The Increasing Cost of Health Care as New Technologies are Introduced Research Paper

The Increasing Cost of Health Care as New Technologies are Introduced - Research Paper Example Moreover, implementing new medical technologies in any hospital or clinic is not an inexpensive procedure. This is because medical innovations in the medical sector are taking place at a time when the healthcare sector is also suffering from the scarcity of resources. This has resulted in a need for more rationing of resources, priority setting, and technology management elements. The economic assessment of medical technological innovations is important because it will likely expose the costs as well as consequences of using these innovations in a practical medical setting. Even though individual new medical technological innovations can, by themselves, decrease or increase spending and health care, it has been established that when combined together, they have caused the rise of healthcare costs. Technological innovations in the past decade have resulted in the use of new treatments for formerly incurable conditions such as A.I.D.S. and diabetes, while also effecting the use of new medical procedures for tackling secondary diseases as is the case with dialysis patients (Miller & Sim, 2004). Technological advancements have also resulted in the discovery of better quality methods of treating long-term medical conditions. Whether a newly discovered medical treatment will hike healthcare costs or decrease them is something that is dependent on factors such as its effect on the expanse incurred in taking care of an individual patient. The cost per patient also includes the reality of whether the patient will be hospitalized during the duration of the treat ment or not. The increase or decrease of healthcare costs when medical technologies are used is also dependent on how often the new technology will be used. For instance, new medical technologies created to cure untreatable diseases or survey the population for certain symptoms will mean that the technology will be used