Paper Example: Two States, Two Health Policies, PPACA

Outline features of an ideal health care policy. Keep in mind that, despite your wisdom and noble intentions, resources are limited.

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Idea healthcare is one that is accessible and affordable. The healthcare system should only be preferable by most people if it provides services that are timely, accessible, and offer high-quality services (Weissman & Bigby, 2009). The system should also promote the best use of technology by coming up with innovative methods of testing and treatment. Here accessibility means a patient can see a physician easily and quickly immediately if one falls sick. Ideal health care is also where there is no delay in procedures, treatment as well as follow-up tests. Issues of waiting for weeks or months before follow-ups become something of the past (Hurley, 2006). In most cases, delayed access to medication is so stressful, harmful, and disturbing to patients.

Besides accessibility, an ideal healthcare system is that which is for affordable to low-income households. People need insurance so that it can cater for uncertainties and catastrophic healthcare expense. A perfect healthcare system is the one even uninsured can also have access to health service without problem. Most people are denied healthcare service because they can meet the costs (Hall et al., 2018). Lastly, an ideal healthcare system is one that is safe and effective. Safety and effectiveness of services provided lead to the best outcomes possible. For instance, one can afford heart surgery by only paying little out their pockets.

What are several of the policy items you want to focus on immediately?

Some of the policies would include the introduction of market-based systems. Such plans are the best as they rely on some form of competition, thus customizing healthcare for patients, as they keep prices lower, which in turn leads to the highest quality of the services offered. The second policy will be on improving the existing healthcare systems so that its aim at low-income individuals or uninsured to gain access to affordable healthcare (Welch et al., 2012). I would advocate for federal financing to increase funding for payment rates for both specialty and primary care. The increased funding would make it possible for uninsured to access medical services.

Would you mandate a national EHR system? If so, how would it be funded? What policy items might you develop to improve population health?

Yes. EHR system is fundamental when it comes to efficient healthcare delivery. EHR would go a long way to facilitate faster health information exchange electronically to promote safer and higher quality care to individual as it creates tangible enhancement to the healthcare sector (Bauer, 2014). Similarly, the HER system would also lead to better-managed care to individuals. For instance, it would lead to more accurate and complete information of patients at the point of care. Secondly, it would lead to quick patient record access thus more efficient and coordinated care. Lastly, EHR would facilitate the sharing of patient information among clinicians. The system would be funded by both the state in conjunction with patients’ medical cover (Blackman-Lees, 2018). Policies to improve population health would include reducing rates of preventable health conditions that are most costly to the country. Similarly, I would try to reduce the existing health disparities among the population by advocating for more funds and subsidies from the government to support uninsured patients. Consequently, I will encourage workers to adopt workplace-based wellness programs.

References

Bauer, G. R. (2014). Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research methodology: challenges and the potential to advance health equity. Social science & medicine, 110, 10-17. Retrieved from: https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0277953614001919?token=651C23C4C86D23C80AAEBA61C51FABA5143BB429FD41BA5F7E7685DF4F9489A0F3039241DBE0629D43F26B0ACC7AF0D1

Hall, M. A., Orentlicher, D., Bobinski, M. A., Bagley, N., & Cohen, I. G. (2018). Health care law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

Hurley, R. E. (2006). TennCare—A Failure Of Politics, Not Policy: A Conversation With Gordon Bonnyman: A staunch advocate of TennCare from its inception speaks frankly about the political forces that contributed to the novel plan's demise. Health Affairs, 25(Suppl1), W217-W225. Retrieved from: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.25.w217

Weissman, J. S., & Bigby, J. (2009). Massachusetts health care reform--near-universal coverage at what cost?. New England Journal of Medicine, 361(21), 2012.

Hall, M. A., Orentlicher, D., Bobinski, M. A., Bagley, N., & Cohen, I. G. (2018). Health care law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

Welch, V., Petticrew, M., Tugwell, P., Moher, D., O'Neill, J., Waters, E., ... & PRISMA-Equity Bellagio group. (2012). PRISMA-Equity 2012 extension: reporting guidelines for systematic reviews with a focus on health equity. PLoS medicine, 9(10). Retrieved from: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?type=printable&id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001333

Blackman-Lees, S. (2018, January). Towards a conceptual framework for persistent use: A technical plan to achieve semantic interoperability within electronic health record systems. In Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Retrieved from: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/50440/paper0553.pdf