The role of intermediaries in the healthcare value chain (HCVC)
In approximately 1250 to 1650 words (5 to 6 pages), students will analyze intermediaries in the HCVC. The student will respond to the following:
• Introduce the assignment by detailing the role of intermediaries in the healthcare value chain (HCVC); within your introduction, discuss intermediaries’ incentives and how they relate to the rest of the HCVC.
• Examine and summarize how historical events, as well as the current administration’s ideas and positions on the delivery of healthcare, affect the intermediaries.
• Analyze the application of the iron triangle to intermediaries.
• What are the major problems the administration articulates? Critique the administration’s replacement ideas and evaluate whether those changes and any subsequent regulations will “fix” the issue or will create new problems. In your response, consider the competitive healthcare environment as you decide on the value of these suggestions for developing and executing healthcare strategy.
Sample Solution
Intermediaries are defined as organizations that form networks between small-scale providers to interact with governments, patient and vendors. These organizations can perform key health systems functions which are typically more challenging for individual private providers to do on their own. More importantly, intermediary organizations supported by policymakers, donors and other health systems actor are able to help bridge the divide between sprawling public sectors and a wide array of small-scale private providers. R4D`s research has revealed that intermediary models hold the potential to address the four major challenges of fragmentation inherent in mixed market health systems. For leaders seeking to improve health systems, organizations that aggregate small scale private providers hold promising potential for impact.
