agencies), then the goal of improving value for the patients will be achieved where value will be defined as the outcomes of health which are achieved and matter to patients in relations to the cost of achieving the outcomes. Because of the pressure to contain costs, players aim at reducing reimbursements and eventually move away toward performance-based from fee-for-service reimbursement. The treatment of patients will be faster, the costs will be lower, the outcomes will be better, and the market share for different health conditions will improve. Rather than having all persons visiting the same healthcare facility, patients with specific conditions will be referred to specialized facilities following the open communication, this will leave the general hospital free to cater for the more common and not-so-severe illnesses. This will reduce waiting time, and improve efficiency and costs. Different groups of patients require different care locations. They also need services that take a head-on approach to the crucial role of preventive care and lifestyle change in costs and outcomes, and the services also need to be tailored to the overall circumstances of the patients. When communication is open between the service teams, and the appropriate clinical team, education, and preventive services can be put in place, eventually improving value with measurable results. This will mean that not-for-profit hospitals may have fewer persons seeking services (Porter & Lee, 2013). Patients will find the impetus to seek insurance at a low cost and visit specific healthcare facilities in the community that will cater to their needs.
References
Nellans, K., & Waljee, J. F. (2014). Health Services Research: Evolution and Applications. Hand Clinics, 30(3), 259-268.
Porter, M & Lee, T.H. (2013). The strategy that will fix healthcare. https://hbr.org/2013/10/the-strategy-that-will-fix-health-care
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Question 
Describe what would happen to the overall community health if the various acute care settings, local primary care providers, and community agencies had a network that could talk to each other and would do so on a regular basis. How would this impact an ACA requirement of not-for-profit hospitals in that region? Write 300 words and comment on two other postings (100 words each).
Impact of Integrated Healthcare Networks
Reading:
Nash, D. B., Clarke, J. L., Skoufalos, A., & Horowitz, M. (2012). Health care quality: The clinician’s primer.
Chapters 19-21
Harvard Business Review (2011). Harvard Business review on fixing the healthcare from the inside & out.
Pages 133-220