StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management" focuses on the critical analysis of the relevant contemporary issues in business ethics with experience and application in a health organization. The study of ethics has intrigued the faculties of scholars since early philosophers…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.4% of users find it useful
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management"

Running Head: Ethical Concerns Ethical Concerns In Health Care Management This paper is written to present relevant contemporary issues in business ethics with actual experience and application in a health organization. Introduction The study of ethics has intrigued the faculties of scholars since early philosophers and ethicists during the times of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, to name a few. Johnson (1965) defined ethics as “the systematic inquiry into man’s moral behavior with the purpose of discovering the rules that ought to govern human action and the goods that are worth seeking in human life”. These ethical standards governing the existence of human life also encompass the realm of business entities, especially on reportorial requirements utilizing generally accepted principles of accounting, auditing and finance. It is in this regard that this paper is written to present relevant contemporary issues in business ethics with actual experience and application in a health organization. Scenario A patient had been confined in a private room in this health institution for almost one month due to chronic illness with diverse complications. Due to her long stay and numerous laboratory, diagnostic and therapeutic examinations, her statement of account reached a staggering amount which could not be immediately covered by the funds of the patient and her family. She had been accompanied by her daughter who helps by providing physical, emotional and financial support. However, due to the critical condition that her mother experiences, their account was classified as “red tag”. Patients with red tags are immediately referred to the Customer Relations Department who monitors their status and closely coordinates with the Accounting and Cashier Department for settlement and collection purposes. Once a patient has been classified as “red tag”, any procedure (therapeutic, diagnostic, laboratory, etc.) need to be immediately settled prior to the administration of the procedure, regardless of the necessity and the kind of the procedure to be undertaken. The rationale for this is to prevent further increases in the amount due to the hospital which might not be collected nor paid. The patient regularly needs any of the abovementioned procedures to monitor her health progress and to identify and assess whether present medications need to be adjusted (increase or decrease in dosage and frequency of administration). However, since this patient was already classified as “red tag”, and since the daughter still needs to look for alternative sources of funds to settle the staggering amount, the required regular procedures could not be undertaken. In this regard, being a hospital with medical and ethical responsibilities to their patients, does their red tag policy contradict conformity to ethical standards? Analysis Based on the underlying definition of ethics, one should examine the rules that govern human action and the goods one is seeking in life. The hospital has the obligation to render appropriate medical service to ensure that their patients receive the necessary treatment to improve their health conditions. However, it is also the responsibility of the patients and their families to pay for all the medical services to ensure that the hospital would sustain their resources for the efficient delivery of health care in the present and in the future. If the hospital would consistently allow patients to accumulate amounts payable for services that were already rendered, eventually, the resources of the hospital would not be enough to sustain the delivery of future health care of other patients. The recording of financial obligations of patients is responsibilities of the accounting, cashier and customer relations department to prevent further damage and avoid legal cases if medical problems occur. Given the scenario, the alternative courses of action are available for both the hospital and the patient: 1. Immediately transfer the patient to a room with the least cost (a ward or semi-private room) without compromising health benefits. By transferring the patient to a room with lower cost, all other hospital costs associated with the room transfer would be decreased. 2. Seek the necessary financial assistance from health insurance (Medicaid, Medicare) as appropriate in her case. 3. Arrange an amicable agreement with the senior management of the hospital in terms of forging payment schemes which are amenable to both parties. Conclusion Health care organizations have a great responsibility to ensure that patients receive the best possible treatment within their respective budgets or finances. Problems occur when one party fails to deliver what is expected by the other. Apart from financial problems brought about by hospital bills, patients and their families are faced with the burden of finding out possible outcomes from the delivery of health care. Another relevant ethical concerns faced by health organizations are medical errors. This is broad topic with legal implications. According to O’Rourke, “errors can be prevented by designing systems that make it hard for people to do the wrong thing and easy for people to do the right thing.” However, despite clearly stated policies and rules that ensure that management does the right things in compliance to ethical standards, inevitable events still occur which seem to contradict business ethics. In the end, by establishing a harmonious relationship and by ensuring that the health care organization has complied to the high standards of safety and efficient delivery of patient care, no ethical problem could remain unresolved. References Johnson, O.A. (1965). Ethics: Selections from Classical and Contemporary Writers. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. New York. O’Rourke, K. (2004). Medical Error: Some Ethical Concerns. Catholic Health Association of the United States. Retrieved on April 30, 2009 from Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Ethical Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Ethical Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1554477-ethical-concerns
(Ethical Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Ethical Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1554477-ethical-concerns.
“Ethical Concerns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1554477-ethical-concerns.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management

Management practice and ethical issues in the healthcare industry

The paper reviews the management practice of cost reduction or cost cutting in health care organizations and the ethical issues that may arise due to such a strategy.... It can be seen that cost cutting is a part of prudent management, but it does provides incentive or motivation at act unethically in both industries.... Keywords: management practice, cost reduction, ethics, healthcare and banking industry management practice and ethical issues in the healthcare industry There is a simple commonly used and popular adage that ‘health is wealth'....
13 Pages (3250 words) Research Paper

Law and Ethics in Healthcare

Law and Ethics in healthcare Name: Instructor: Task: Date: Law and Ethics in healthcare Introduction Law and ethics are factors that considerably influence healthcare.... These principles present strong moral and legal concerns to care providers in healthcare.... The law institutes regulations that promote confidentiality; however, most of these regulations present situations that raise ethical concerns; hence, culminating in dilemmas (Hall, Bobinski & Orentlicher, 2007)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals

Law and ethical Issues for Health Professionals Name: Instructor: Task: Date: Law and ethical Issues for Health Professionals Law and Ethical considerations elicits serious concerns in healthcare.... Interestingly, physicians' shortage is a factor that invites considerable legal and ethical concerns in the healthcare system.... Interestingly, the ACHE Code that demands health professionals to renounce practice thatdegrades the dignity of the healthcare management would be of significance to the administrator challenged by the predicaments in the case (ACHE, 2012)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Ethical Principles in the Corporate World

The case at hand is one of the emerging ethical concerns on the corporations handling of employees in terms of health and safety.... The case at hand is one of the emerging ethical concerns on the corporations handling of employees in terms of health and safety.... It is important to note that the company management is reluctant to solve the issue of employee exposure to the harmful asbestos and instead avoids the cost of carrying out cleanup....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The People Factor

Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Management The healthcare management sector is rising in importance in the economy of United States.... In this regard, the most daunting task is to make the rightful decision with respect to some ethical problem arising in healthcare sector.... Only when the challenges in dealing with healthcare problems are identified and understood fully, professional and management in this sector can cater sufficiently to the insurance needs of people (Labspace, 2013)....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Financial Compensation and Ethical Issues In Healthcare

The healthcare management also needs to develop and embrace a philosophy of business ethics in its operations.... The American Nurses Association in 1995 released a document that highlighted the ethical issues in healthcare.... t is important to carry out an analysis of the healthcare system and the ethical tenets that surround it in addressing these problems. ... here have been lots of restructuring in the healthcare system over the past decade....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Leadership and Ethics

Select one public agency or one non-profit organization in which the ethical concerns related to the issue you selected may not be considered unethical.... Like in any other industry, the healthcare sector has valid concerns about the motives the seller of a product may have to alter information carried about their product.... This paper stresses that the first ethical issue in health care in the United States is the marketing of the prescribed drugs....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment

Ethics in Nursing

447) posits that management of health information and especially storage of records is one of the core nursing roles that portend intrinsic potential ethical issues and risks including multiple ethical dilemmas with regard to issues of confidentiality, legal issues, and the sensitivity associated with individuals health.... The paper "Ethics in Nursing" provides a basis for making ethical decisions regarding the storage of patient's health records (nursing plans, medication charts, and observations) using the model provided by Kerridge....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us