Posted By Locum Jobs Online on Mar 10, 2017 | 1 comment

Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States on January 20, 2017, he has made some decisions that have sparked controversy throughout the nation. Some of these decisions have proven to significantly impact the Healthcare field. Healthcare under Trump is gradually changing the industry, affecting both patients and professionals.

Healthcare Under Trump

Two of the most drastic actions of the Trump administration are the executive order for a travel ban and the proposal for healthcare reform. The reformed health care bill is still going through the legislative processes, but the travel ban has already affected healthcare in the nation.

Travel Ban

The original executive order signed by Donald Trump, titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” set a temporary travel ban on 7 largely Muslim countries. Now, a revised order has been signed which removes Iraq from the list. When this order was signed, many people were forced out of the country; including healthcare professionals. Healthcare under Trump is significantly changing due to this travel ban.

Of physicians and surgeons in America, more than ¼ were born internationally. Since immigrant doctors play such a large role in the physician workforce, economists from Harvard and IMT investigated the level of contribution by these professionals. Results show that these immigrant physicians bring in 14 million doctor’s appointments annually. In addition, over 7,000 doctors that are actively practicing in the US were trained in countries listed on the travel ban.

Physician Shortage

Before this executive order, physician shortages were already in full swing and now it looks like the shortage will continue to worsen. There are current predictions that the United States will face a shortage of 46,100 to 90,400 physicians by the year 2025. Many hospitals were leaning on temporary physicians and immigrant doctors to aid in providing adequate patient care, but immigrant doctors are now scarce.

Taking effect on March 16, the revised order signed on March 6 restricts visas for citizens of Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria. Physicians from these countries have been providing medical care to 2.3 million patients in areas that cannot usually attract enough high-quality practitioners. With the travel ban keeping these professionals out, they are unable to work and provide care to patients.

The revised plan will keep the 90-day ban on travelers but will exempt permanent residents and current visa holders. This is certainly a step in the right direction for immigrant health providers, but healthcare under Trump is still struggling with the shortage of physicians.

Women’s Healthcare

Another major healthcare change that has been hotly debated has been potential changes to women’s healthcare. A recently proposed rule by President Donald Trump’s administration would make significant changes to Title X, the family-planning program, including banning clinics from sharing physical space and financial resources with abortion providers. While some see this as a way to allocate funding elsewhere, others see this simply as a knee-jerk reaction that could leave hundreds of thousand women without access to routine checkups, birth control, and prenatal help. Many legislators feel like this is one of the few ways that they can reduce nation’s spending on healthcare.

As legislative and demographic changes trickle down into care facilities, the use of hospital services is expected to grow significantly between 2017 and 2025. This growth is due to an anticipated increase in Medicare beneficiaries in the coming decade. The cost of hospital care is expected to rise from 0.9 percent to 2.4 percent of the budget by 2025, increasing the importance of good business practices and educated professionals in the healthcare industry. While cutting some of women’s healthcare could ease the burden on other aspects of the industry, it could also be leaving thousands without the proper reproductive health care that they deserve. It keeps the cost of private care in line with the cost of VA health care and ensures timely payment to private care providers. Time will only tell just how successful this new Veteran bill effects the healthcare industry.

Veteran’s Healthcare

Recently, the VA Mission Act was passed and is designed to help veteran’s obtain healthcare much easier. The VA Mission Act, a $55 billion package, cleared both the House and Senate by wide margins. The president has yet to sign the measure but has promised more private care options for vets. An additional 640,000 veterans each year would seek care outside the VA, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. The bill will make it easier for VA doctors to refer patients to private doctors without veterans having to worry about exorbitant prices. The act will also ensure that veterans have access to local healthcare. Since transportation and mobility is often a major issue, knowing that they have a healthcare provider nearby is crucial. Another one of the initiatives is the veterans Opioid Abuse Prevention Act, which helps VA providers safely prescribe controlled substances by allowing the VA to access data through a nationwide network.

Healthcare Reform

Some Americans show favor to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, while others have been waiting for a change. On March 6, House Republicans released their replacement plan that cited changes to the current ACA. Formally the American Health Care Act (AHCA), some call it “Trumpcare” or “Obamacare Lite.” The number of Americans with coverage under the plan and the overall cost is still unclear.

Here are some main points of the proposal:

• Replace income-based tax credits with refundable age-based tax credits
• Stop Medicaid expansion starting January 1, 2020, and convert to a per-capita system
• Eliminate requirements for individuals to have insurance and businesses offering coverage
• Expand allowable size of healthcare savings accounts
• Maintain coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and allow children to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26
• Allow insurers to charge higher premiums to those who do not maintain consistent coverage

Resistance to AHCA

The fate of this proposed bill is uncertain, but doctors, hospitals, and insurers are already showing opposition to the plan. James L. Madara, doctor and chief executive of the American Medical Association (AMA) wrote in a letter:

“We cannot support the AHCA as drafted because of the expected decline in health insurance coverage and the potential harm it would cause to vulnerable patient populations.”

CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Richard Pollock expressed concern of restructuring the Medicaid program:

“It will have the effect of making significant reductions in the program that provides services for our most vulnerable populations and already pays providers significantly less than the cost of providing care.”

Aside from these statements, some are in shock that hospital groups were showing such strong resistance to the proposed plan for healthcare under Trump. The GOP legislation plans to restore “the ACA’s cuts to ‘disproportionate share’ payments to hospitals that serve large numbers of uninsured patients.” The proposed changes could also affect the slow rise of the value-based healthcare model, but still with uncertainty.

With only a few days into the negotiation, individuals and businesses from both the right and left side have shown opposition. The AHCA and the new changes for healthcare under Trump are far from being finalized and may take longer than anticipated. President Trump is determined to have the bill approved and delivered quickly, but the reviewing bodies have some major concerns before that can happen.