Newhouse Utility
A). for the facility
A population growth can only lead to an improved quality frontier if and only if, the population provides more and better qualified doctors and physicians. This will mean that the ratio of doctor to patient will increase ensuring that the patients are well treated. An increase in population will also increase the number of patients and not only those who are sick but also for the consultation and regular check-up patients. This will lead to increase the amount earned from the standing fee that every hospital is allowed to charge by the state. This will aid in catering for the operational costs and increase the equipments to be used in the hospital.
For the public
Increase in population of doctors and physicians means that the quality of service offered will be better. More doctors indicate more patients will be better treated and the health of the population will be improved (Gustafson, 1997). Increase in the public population offers a ready market for the hospital services and increases the amount of revenue earned ensuring that there are enough medicines and vaccines for the people. This is a benefit to the public.
B). a nonprofit facility is better than a profit facility this is because the facility gets to be excluded from paying taxes by the government because it is based on a charitable cause and may not be able to meet the cost of the tax (Gustafson, 1997). This is better for the facility as itgets to save on that. For the consumer most of the prices are subsidized by other government and non-governmental agencies making the facility’s services to be cheaper than those of government and private hospitals. To the community, most of the nonprofit hospitals always give back to their immediate community. This can be done by sensitizing people on the best hygiene methods. Creating awareness on what people should do. To the community it is an investment that brings returns in terms of charitable events that are of benefit to the health of the people.
2. “Hospitals and Long-Term Care”
The nonprofit hospitals dominate the hospital industry because a hospital requires so much equipments, inputs and even labor for it to run. The daily operational costs incurred are overwhelming and the nonprofit hospitals can be able to cut down on that. This is because from the government side they are exempt to income and property tax, which in this case caters for 33% of all the costs incurred in the hospitals (United States, General Accounting Office, 1995).
They are allowed to take donations from politicians, the state and even from other organizations without much legal constraints and mostly due to their charitable nature they are bound to receive more volunteers as nurses and other laborers and this still aids in reducing the operational costs as compared to the for profit hospitals. They are expected to pay all the government taxes and they hardly receive subsidized goods ad even services from the public.
A nursing home is easier to run. This is because it requires nurses checking on old people who are not necessarily sick. It is cheaper and requires minimal operational costs as the old people’s pension and their families cater for their expenses (Dicken, 2011). This means the amount of labor, equipment and initial input required to start and run a nursing home is less as compared to running a hospital. The decision is also influenced by the fact that old people are increasing in the society as compared to previous years. This is attributed to improved medical services.
B). Decrease in the number of children that people are allowed to have can greatly reduce the children who will be taking care of their parents. Increase in the job opportunities available will also decrease the informal care, this coupled with subsidized services from the nursing homes can significantly reduce the informal care (Dicken, 2011). This is because sometimes people prefer the informal care because they cannot afford the nursing home.
A policy that can increase the substitability will include the increase in the pension given to the old people. This will ensure that they are still financially viable in the society and the family member will accept them because they can still be able to contribute financially. There should be an age limit and health status for being before they are sent to the nursing homes. If one does not meet the criteria they will not be allowed to be in a nursing home.
References
Gustafson Ivan Charles, (1997), A Survey of a Public Relations Program in Non-Profit Hospitals, Oxford University Press, New York.
United States, General Accounting Office, (1995), Non-Profit Hospitals: For Profit ventures pose Access and Capacity, Government Press, Washington D.C
Dicken John, (2011), Nursing Homes: Complexity of Private Investment Purchases, Springer Publishers
