Introduction
A healthcare system is also termed as a health system and it is the organization of the persons, institutions and resources which are concerned with provision of health services to solve the health issues of the target populations (American Hospital Association, 1988). The working environment can differ from the hospitals, community health and clinics. Due to complexity of healthcare systems, there is needed to have knowledge about the type of treatment in hospitals, insurance and those who provide healthcare (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010). The paper will play a big role in helping people to learn the important concepts in healthcare for the better understanding of the system and being successful in the job. In the healthcare system, there are different people who work together as a team and there is need to know more about the healthcare systems in the hospital. The doctors work with different patients and therefore need to understand various types of insurance, how they can assist patients who don’t have insurance cover and how patients’ rights and privacy can be protected. The report will basically major in the key things including: description of the differences that are in between the private , community based organization hospitals that are nonprofit and public hospitals, defining types patients care including specialty care, primary care and emergency care, explanation of how health insurance works, identification of private insurance plans and programs for public insurance, description of the to be played by members of the team and description of the bill of rights of the patients. The healthcare systems to be discussed in this report are the Australian Medicare and Abu Dhabi insurance systems which are the core healthcare systems in both nations
Healthcare System in Australia.
Australian health care is provided by both government and the private sectors. The national health policy in has been administered by the minister for health, Susann ley. Elements of healthcare have been administered by the state and territory governments including hospital operations within the jurisdictions (Wolper, 2011).
The administered Medicare by the Australian government is the general healthcare system which is publicly funded. There is coexistence of private health system in Australia which was instituted in 1984. The funding of Medicare is done through medical levy which contributes 2% where by the low-income earners are excluded and the balance is being paid by the government through general revenue. The high-income earners are charge 1% more without insurance of private health to fund the Medicare. In Australia, there is a different pharmaceutical scheme as far as healthcare is concerned which are funded by the federal government. The funding of healthcare system in Australian is government centered and therefore it is affected by the politics.
The healthcare system in Australia has improved in terms of services as the statistics. For example, in 2006 0ne doctor was attending an average of 322 patients and one bed in hospital per 244 people but in 2011, 70,200 medical specialists and 257,200 nurses were said to be seriously working in the hospitals. According to the sample which was developed for thirteen developed countries Australia was ranked to be number eighth in the usage of medication. The health expenditure in Australia to GDP ratio in 2011-2012 is proved to be above average in comparison with other countries.
National health policy
Financial year | % of GDP | Current price ($billions) |
1981-1982 | 6.3 | 10.8 |
1991-1992 | 7.2 | 30.5 |
2001-2002 | 8.4 | 63.1 |
2008-2009 | 9.0 | 114.4 |
2009-2010 | 9.4 | 121.7 |
2010-2011 | 9.3 | 131.6 |
2011-2012 | 9.5 | 142.0 |
2012-2013 | 9.7 | 147.0 |
2013-2014 | 9.8 | 154.6 |
TABLE 1: Australia expenditure on healthcare
Source: Australian institute of wealth and welfare.
The structure of health care in Australia is universal where by the federal government is paying the biggest portion of health service cost. The government urges those who earn high income to insure themselves privately. The Australian government is trying to achieve this by charging them a surcharge of about 1%-1.5% if they fail to privately insure themselves privately.
Financing
The healthcare system in Australia is funded by a combination of the government and private insurance. Funding by the government is done through a Medicare scheme, which aims at reducing treatments out of hospitals and facilitates free access to treatment in hospital. The private health provided by different individual organizations is funded by private health insurance.
Health care system in Abu Dhabi
Service Delivery
The health care standards in Abu Dhabi are efficient and effective hence they are satisfactory to the residents despite some of those who have complications and they may need special treatments. The health care facilities in this nation are both public and private and the healthcare level is comfortable across the entire nation. In Abu Dhabi, the public facilities serve as emergency centers while the private facilities are easily accessible to each and every one provided he can afford. Despite this the health insurance strictly indicates where someone has to get treatment. The doctors in Abu Dubai are easily accessible and they provide prompt services. The health care is accompanied by high prices and as a result all expats prefer to have health insurance to cut on cost. The supply of drugs to public hospitals is being regulated by the ministry. There also policies being developed to regulate medical specializations and services in medical health sector.
Health insurance in Abu Dhabi
In Abu Dhabi for a residence to acquire a visa is mandatory to have a health insurance. The health insurance is financed for by employer. The expats are issued with either local or international or both of the health insurance depending on the company policies. After registration for health insurance policy, people are provided with an insurance card to prove that they are insured.
In Abu Dhabi, there are pharmacies which are open both day and night. There is restriction in selling of sleeping pills. Since the medication in Dubai is very expensive, claiming for medical aid is very important to reduce expenses.
The non-residents of Abu Dhabi do not need to be vaccinated on entry to this nation despite of the cholera and yellow fever certificates required. Health exam for expats is mandatory for them to be issued with a visa.
Similarities between the healthcare system in Australia and in Abu Dhabi
In both countries, the healthcare systems are funded by both private insurance and the government.
Medical products
Provision of the best medical products and services to patients with improved technology of administering drugs is taking effect in both states. There has been increased number of bed per ward in the hospital according to statistics
Leadership
There is a leadership model applied in both Abu Dhabi and Australia which is useful for every one and it clearly shows how the leaders in ministry of health do their work. Both healthcare systems are complex as far as the model care and practices are concerned. There is also provision of better healthcare services in both nations. The health systems provide satisfactory services to the patients despite those who have complications and need surgery. The health care service has improved both in Abu Dhabi and Australia according to 2005 and 2011 statistics where there is increased number of specialists and nurses and also improved facilities in the hospitals. There is provision of quick services to patients in both healthcare systems. The medical schemes are applied in both healthcare systems which are under individual insurance based on legal matters. The healthcare systems aim at reducing all expenses in provision of health services in and out of hospitals.
Federal government regulates the healthcare system through provision of funds to finance health services so as to ensure development is taking place health industry (Budrys, 2012). There is administering of quite number of federal laws in Abu Dhabi and Australia which governs the ministry of health and sticking to these laws by both doctors and patients leads to effectiveness in health service delivery. There is regulation of medical devices by the ministry of health where by those who manufacture medical devices are required to register with the ministry before marketing their products in both Nations. The health care demand is increasing in both nations and it is putting pressure on the infrastructure and resources required to meet the patient needs in the two regions.
The differences between the healthcare system in Abu Dhabi and Australia
In Abu Dhabi acquisition of visa requires the residents to get health insurance while in Australia healthcare system the residents are not mandated to be insured in order to get a visa.
According to statistics skills and degree of competency of the medical staffs in the Medicare system in Australia is very high compared to that of staff in the insured healthcare system in Abu Dhabi. I.e. in Australia the degree of competency and skills is 76% while that of Abu Dhabi is 48.68%.
In Australia, there are large numbers of equipment required diagnosis as well as treatment as far as modern technology is concerned as compared to Abu Dhabi which has few modern equipment.
The Australia Medicare health system is proved to be very accurate and very fast in completing and filling out of patients’ reports compared to the insured system in Abu Dhabi. As per the statistics results the degree of accuracy and completeness in filling out the results in Australia is 75% while that of Abu Dhabi is 59.21% (Suh, Gurupur & Tanik, 2011).
In Abu Dhabi, there is shortage of facilities such as beds in hospitals but in Australia the facilities have been improved to meet the set standards by the ministry of health. The process of accessing the skilled labor in the health sector in Abu Dhabi is becoming critical as compared to Australia where there is skilled labor in the health sector.
Conclusion
In both nations’ efforts, has been made to improve the healthcare system services through introduction of insurance policies which assist in reducing cost in and out of hospitals. There is need for continued training of medical specialists to ensure effectiveness in service delivery in the hospitals. The residents in Australia should be briefed on preventive medicine through conducting eHealth campaigns and awareness as well as better nutrition programs. Also, health infrastructure should be improved through proper facility planning of medical equipment. In comparison, the health care companies in Australia are successfully delivering good health care services than Abu Dhabi. Equal tax should be applied to all citizens regardless of the income earned by individual to improve the services in health sector.
References
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Budrys, G. (2012). Our unsystematic health care system. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield
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Johnson, J. A. & Stoskopf, C. H. (2010). Comparative health systems: Global perspectives.
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Suh, S. C., Gurupur, V. P. & Tanik, M. (2011). Biomedical engineering: Health care systems,
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Wolper, L. F. (2011). Health care administration: Managing organized delivery systems.
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