Uninsurance Rates Falls

Hopefully this number will decrease even more in 2015, after we get accustom to the new healthcare exchanges in 2014........

There’s a drop in uninsured Americans since to the Affordable Care Act,  but nearly 49 million still lack health insurance (Obama passing health insurance exchanges)

Greatest gains due to the Affordable Care Act’s provisions that adults ages 19-26 can remain on their parents’ health plans.

•Improving growth of the public insurance program such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance program also fueled the drop of the uninsured

•The recession also had an impact on private coverage  because it had a decline in coverage as well.

 •The recession also had an impact on poverty rate, about 9.5 million Americans live in poverty.

•20 states had significant drops in uninsured rates, with the largest declines in Oregon, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

 

•As the Affordable Care Act is implemented it will have an impact on who is uninsured and who remains without coverage, (those without coverage will face $$$ penalties)

•More than 30% of Hispanics were uninsured, compared to 19.5% of Blacks, about  15% of whites, and about 17% of Asians.

•Rates of uninsured were highest in the South and West and income was a strong predicator of insurance status.

•The range of uninsured is still likely to be 27 million to 29 million in 2014 even after Health insurance exchanges are up and running and many states expand their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income individuals and families >(mainly because people are still unaware of the new changes)

 

•The Affordable Care Act is going to also have an impact on employer-sponsored coverage.

•The consequences of lacking health insurance provide a stark reminder for continued advocacy.

•Its been reported that every 1 million people without health insurance, there will be 1,000 related preventable deaths. (i.e high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiac related issues, diseases, viruses, etc., without regular doctor visits, many go unaware of health condition)

•Many studies have shown lack of insurance results in poorer health outcomes (from risky behaviors i.e smoking, obesity, alcoholism, etc.) as well as financial burdens for individuals and families.

Is the ACA OK?

 Yes, I know....I know...its like "beating a dead horse", but its such an important piece of legislation....Is it helping or hurting....????

It’s a known fact that legislation has implemented the Affordable Care Act...due to the continuing, restless, driven efforts of our 44th president.... to try to expedite and get a handle on three things, which is to constrain costs, increase access, and improve the quality of care. However, in my opinion, I believe that this piece of legislation is least likely to be restrain cost. So far is seem to be "ruffling feathers" of many; various organization included. Including, but not limited to physicians because they MUST be in compliance as it relates to customer service or it will affects their $$$$, U.S. citizens are now required to have health insurance or unless will face a financial penalty (i actually agree with this), administrators following protocols while still appeasing all employees (a very hard task), patients having uncertainty and totally unaware of financial and medical advise due to the change in healthcare legislation. Especially since open enrollment began Oct. 01, 2013for the health insurance exchanges, a lot of questions were asked, a lot discrepancies were found, which leave the people-esp. the youth, who the ACA is hoping will keep it thriving.....I guess we'll see how this plays out...too early to tell!!

Have Low Morale?

I was doing a brief research-not too extensive-as to why employees struggle why keep their morale high at the workplace. Some may ask, is it the administrators?
How can an administrator keep the moral of the organization to maintain a functioning culture? Is it possible to satisfy all employees? Is it mainly monetary compensation? inability for advancement? Lack of relations between employees and administrators? What is a good administrator? How can the morale of the employees be affected? What are some factors that indicate to an administrator that the moral is down? Is it easily adjusted? What would be the motivation to fix the “problem”? 

Yes I know a lot to consider, but 5 signs that employees have low morale:
LACK of COMMUNICATION- when this happens employees tend to engage in messy, unnecessary, mostly invalid information, which id also known as GOSSIP; when employees have unhealthy communication with their peers and superiors communication becomes scarce, gossip and misinformation flourish. 

Lack of initiative. Unmotivated employees just go through the motions rather than taking an active seat and don't normally go above and beyond; just do enough to remain in compliance. 

No recognition and/or lack of creativeness when rewarding employees-Sometimes superiors may say "due to budget costs..... or "we used to" to justify why they aren't really putting much of an effort to recognizing their employees hard work, dedication, and achievements. 

Change in attitude- employees may start off excited about their new position and are totally engaged, however overtime......they just seem to become flatline__________......showing less interest and enthusiasm.

And of coarse...Poor Performance....this is pretty much self-explanatory....happy employee=great performance. Simple.

For those of you reading and find yourself victims of at least 3 or more of theses signs.....chances are you may have what is considered Low Morale within your organization..... 

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/human-resources/2013/11/poor-communication-toxic-for-workplace.html?page=all
 

Am I a "Good Aministrator"?

As I approach the end of completing my master's program in Healthcare Management, I am starting to ask myself what are some of the qualifications and needed experience that an employer may look for when I seek a new position. My perception on what a successful public administrator is may not actually be factual and even with the educated I acquired, I may still not know how to demonstrate the qualities needed. So far I have gain some experience from reading case studies, attending various public administers discussion groups, and working with a group of people that has an assortment of personalities and work habits. I have noted during this experience, that you must be a good listener, be able to effectively communicate, which in turn will allow you to the chance to make persuasive proposals. To be a good listener , you must understand that everyone’s opinions and suggestions should be expressed and understood clearly to become a successful administrator. This is done effectively by being knowledgeable of what’s the subject at hand, not having a negative attitude, and mentally aware of what is being expressed. This has proven to be effective for me so far. I wonder what else will i learn along the way?

Y R Healthcare Clutures So Unorganized?

I sometimes ask myself, based of personal experience, how are healthcare systems so unorganized and occur a lot of errors, and why does the moral of the organization culture seem to be unauthentic. Well with my experience having previously worked in a healthcare setting where I was a contract worker for the hospital's ER Physicians I've encountered this daily. I'm not sure of this is a reflection on all organization, but on the daily basis I battled with trying to conform with the hospital's procedures and protocols, as they were undergoing a new transition to paper-less medical records, while still having to maintain my performance indicators with my employer (a different organization). This put me in a compromising position because I had to maintain and build professional relationships with both my employer and the hospital;both of there objectives and perspectives were totally different from each other. So, to appease to both organizations I literally found myself going beyond the call of duty and making personal sacrifices to make the adjustment. However, as a manager or administrator I would have made an assessment of the situation and would have immediately found a solution to prevent a domino effect of problems to occur, which in reality ended up happening because of poor origination and communication within the organization culture. Lack of communication ultimately lead in co-workers no trusting each other on performance capabilities, which in turn lead to employees not owning their job responsibilities, that cultivated in the job being unsatisfying, not fun or enjoyable at ALL because everyday there was negativity and gossip. The turnover rate also increased. Once I would train someone, they would quit soon after because of the chaos within both organizations. Furthermore, no administrator stepped up to make a feasible adjustment, so eventually I also ended up resigning. Both organization cultures were causing stress on me physically, mentally,and emotionally.

Public Admin.

Public Admin.

Public Admin.