Public health is mainly concerned with the initiatives employed by communities and healthcare professionals to improve the safety and health of communities. Public health can be achieved through civic education, research into different causes of diseases and how to prevent them, and the implementation of various prevention methods ( Knickman & Kovner, 2014 ). Most healthcare workers that are trained in public health have many responsibilities. Foremost, they study the health status of a community and come up with solutions in case of any problems. They also help in enforcing the rules and regulations provided by various health agencies. Additionally, public health officials work with communities to identify and solve any health problems that may occur. The healthcare system in the United States strongly depends on public health to secure the health of its citizens. Through public health, high sanitation standards are maintained throughout the country thus keeping diseases at bay. With the current shortage of public health workers being experienced in the country, it is recommended that more efforts and resources are dedicated to the training and better remuneration of public health workers to increase their number ( Knickman & Kovner, 2014 ). This paper seeks to analyze the relationship that exists between public health efforts and private medicine and why it has always been rocky, the federal government’s involvement in combatting high risk situations, and why any attempts to address challenges such as rising costs, lack of universal access, or variable healthcare does not bear any positive results.
Several reasons explain why the relationship between public health efforts and private medicine has been contentious over the years. Even though they are different, they are both needed for the improvement of the health status of communities in the United States mainly through the provision of education, and prevention measures that protect communities from diseases. The relationship between the two has been contentious since private medicine is primarily concerned with profit making. According to stakeholders in private medicine, solving the health challenges affecting communities may lead to loses since their services will no longer be needed ( Rutkow, 2014 ). Public health, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with solving all the health challenges that affect communities regardless of whether or not they benefit economically. The goal of public health efforts is to address health challenges using minimal resources, therefore, saving taxpayers money. Additionally, the reason why there is a big difference between public health and private health practice is that most private health services cannot be afforded by the poor in society, forcing them to turn to public health initiatives ( Rutkow, 2014 ). Most poor people prefer public health because it provides solutions to their health problems at affordable costs. There are instances where public health employs more qualified and experienced workers compared to private medicine. Despite the differences that exist between the two, it is essential that they are both used in combatting various health challenges affecting different communities in the United States.
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The federal government must be prudent while choosing between which public health situations they need to intervene and one which they need to assign other qualified institutions. According to the Institute of Medical report released in 1999, one of the significant causes of death and disability in the United States is medical errors ( Hogg, Mays, & Mamaril, 2015 ). Medical errors are effects of medical care which can be prevented. They include misdiagnosis and mistreatment of illnesses or injuries. There have been calls from different quarters urging the federal government to intervene and control medical errors as it does whenever other epidemics strike. These concerns are raised due to the increase in the effects of medical errors. It is not however advisable for the federal government to intervene in matters of medical errors as they can be dealt with by the local authorities in areas that they occur. Unlike epidemics where a lot of resources are required to address them, medical errors can be comfortably handled by various health agencies. Medical errors can be countered through proper training of healthcare workers so that they can be able to avoid making unnecessary mistakes and errors while handling their patients ( Tang, Eisenberg & Meyer, 2004 ). Dedicating the responsibility to deal with medical errors to other institutions gives the federal government the time to handle more severe challenges such as epidemics. It is therefore advisable for the federal government to come up with institutions that will adequately handle any cases of medical errors rather than intervening in an attempt to manage the vice.
According to Knickman and Kovner (2014), o ne of the most common methods of dealing with health challenges is through the creation of relevant legislation. Legislations are laws made by local assemblies or congress that are aimed at addressing various issues. Throughout history, there have been attempts to solve multiple public health challenges such as rising costs of healthcare, lack of universal access, and variable healthcare costs through the use of legislation. The results have been catastrophic since any attempt to solve one of the above issues worsens the other two. When legislation is passed to address the rising cost of healthcare in the country, it results in difficulty to access universal health since most healthcare facilities will be overwhelmed by the number of people as a result of cheap medical costs. Addressing the lack of comprehensive healthcare will enable many people around the United States to have access to healthcare at any time. This, in turn, increases healthcare costs as the demand for health services will have improved. Handling variable healthcare costs makes it hard for poor people to access healthcare services especially when the fixed expenses are high.
In summation, there are several reasons why the relationship between public health efforts and private medicine has always been rocky. The relationship between the two has been contentious since private medicine is mainly concerned with profit making while public health is primarily concerned with solving the health challenges affecting different communities. Additionally, the reason why there is a big difference between public health and private health practice is that most private health services cannot be afforded by the poor in society, forcing them to turn to public health initiatives. Calls by most people demanding for the intervention of the federal government on the cases of medical errors are not correct as it is not advisable for the federal government to intervene in matters of medical errors as they can be dealt with by the local authorities in areas that they occur. Furthermore, attempts to solve significant health challenges such as the rising costs of healthcare, lack of universal access, and variable healthcare have failed because explaining one of the problems makes the others even worse.
References
Hogg, R. A., Mays, G. P., & Mamaril, C. B. (2015). Hospital contributions to the delivery of public health activities in US metropolitan areas: National and longitudinal trends. American Journal of Public Health, 105 (8), 1646-1652.
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (2014). Health care delivery in the United States (11 th ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Rutkow, L. (2014). An analysis of state public health emergency declarations. American Journal of Public Health, 104 (9), 1601-5.
Tang, N., Eisenberg, J. M., & Meyer, G. S. (2004). The Roles of Government in Improving Health Care Quality and Safety. Elsevier, 30(1), 47-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1549-3741(04)30006-7
