Module 6 Assignment: Professional Development Assignments: Public health efforts and those of private medicine complement each other and together serve the spectrum of health service needs of American society. Why, then, has their relationship been so contentious? The Institute of Medicine report of 1999 cites two major studies that establish medical errors as one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Should the federal government take the necessary steps to monitor the status of this high-risk situation, as it does with other epidemics, or should the government continue to trust the providers of health care to deal forthrightly with the problem? Analyze why legislative attempts to address only one of the trio of rising costs, lack of universal access, or variable quality of health care only worsens the remaining two.

Expert Answer and Explanation

In a time when the healthcare sector is constantly evolving, more and more issues emerge, which calls for a thorough analysis of those issues and available solutions to be reached to improve the level of services offered. One of the issues observed is the disconnect and contentious relationship between public health efforts and private medicine. The two ideally should be working in tandem with one another, to better the health outcomes of the public.

The challenge of reducing the number of medical errors, which has been cited as one of the leading causes of disability and mortality, is one that has also received public limelight and should be addressed. Another emerging issue has been the single approach used by the government to healthcare instead of the prescribed triple aim model. This paper will analyze the three issues in detail with the aim of providing insight and direction on how to improve the delivery of healthcare services going forward.

Public-private partnership in health

As earlier alluded, both public health efforts and private medicine should have a single focus of improving the health conditions of the public. They should not only focus on treating patients of the various ailments, rather promote good health behaviors that will prevent the occurrence of various preventable medical issues faced by patients (Waldman & Terzic, 2019). However, the goal of working together by the two wings involved in the provision of healthcare had been derailed by the antagonistic and contentious relationship between the two.

One of the key factors which have led to the kind of relationship currently being witnessed is the overlapping interest of stakeholders both in public and the private healthcare sector (Sultz & Young, 2017). Due to divergent interests more so monetary and the overall contextual outlook of the healthcare industry as a whole, the players in both the public and private healthcare sectors have failed to agree on the best approach of improving the health spectrum of the American society.

Representation in some of the national decision-making institutions has been of the contributing factor to the misalignment of interest, which later results in conflicts between the two parties (Sultz & Young, 2017). By allowing adequate and unbiased representation from both parties in some of the decision-making organs, the issue of conflicting interests can be solved. In general, it can be said that both parties need to come up with proper mechanisms that can facilitate the alignment of their interests to achieve a common objective.

Another area of contention that strains the establishment of unified efforts towards improving the health outcomes of the American public is how resources are being allocated and utilized and the source of the required resources. Many private institutions may be unwilling to commit their resources to carry out programs such as community health promotions. Instead, they would channel their resources for the improvement of their internal structures.

As such, the primary care programs, for example, instead of being carried out jointly by all players, it is only left to public health facilities. Since the health interests of the population are supposed to be given priority, alternative sources of funding should be considered to finance universal health programs such as community health initiatives (Jakovljevic, Groot & Souliotis, 2016). This will ultimately channel all players to a common purpose of improving the health of individuals from all levels, more so those coming from vulnerable groups.

Dealing with medical errors

Medical errors, as cited by numerous studies, is a leading cause of disability and death in the United States (Makary & Daniel, 2016). It is a menace that needs to be evaluated to improve the level of confidence held by the nation on health care systems in place. Medical errors emanate from various sources, with some being preventable while others being accidental. A regulatory mechanism should therefore be considered to reduce the occurrence of such errors.

The medical errors which occur arise due to several diverse factors. The source and cause and type of medical error will determine the interventive measure to be taken to prevent similar errors from occurring. There have been efforts to try and curb the occurrence of medical errors in hospitals, including by use of technology. Acording to Makary & Daniel (2016), technology has improved the level of precision in most medical tasks; as a result, substantially reducing the number of errors.

However, there are instances where certain technologies or by-products of new technologies (such as medication) have been deployed without sufficient conclusive data on the effects on patient outcomes. In some case