THE CURRENT HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT IN HEALTHLANDIA
The remaining 35.5% of funding is from private health insurance plans provided by larger employers to their employees and from personal out-of-pocket expenditures. All healthcare is provided by the Ministry of Health at 100% to all citizens aged 62 or older. By comparison, the average across the region is 77% of funding for healthcare to come from public funds and 23% to come from private sources.
Since the year 2013, most nations in the region have seen a steady increase in the amount of Total Health Expenditure as a Percentage of (GDP). According to a report, these expenditures have increased on average across the region from 7.6% of GDP in 2013 to 9.5% of GDP in 2023. This is an increase of 25.4% over the period. These numbers are lower for Healthlandia, where Total Health Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP grew from 8.2% in 2013 to 9.1% in 2023, a growth rate of only 11% for the period.
Healthlandia is a medium-sized nation with a population of 57.2 million people. The economy is primarily industrial and services-driven with approximately 21.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from agriculture. Healthlandia has experienced relatively flat economic growth of 0.5% to 1.1% GDP for the last ten years. Despite these economic conditions, the country continues to enjoy a good standard of living with a stable parliamentary government and a strong education system.
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Like most countries in the region, Healthlandia is experiencing an evolution in its healthcare environment. Funding for healthcare in Healthlandia comes from a combination of public and private funding. Approximately 64.5% of funding for healthcare comes from public funds administered through the Ministry of Health.
There has been a comparable reduction in the number of Hospital Beds Per 100,000 Inhabitants. The average has declined since 2013 from 590 beds per 100,000 inhabitants to 465 beds per 100,000 inhabitants. This represents a 21.2% decline in the number of hospital beds. The actual numbers range from one country with 244 beds/100,000 inhabitants to another country with 813 beds/100,000 inhabitants. The numbers for Healthlandia fall in the middle of this range. Healthlandia has seen a drop from 653 beds/100,000 to 572 beds/100,000. While this is only a decline of 12.4%, it still reflects a reduction in hospital capacity at a time when the aging population of Healthlandia would indicate increased needs for capacity in the near future.
As with most countries throughout the world, healthcare providers in Healthlandia have seen a reduction in the average length of stay for patients. In fact, Healthlandia has seen a great reduction in length of stay than the average for the rest of the region. The reduction in Average Length of Stay is 12.9%, from 7.2 days to 6.3 days. The reduction in Average Length of Stay from 2013 to 2023 in Healthlandia was 19.4%, from 6.7 days to 5.4 days.
TOTAL HEALTH EXPENDITURE AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP
Finally, in the area of staffing, Healthlandia has seen an increase in the number of care givers over the last 15 years. The average number of Practicing Physicians per 100,000 Inhabitants has increased from 303.8 to 366.4 since 2013. That is an increase of 20.6%. Over the same period, the number of Practicing Physicians per 100,000 Inhabitants in Healthlandia has increased from 389.0 to 457.0, an increase of 17.4%. While this growth rate was slightly less than the average, Healthlandia had more physicians per the population than the average in 2013 and has almost 100 more physicians per 100,000 people than now. There is a fairly significant range across the countries, from a low of 279 physicians/100,000 people in one country, to 510 physicians/100,000 people in another.
The situation is similar for nurses. The latest average for Practicing Nurses per 100,000 Inhabitants is 953.1, up from 814.8 10 years ago. This reflects an increase of 17.0%. The Healthlandia number is 965.0, up from 874.0, an increase of 10.4%. As with physicians, this rate is below the average, but the number of nurses per 100,000 people is higher than the average. The situation for caregivers is that Healthlandia has a good ratio of physicians and nurses to their population. The high number of positions for practicing nurses and physicians has created a high demand for caregivers and a good job market. It also makes it more difficult for Healthlandian health care providers to retain their highly-valuable doctors and nurses.
For the past several years, hospitals throughout Healthlandia have been required to act more efficiently and to increase productivity. In most cases, increased performance is clearly visible. Yet, most of Healthlandia’s healthcare systems are facing conflicting trends: short and long-term impacts of an economic and financial crisis; increasing demand of an ever-expanding and ageing population; increasing request and availability of technological innovations; new roles, new skills, and new responsibilities for the health workforce. To adapt to this situation, the role of hospitals is further evolving. Most health systems in Healthlandia have already moved from a traditional hospital-centric and doctor-centric pattern of care to integrated models in which hospitals work closely with primary care, community care, and home care.