Importance of Accountability in the Healthcare Sector

Accountability in the Health Care Industry

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Importance of accountability in health care industry

The major essence of accountability is answerability; a person who is accountable has the obligation to answer various questions about decisions or actions taken. It also entails the procedures and processes through which a party is able to justify and take responsibility for its activity. According to Malloch (2007), accountability is defined by a willingness to assume responsibility for decisions or actions taken. Its importance in the health care industry is to ensure that employees understand what it entails because the industry has so many actions that need to be accounted for. For example, medical supplies have to be available and in a working condition. Moreover, costs have to be accounted for in the respective facilities, approval and denial of applications from patients have to be backed by the personnel's judgment. These sensitive decisions make accountability in the health industry to be very important. Whenever accountability lacks in the health care industry, blame is always imminent. Blame, in the health care system, is associated with fear, anger, judgment, punishment and self-righteousness. In contrast, accountability emphasizes on task performance and keeping agreements in a respectful manner.

The first importance of accountability in the health care industry is to control the misuse of public resources and authority. This points out directly to financial accountability because budgeting for personnel, operations, pharmaceutical supplies, definitions of benefits packages and contract oversights require informed decisions for the assurance of responsibility. The second importance is provision of assurance that the resources in the industry are put to use and authority is exercised according to the set legal procedures, societal values and professional standards. Accountability of the health care industry is also...