The Influences of Public Health on the U.S. Health Care System

Public health focuses on disease prevention and promoting lifelong healthy living through organized community-wide efforts (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2019). Public health influences individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles, get engaged in the detection and early prevention of diseases, as well as in disease research and exposure to elements that may cause injury or disease. Firstly, public health approaches to healthcare are preventive in nature. Disease prevention benefits the effectiveness of response interventions and is more affordable than curing a disease.

Public health professionals have been much involved in research and the development of health promotion programs. Health promotion is impactful in the prevention and reduction of the impact of diseases such as mental health and other chronic diseases (Proper & van Oostrom, 2019). Public health feeds the U.S healthcare system with evidence on health trends, diseases, and public perception, among other health factors that support policy development, systems planning, and program implementations. Additionally, public health helps identify inequities and disparities in healthcare access and the quality of healthcare services provided within the healthcare system.

For instance, through public health efforts such as health promotion and health education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S healthcare system was able to manage the spread of the virus, support the healthcare system from collapsing as well as identify the existing disparities within the U.S healthcare system. Therefore, public health influences the sustainability, affordability, accessibility, and diversity aspects as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S healthcare system. However, as public health approaches health at the community and population level, it may fail to identify the healthcare needs of the population at an individual level. Failure to meet health needs at the individual level may have negative impacts at the national healthcare system level.

References

Proper, K. I., & van Oostrom, S. H. (2019). The effectiveness of workplace health promotion interventions on physical and mental health outcomes – a systematic review of reviews. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 45(6), 546–559. https://doi.org/10.5271/SJWEH.3833

Riegelman, R., & Kirkwood, B. (2019). Public Health 101: Improving Community Health (R. Riegelman, Ed.; 3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

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