Student Name

Capella University

NHS-FPX6008 Economics and Decision Making in Healthcare

Professor Name

 Submission Date

Needs Analysis for Change

The USA is seeing transformational changes to how healthcare is managed, delivered, or even how patients are treated as a result of changing medical technologies. The integration of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), telemedicine, Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven clinical decision support systems, and technologies related to the remote monitoring of patients are now considered part of healthcare services (World Health Organization, 2025). Innovative technologies, such as AI and telemedicine, help to build a more efficient diagnostic system and enhance collaboration between healthcare professionals. However, the most significant barrier to adopting new technologies is the economy. Many healthcare institutions, especially smaller and more remote ones, suffer from the high costs of new technologies, like maintenance, protection, and staff training.

Summarizing the Chosen Economic Issue and Its Impact 

The selected economic problem is that in healthcare organizations, advanced technologies are expensive and are used unequally. With the aid of their monetary strength, advanced technology can easily be adopted by rich healthcare organization. On the other hand, small hospitals and rural clinics cannot even adopt simple technological innovation owing to financial issues (Stoumpos et al., 2023). The economic issue has a profound impact on the practice environment, organizational performance, peers, and the community in general. A lack of preparation for new systems has resulted in health care workers feeling overwhelmed by the demands of the new system, stress, and inefficiency (Lee et al., 2025). In the health care field, clinicians will always need to adjust to changes being made in the system to enhance quality service delivery. This scenario adds pressure on health care professionals, particularly with the implementation of new systems.

• Impacts on Colleges and Organizations

Differential healthcare technology impacts organizational performance and the strain on healthcare professionals. Switching to a healthcare technology system that staff were not trained to use will require staff to think harder about how to use the system. This will cause staff to become burnt out and not be able to provide the necessary care to the clients. Unequal technology usage also affects the organization. Smaller organizations will contain older technology and will have greater chances of errors occurring in the care process and management of the organization. I agree with Yusuf et al. (2025) that without the organization having the necessary technology, the organization will be ineffective in executing its purpose and serving the patients. Inefficient and ineffective organizational processes and services will lead to financial losses.

• Rationale for Pursuing the Issue

The concern needs immediate attention because it incorporates patient safety, the viability of the organization, and health equity. Technology will become even more vital as an element of the delivery of quality health services. However, the issue now is that technology becomes more advanced, while access becomes limited as funding becomes insufficient. The advancement of technology of medical devices in the hospital setting has been shown to improve patient welfare and to decrease length of stay, as well as improve the performance of the organization (Thacharodi et al., 2024). Also, these benefits will only be experienced by larger health organizations, due to their limited access. The need for improvement of this issue also relates to the improvement of health inequity. Further development of telemedicine could improve access of health services in rural communities; currently, this is very underdeveloped.

• Existing Gap in the Issue

The unequal availability of means and tools necessary to implement the technology is also a considerable lack of light on the discussed economic issue. Specifically, the facilities are financially stable – large, urban hospitals have more available financial means than small or rural hospitals. This contributes to the speed and efficacy of adoption of new technology like AI software tools, EHRs, and more. For example, in the field of health care, Ahmed et al. (2023) report that technical and financial literacy are better understood in the better-financed hospitals than in rural hospitals.

Identification of Disparity

The factors related to socio-demographic and geographical inequities are deemed critical as they can impact patients’ access to new technological advancements. In this context, it is important to highlight that, in rural areas, these issues may be more focused on a target group of disadvantaged people, as the hospitals available in these areas lack sufficient financial means to implement these problems and are technologically outdated (Coombs et al., 2022). Moreover, it should be pointed out that there is a lack of experts in these areas as well. Thus, the utilization of some technologies, particularly in telemedicine, electronic health record, remote monitoring, and other technologies, will be quite difficult on the part of those people.

There are reduced levels of development with regard to the application of electronic health records (EHRs) and telemedicine in rural areas and hospitals compared to the urban setting (Anzalone et al., 2025). Technological application to healthcare has disadvantages because it’s not possible to diagnose a patient at an early stage. Furthermore, it isn’t possible to connect with a specialist using the technologies and utilize the decision support system that is based on artificial intelligence (Sharma et al., 2023).

Finding Peer-Reviewed Sources

Several empirical studies have shown that there are barriers to funding when it comes to medical innovations. One of the examples is Modi et al. (2024). In this study, the authors have argued that electronic health records have the potential of documenting the steps performed and ensuring the safety and the process’s coordination. However, there is quite a lot of preparatory and initial funding work to be done before the electronic health records can be functional. Yusuf et al. (2025) also show that telemedicine is particularly important to broadening access to health care and reducing telemedicine, but it is also the victim of funding and infrastructural barriers. Sharma et al. (2023) cite the hindrances of innovation barriers as having little effect on the growing application of AI in health care. Finally, Jeilani & Hussein (2025) demonstrate that poor training creates stress and inefficiency for health care personnel. The financial, infrastructural, and human barriers to innovations must be addressed to make progress in the medical sector.

Predicted Outcomes and Growth Opportunity

I believe that applying similar techniques to those employed to solve economic problems arising from the adoption of technology to the medical field will have a positive impact both from the patients’ perspectives and from the perspective of efficiency in that sector. Firstly, the patients will be better because of the availability of health information systems, and secondly, there will be no errors in the handling of the medicines (Okwor et al., 2024). The efficiency of the hospitals will be improved because of the adoption of better processes, elimination of duplications, and cooperation between the employees. Hospitals will be experiencing cost reductions due to fewer hospital admissions, resource and process wastage. In terms of health and job satisfaction of health care providers, providing appropriate training and developments are likely to be effective for their health and job performance. The appropriate use of EMR will lead to cooperation.

• Cost Benefits for Patients and the Organization

From an economic standpoint, the advantages that may be realized by dealing with the issue and implementing the proposed solution must be evaluated separately for the consumers and the providers of health care services. First of all, the innovation will save time, eliminate unnecessary trips to the hospital, and manage chronic conditions, among other things. Besides, the evolution of telemedicine may reduce costs associated with patient transport and the provision of health care services in the countryside (Ezeamii, 2024). Finally, from the institutional point of view, innovation will provide a means of dealing with inefficiencies of, for example, the billing process. Innovations, either new or by the employees, can yield positive financial results, as effective services will be rendered.

Conclusion

The problems of the economy regarding innovations in medical technology are a problem for today’s healthcare facilities. While there are plenty of advantages associated with implementation of innovative medical technology, the cost of it makes the point of implementation extremely vital for most of the institutions. These two angles are only apparent when speaking about the usage of innovative medical technology in rural regions, where the necessary infrastructure may not exist. A needs assessment will make it apparent that there are several issues, including funding, facilities, and education.