What is the interdependent relationship depicted in the Iron Triangle of health care?

The Iron Triangle of health care illustrates the interdependent relationship among cost, access, and quality. This model highlights that improvements in one aspect of health care often impact the others. For instance, increasing access to health care services might lead to higher costs or could compromise the quality of care if not managed properly. Similarly, efforts to enhance quality can result in increased expenses, which could limit access to those services for certain populations. Understanding this relationship is critical for health care managers as they seek to balance these three elements to create an effective and sustainable health care system. This framework exemplifies the challenges in health policy decisions, where trade-offs often need to be made to optimize health care delivery.