Health services is a broad term that encompasses medical and dental care as well as other healthcare activities. The field of Health services research explores the effectiveness, costs, quality, and delivery of these activities.
Allocation questions in the context of health services are both macroallocation and microallocation issues. They affect entire societies and governments as well as individual healthcare professionals and patients.
Preventive Care
Preventive care, also called preventive medicine, is a key part of keeping you healthy. It includes annual check-ups, immunizations and screening tests that help identify serious medical problems before they become more serious.
Most medical plans, including those purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, cover preventive services without co-payments. These include services like physical exams, screenings and vaccines, as well as counseling on healthy behaviors like smoking cessation and balanced eating habits.
The Affordable Care Act requires private medical plans to cover preventive services for adults without cost-sharing. Several governing bodies make prevention recommendations, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force A & B, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative. There are also numerous organizations that focus on teaching people about the importance of preventive care and on law and policy changes that can improve access to these vital services.
Skilled Nursing
Skilled nursing refers to complex medical care and interventions directly supervised by a licensed medical professional, like a registered nurse (RN), physical therapist, or occupational therapist. It typically takes place in a hospital, rehabilitation center or skilled nursing facility.
This higher level of care is often prescribed after a recent surgery or extended hospital stay or to manage chronic health issues that require regular medical intervention and monitoring. A physician must prescribe this type of nursing care before it can be provided.
Seniors who need skilled nursing can often benefit from moving into a long term care community, such as Riddle Village. Here, skilled nurses can provide ongoing monitoring and support to help seniors avoid rehospitalization. They can also assist with medically supervised therapies like physical, occupational and speech therapy to increase the speed of recovery from an illness or injury.
Community Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation services can be delivered in a wide range of settings, from hospitals to clinics and specialist centres to community facilities and people’s homes. In some situations, a combination of these different options is needed, depending on the type of rehabilitation that is required.
Specialised rehabilitation services are often based in large centres and can be difficult for people living in rural/remote areas to access. Visiting these centres can involve significant costs, including transportation, food and accommodation.
Community-based rehabilitation programmes aim to deliver rehabilitation services in people’s homes. This can be facilitated through home visits by a team of rehabilitation personnel or through the formation of self-help groups. The latter are a key feature of CBR and help to reduce professional-client power hierarchies, as disabled people become leaders of their own care. This can have positive impacts on service delivery and outcomes. In addition, it can enable local cultural contexts to be taken into account.
Student Health
Students encounter a wide variety of health concerns that require the assistance of a healthcare professional. While most collegiate students are generally in good physical condition, risky behavior and participation in sports may lead to injury or illness that requires medical attention. Students are also susceptible to outbreaks of pathogens such as meningitis.
Whether students need healthcare services for mental or physical health, they can seek care at their college’s student health center. These facilities offer mandated screenings and immunization monitoring, as well as referrals for additional care if needed. Some school-based healthcare centers also provide basic counseling and therapy services.
Many colleges require their students to purchase a campus health insurance policy. However, students can waive this plan if they have an alternate policy that meets the university’s standards. This can include a personal, family or group policy that is compliant with the Affordable Care Act and covers inpatient and outpatient medical, prescription and mental health coverage.
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