|
The concept of medical economics - economics of health and sickness – has
been established in the past few years as an integrated pillar of the
administrative plan of every successful health-providing establishment that
aims at coping with the scientific and technological progress in various
diagnostic and therapeutic fields.
Adopting the concept of medical economics will enable medical centers and
clinics to provide comprehensive and up-to-date medical service as well as
surviving a world full of fierce competition.
The medical and technological revolution that the 20th century witnessed,
the wide acceptance and spread of cloning and stemcell transplantation, and
the introduction and applications of gene therapy and genetic engineering
have all positively impacted the nature of the medical practice to improve
the patient’s quality of life by preventing and treating diseases once
thought to be incurable.
The blessing of medical revolution is not without a price! In fact, the cost
of medicines
and medical instruments is escalating day by day; needless to say that the
cost of diagnostic tests, therapeutics and rehabilitation is also on the
rise.
Containing medical costs and making them affordable to the community within
limited health budgets requires serious economic and financial plans that
follow contemporary
well-designed scientific schemes that are able to achieve continuous
development and material results.
The issue open for discussion is how to balance offering the necessary
medical services
that are affordable to the patient or the third party payors.
This issue is surfacing nowadays all over the world especially with the
spread of globalization, privatization, and the gradual withdrawal
of the states from providing services to their citizens. Even the richest
countries are feeling the heat of the health budget.
We recognize that the solution to the issue of cost-containment is not an
easy one. However, finding a solution should start with a scientific
dialogue that involves the
participation of all parties related to providing health care such as
governments,
physicians, hospitals and insurance companies.
Such dialogue aims at finding appropriate health strategies specific to the
country’s need especially in the developing countries and the Arab world to
mobilize resources, prevent and limit medical service duplication and
misuse, and to build an integrated cooperative system of all medical
sectors.
In conclusion, medical service is eventually a “cost” and economics deals
with pure numbers rather than emotions. Modern medical
establishments should follow economic laws in the involved countries and
should abide by them accordingly.
| 
