Answer 2 for DNP 810 What is the impact of chronic disease on both increased health care expenditures and wasted resources?
Similar to the impact of the growing aging population, individuals with chronic disease have increased. The worsening of health for individuals has caused an economic crisis by both direct and indirect costs. An individual and their health insurance utilize direct costs from healthcare visits, hospitalizations, and prescriptions whereas indirect costs are lost from decrease educational and job opportunities. Hayes & Gillian (2020) report that chronic condition in the United States total a loss of 3.7 trillion dollars yearly. The increase of chronic disease is also said to be caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, which also caused economic difficulties (Hayes & Gillian, 2020). The concern with chronic diseases and wasted resources is patient non-compliance. An individual with a chronic disorder and is non-compliant to treatment, education, nutritional aspects, and more may require more utilization of urgent care and emergency department to render care due to disease complications.
Genetics plays a role in many chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, and rheumatoid arthritis. Although genetics cannot be altered, the lifestyle aspects associated with the disease can. Direct healthcare costs are shown to be associated with individuals, especially children, with genetics chronic conditions more frequently than those without genetic chronic disease. Genetic conditions that increase costs include down syndrome, Turner syndrome, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia (Marshall et.al., 2019).
A doctoral-prepared nurse can utilize information regarding chronic disease and discuss options for each individual patient. Whether options include home care, community health services, further education, nutritional assessments, and more. A DNP prepared nurse acknowledges all aspects of a chronic condition, including genetics and lifestyle, and can aid in establishing continuous care for the patient with the collaboration of the provider team.
Hayes, T. O. N., Tara O’Neill Hayes (2020, November 24). Chronic disease in the United States: A worsening health and economic crisis. AAF. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/chronic-disease-in-the-united-states-a-worsening-health-andeconomiccrisis/#:~:text=When%20including%20indirect%20costs%20associated,the%20country’s%20gross%20domestic%20product.
Marshall, D. A., Benchimol, E. I., MacKenzie, A., Duque, D. R., MacDonald, K. V., Hartley, T., Howley, H., Hamilton, A., Gillespie, M., Malam, F., & Boycott, K. M. (2019). Direct health-care costs for children diagnosed with genetic diseases are significantly higher than for children with other chronic diseases. Genetics in Medicine, 21(5), 1049–1057. https://doi.or
