Population Health Policy Analysis

Sample Answer for Population Health Policy Analysis Included After Question

Description:

Select a current or proposed health care policy that is designed to provide equitable health care for a diverse population. Create a 12-15-slide PowerPoint presentation discussing the health care policy and how it improves a specific population’s access to quality, cost-effective health care. Create speaker notes of 100-250 words for each slide. Include additional slides for the title and references.

Include the following in your presentation:

Describe the policy
Discuss the diverse population that will be affected by this
Explain how the policy is designed to improve cost-effectiveness and health care equity for the diverse
Discuss why the policy is financially sound and explain how the policy incorporates the nursing perspective and relevant ethical, legal, and political Provide rationale to support your explanation.
Describe what state, federal, global health policies, or goals the policy is related to and explain the degree to which each helps achieve equitable health care for the diverse
Discuss advocacy strategies for improving access, quality, and cost-effective health care for the diverse population
Discuss the professional and moral obligation of master’s prepared nurses to respect human dignity and advance the common good through working to promote health and prevent disease among diverse populations from a Christian

You are required to cite eight peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Refer to the resource, “Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations,” located in the Student Success Center, for additional guidance on completing this assignment in the appropriate style.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

MBA-MSN; MSN-Nursing Education; MSN Acute Care Nurse Practitioner-Adult-Gerontology; MSN Family Nurse Practitioner; MSN-Health Informatics; MSN-Health Care Quality and Patient Safety; MSN-Leadership in Health Care Systems; MSN-Public Health Nursing

: Examine financially sound health care policy that incorporates the nursing perspective and relevant ethical, legal, and political

: Determine advocacy strategies for improving access, quality, and cost-effective health care for diverse

: Integrate appropriate state, federal, and global health policies and goals into the design of equitable health care for

: Examine the professional and moral obligation of master’s-prepared nurses to respect human dignity and advance the common good through working to promote health and prevent disease among diverse populations from a Christian

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Population Health Policy Analysis

Title: Population Health Policy Analysis

The provision of safe, quality and efficient care is imperative in the American healthcare system. However, high costs of care impede the realization of the above outcomes in the US’s healthcare system. Over the past, policies have been implemented to increase accessibility and affordability of care. An example of such a policy is the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Since its inception, CHIP has been crucial in increasing the access of the vulnerable children population to the care that they need. Therefore, this essay examines the CHIP and its impact in improving the population’s access to cost-effective and quality health care.

Explanation of the Policy

Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is an insurance policy that was adopted to provide low-cost health insurance coverage to children born to families that earn too much to meet the qualifications for Medicaid but cannot purchase private insurance packages. CHIP also provides health insurance coverage for the pregnant mothers (Remler et al., 2017). CHIP works closely with the Medicaid program to increase the access and affordability of healthcare for children and pregnant mothers. CHIP provides coverage for healthcare services that include emergency, laboratory, inpatient and outpatient, dental and eye care, doctor visits, and prescription, immunization and routine check-up services (Adams et al., 2019).

CHIP addresses the issue of cost-effectiveness and health care equity for the children in a number of ways. Firstly, the policy created avenues for new opportunities as well as innovations in the management of health issues affecting the children. Innovation in child health management contributes to efficiency, safety and quality, hence cost-effectiveness (Berchick et al., 2019). The policy also increases the access of the children to healthcare. Accordingly, the policy ensures that children and pregnant mothers who do not qualify for Medicare and cannot afford private insurance have access to the care that they need. The policy also promotes equity in care by ensuring that children and pregnant women from ethnic minority groups and lawful immigrants have access to the care that they need. The policy also promotes cost-effectiveness by ensuring that the cost burden of the management of child-health issues is eliminated. For example, the fact that the policy covers aspects of child and pregnant mothers care such as inpatient and outpatient care services translates into its cost-effectiveness (Lee, 2020). The policy further promotes equity in healthcare by ensuring that children and pregnant mothers with chronic conditions access the care that they need. For example, about one-quarter of the children covered by the program have chronic conditions with every one in ten children having a learning disability and 11.4% of them having asthma (Hartman et al., 2019). The policy therefore promotes equity in access to high quality and safe care to children and pregnant mothers irrespective of their health status or socioeconomic backgrounds.

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CHIP policy is financially sound. One of the ways in which the policy is financially sound is that it lowers the financial burden of a disease to the families. Families with sick children or pregnant mothers have enhanced access to the care that they need due to the policy. The enhanced access reduce the financial burden of the disease to the family since there is a reduction in the out-of-pocket payments for the patients and their significant others (Adeyinka et al., 2021). The financial soundness of the policy can also be seen from the fact that it increases the financial stability of the families. The existing evidence shows that the family material well-being and financial stability improved significantly following the adoption of the CHIP. The improvement is largely attributed to greater educational attainment, increased survival, and reduced reliance on the support from the government in later life among children covered by the program (Adams et al., 2019).

CHIP policy accounts for a number of ethical, legal and political factors. Firstly, the policy promotes the ethical principle of equity in health. The policy ensures that children and pregnant mothers with low socioeconomic status and lacking Medicaid coverage have access to high quality, safe, and affordable care. The policy also promotes the ethical principle of justice in health. It ensures that children’s right to access to care is promoted irrespective of their health status and backgrounds (Adeyinka et al., 2021). The policy addresses any legal implications of violating the rights of children and pregnant women to access to the care that they need. The policy also reflects the dedication of the US government to address the critical health-related needs of the vulnerable populations.

One should consider a number of nursing perspectives when implementing CHIP. One of the perspectives is the need for the promotion of the ethical rights of those covered by the policy. Nurses should ensure that the implementation of the policy safeguards the access of children and pregnant mothers to safe, high quality, affordable and efficient care. Nurses should also ensure active and adequate participation of the stakeholders. The stakeholders involved in the implementation process such as other healthcare providers, parents and policymakers play a critical role to ensure stakeholder empowerment and sustainability of the program. Lastly, nurses should ensure that the implementation process aligns with the legal provisions of policy implementations (Thomson et al., 2020). This will eliminate any risks of legal issues related to the violation of the considerations for effective policy implementation.

CHIP policy is related to a number of policies. One of the policies is the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act is a policy that was implemented by president Obama in 2010 to increase the number of people in America with medical insurance coverage. The policy aimed at ensuring that the majority of the population in the US afforded the care they needed. The policy also aimed at promoting health equity by ensuring that citizens had access to high quality and affordable health irrespective of their backgrounds. CHIP relates to Affordable Care Act in that it also expands the number of children and women that have a medical insurance coverage. CHIP also aims at promoting health equity by ensuring enhanced access to high quality and affordable care for all children and pregnant women. CHIP also relates to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA is a health policy that was adopted in 1996 to allow workers in America to transfer their health insurance policies from one job to the other. The policy also allowed workers to select a health insurance coverage as a way of replacing a lost insurance. CHIP relates to HIPAA in that it also allows children of parents who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot purchase private insurance to have their desired medical health insurance coverage. The CHIP also relates to HIPAA in its focus on barring the insurance agencies from discriminating people based on their health problems (Thomson et al., 2020). Eligible children and pregnant women have a right of coverage by the CHIP policy, hence, the relationship.

I will employ a number of advocacy strategies on behalf of the populations covered by CHIP policy to ensure that they have access to the health benefits of the policy. One of the advocacy strategies that I will use is public education. I will educate the public about the aims, benefits, and populations covered by CHIP. I will also educate them about their entitlements in the policy as well as the authorities they should seek help should they have any concern. The other advocacy strategy that I will utilize is ensuring the protection of their rights. I will work to ensure that the rights of the children and pregnant women are protected in accessing the care that they need. I will also utilize the strategy of connecting those covered with the policy to the available resources in their communities (Dawes, 2020). Through it, the target populations will benefit from empowerment and the promotion of their optimum health outcomes.

The professional and moral obligation of an advanced registered nurse to advocate for, promote health, and prevent disease among diverse populations from a Christian perspective is doing good for others in a way that they wish to be done by them too. Doing good to others entails ensuring that their right to high quality care, safe, and efficient care is promoted. It also entails advocating the adoption of inclusive policies that address the need of the diverse populations. Through it, advanced registered nurses will be ensuring equity in the access to and utilization of care resources.

Conclusion

CHIP is an important policy that promotes cost-effectiveness and equity in access to care by children and pregnant women. The policy promotes cost-effectiveness through the reduction in costs incurred by patients and families in seeking the care that they need. It promotes equity by ensuring health insurance coverage for all children and pregnant women irrespective of their backgrounds. Therefore, efforts that aim at strengthening the effectiveness of the policy should be explored in the US.

Population Health Policy Analysis References

Adams, E. K., Johnston, E. M., Guy, G., Joski, P., & Ketsche, P. (2019). Children’s Health Insurance Program Expansions: What Works for Families? Global Pediatric Health, 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794X19840361

Adeyinka, A., Rewane, A., & Pierre, L. (2021). Children’s Health Insurance Program. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539903/

Berchick, E. R., Barnett, J. C., & Upton, R. D. (2019). Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2018. 44.

Dawes, D. E. (2020). The Political Determinants of Health. JHU Press.

Hartman, M., Martin, A. B., Benson, J., & Catlin, A. (2019). National Health Care Spending In 2018: Growth Driven By Accelerations In Medicare And Private Insurance Spending. Health Affairs, 39(1), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01451

Lee, D. (2020). How does an introduction of premiums into the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) aﬀect labor supply? Evidence from Arizona. 43.

Remler, D. K., Korenman, S. D., & Hyson, R. T. (2017). Estimating The Effects Of Health Insurance And Other Social Programs On Poverty Under The Affordable Care Act. Health Affairs, 36(10), 1828–1837. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0331

Thomson, S., Sagan, A., & Mossialos, E. (2020). Private Health Insurance: History, Politics and Performance. Cambridge University Press.

A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: Population Health Policy Analysis

Title: Population Health Policy Analysis

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was established and implemented by President Obama in March 2010, has established a significant impact in reducing the cost and improving the quality of healthcare services. This policy, commonly known as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA), entails several healthcare amendments aimed at expanding the insurance coverage to millions of uninsured American citizens (McIntyre, Song, & Song, 2019). Adoption of this policy has led to extended Medicaid eligibility, which in turn lead to the creation of health insurance exchanges, making it a mandate for all American citizens to pay for health insurance, reducing chances of exploitation from health insurance organizations for patients with comorbidities. This paper elaborates on the Affordable Care Act as the most favorable healthcare policy in reducing the cost of healthcare. Different state, federal, and global policies and goals which relate to the ACA will also be discussed.

ACA in Improving Cost-Effectiveness and Care Equity

The main focus of ACA was directed towards reducing health insurance costs for eligible individuals. It comprises premium tax credit and cost-sharing reduction to help lower the medical expenses for disadvantaged or low-income families. The premium tax credits helped in reducing monthly insurance bills. Cost-sharing deductions on the other hand helped reduce out-of-pocket expenditures for coinsurance, deductibles, and copays, including a reduced out-of-pocket maximum, which is the total individual annual payment for healthcare services. Additionally, the policy allows children to enjoy healthcare cover by their parent’s insurance for up to 26 years (Fitzgerald, Bias, & Gurley-Calvez, 2017). The ACA also requires that all programs offered on the health insurance coverage marketplace incorporate certain essential health benefits such as breastfeeding, ambulatory patient services, emergency services, family planning, laboratory services, and hospitalization, among others.

Financial Aspect of the ACA

Implementation of the ACA was quite expensive to finance. Funding was partially received from the state, and later from the federal subsidy. Medicaid expansion in addition to other ACA provisions was expected to lead to an increase in states’ Medicaid spending by $76 billion from 2013 to 2022. Consequently, the federal Medicaid spending was expected to increase by $952 7 billion over the same period (Young et al., 2019). Despite this financial burden, the benefits of ACA are greatly appreciated as it has led to lessened healthcare-related financial strain in addition to improved accessibility and utilization of healthcare services by low- and middle-income families who would have otherwise not met the income eligibility threshold for public health insurance programs.

ACA Accountability for Ethical, Legal, and Political Factors and Nursing Perceptions to be considered for implementation

Healthcare reforms usually lead to important ethical issues such as justice to the forefront, as communities, legislature, and individuals struggle with how quality healthcare is provided to most citizens without sacrificing the basic rights of even the few. For instance, the original Medicare of 1965 posed a great suspicion towards the health cost that year. It is thus very important for nurses among other healthcare personnel to consider ways of implementing ACA and understand their role in trying to rectify the condition of injustice in healthcare. Interdisciplinary teamwork is necessary to enhance change in attitude towards the policy (Schembri, & Ghaddar, 2018). Through theories such as social justice by Faden and Powers, nurses are encouraged to focus on well-being and its important aspect as a matter of social justice so that they can become closer to appreciating the true nature of unfairness. Given that services provided by nurses relate to health promotion and well-being, they have the responsibility of addressing factors that work against the promotion of societal health and individual wellbeing.

ACA Related State, Federal, and Global Health Policies and Goals

The first attempt in controlling healthcare costs was made in 1989 by the Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) system when it replaced the cost-based reimbursement. This system was designed to standardize the treatment cost of patients and the length of hospitalization. It greatly affected the healthcare expenditures share within the GDP but lacked improved care quality and efficiency. Implementation of this system was associated with declined satisfaction from nursing staff, increased nurse-patient ratio, and emotional exhaustion (Schembri, & Ghaddar, 2018). Several ACA goals have been achieved; however, other goals still face setbacks despite the decrease in medical trends since the implementation of the ACA policy. One of the main goals of ACA is to increase the accessibility to healthcare services which initially increases care cost. However, with a dynamic shift in the healthcare system to health promotion and disease prevention over an extended duration, increased access to care services is projected to reduce medical costs. The Hospital Readmission Reduction (HRRP) was implemented under ACA in the year 2012, requiring nursing homes and hospitals to gather and report the percentage of readmissions within 30-days after the patient has been discharged. The Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP) was founded under CMS mainly for purposes of hospitals’ financial penalization which continues to exhibit poor patient care outcomes based on hospital-acquired conditions.

Advocacy Strategies to Ensure Access to Policy Benefits

With proper implementation of certain strategies, nurses can enhance community access to healthcare services as a beneficiary of the ACA. Some of these strategies include promoting measures aimed at stabilizing personal insurance marketplaces and retaining the ACA market reforms, collaborating with various stakeholders in addressing identified community health needs, and educating patients and communities about the benefits associated with ACA, among others (Hanks, Starnes-Ott, & Stafford, 2018). This way, community members will be aware of their needs and the government’s role in helping them acquire such needs.

Role of APRN in Advocacy and Health Promotion

One of the main roles of APRNs is to advocate for disease prevention and health promotion among a diverse population. As Christian, nurses must put the patient at the center of practice, to help reduce suffering and promote health. As such, they exhibit the main role of protecting patient’s health through well-ness checks, health screening, and disease prevention. Consequently, APRNs need to take an active role in encouraging the cost-effective provision of quality care (Fitzgerald, Bias, & Gurley-Calvez, 2017). For instance, when it comes to health payment reforms, APRNs should exhibit strategically developed case management roles and processes of organizing and leading multidisciplinary teams towards proper alignment of cost-effective quality care. They can also engage physicians, pharmacists, and social workers to help determine post-acute care environments which offer affordable care services.

Conclusion

The ACA is a vulnerable policy in offering financial support and education to the entire healthcare workforce, to expand and promote insurance coverage for easily accessible care. Implementation of the policy led to a significant increase in health insurance coverage to over 45 million Americans who were uninsured. Achievements of the policy were influenced by strategies including the establishment of a health insurance marketplace and coverage extension to both children and adults.

References

Hanks, R. G., Starnes-Ott, K., & Stafford, L. (2018). Patient advocacy at the aprn level: a direction for the future. Nursing Forum, 53, 1, 5-11. DOI: 10.1111/nuf.12209

McIntyre, A., Song, Z., & Song, Z. (January 01, 2019). The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade. Plos Medicine, 16, 2.) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002752

Fitzgerald, M. P., Bias, T. K., & Gurley-Calvez, T. (2017). The affordable care act and consumer well-being: Knowns and unknowns. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 51, 1, 27-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12059

Schembri, S., & Ghaddar, S. (2018). The affordable care act, the medicaid coverage gap, and hispanic consumers: a phenomenology of obamacare. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 52, 1, 138-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12146

Young, G. J., Flaherty, S., Zepeda, E. D., Singh, S., & Rosenbaum, S. (2019). Impact of aca medicaid expansion on hospitals’ financial status. Journal of Healthcare Management, 64, 2, 91-102. DOI: 10.1097/JHM-D-17-00177