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Healthcare Policy Analysis

  As stated in The Essentials, healthcare policy can facilitate or hinder healthcare delivery, and legislation directly affects the environment in which advanced practice nurses (APN) practice. APNs are called to participate in the legislative process, influencing policy development to better meet the needs of providers and care recipients. Ultimately, MSN and DNP education have two outcomes related to healthcare policy and advocacy: (a) examine and evaluate the policy process and (b) engage in political activism as it relates to ensuring healthcare policy reduces disparities, improves access and quality, reduces costs, and promotes equity.

 

This assignment focuses on the student’s ability to understand and evaluate policy processes and make decisions on whether certain policies achieve the goals outlined above. From there, graduates can transform this knowledge into political activism. Utilizing this strategy, graduates can ensure that they have a seat at the table when decisions about their practice and clients are being made.

Policy Analysis Part I Instructions

The following steps outline what you need to accomplish for this assignment. Additional questions are welcome and should be posted in the Course Q&A.

Step 1:      Problem/Bill Selection. Choose a federal-level healthcare bill that addresses a healthcare-related problem of your choosing. You must choose a federal

bill from the 118th Congress (January 3, 2023 to January 2025). The bill must still be pending: You may not select a bill that has already passed both the Senate and the House or one that is waiting on signature from President. You may use a bill that has only passed one of the congressional branches—either the House or the Senate. It is recommended that you use congress.gov, senate.gov, house.gov, legiscan.com, or the Thomas Library of Congress to locate your bill.

Step 2:      Problem Identification and Purpose Statement. In no more than 2 paragraphs, clearly and specifically identify the problem or issue that needs to be addressed. Synthesize current data describing the state of the problem by describing the (a) burden: how many people it affects, (b) frequency: how often it occurs, (c) severity: how serious of a problem is it, and (d) scope: the range of outcomes it affects.1 Support this section with relevant facts, figures, statistics, and costs.

This section should end with a purpose statement: Succinctly state the purpose of your analysis, answering the following questions: What is the relevance of your work, and what do you intend to achieve in this analysis?

Policy Analysis Part I Instructions

Step 3:      Social Determinants of Health. Explain the idea of law as a social determinant of health.

Thoroughly explain the relationship between your chosen issue and the following social determinants of health (SDOH). Each SDOH should be developed and supported separately and include facts, numbers, figures, research, and statistics to support your statements. Specific aspects of the below SDOH and their connection to your issue should be included.

1. Healthcare Access and Quality
2. Education Access and Quality
3. Social and Community Context
4. Socioeconomic Status
5. Neighborhood and Built Environment

Step 4:      Impact. Discuss the impact of the issue on the following factors. These should also be supported with relevant facts, numbers, figures, research, and statistics. In your ethical section, connect your discussion to a particular ethical factor or theory that is relevant to your topic.

1. The National Economy
2. The Healthcare System
3. Ethics

Policy Analysis Part I Instructions

Step 5:      Current (Enacted) Legislation. Identify legislation currently in place to address the issue and the strategies it utilizes. Summarize the major gaps in the problem’s resolution left by the current legislation by discussing the current legislation’s incongruence with research evidence and how or why the legislation is inadequate to reach the intended goals.

Step 6:     Reference List. There should be a minimum of 10 references published within the last 5 years on your list. The majority must be peer-reviewed references. Additional references types may include current events, information from professional organization sites, and relevant publications from corporation websites. In-text citations and reference list entries should be presented in APA format, including any legislation discussed in the current legislation section.

Policy Analysis Part I Instructions

Additional Notes:

• Part I should focus solely on the healthcare issue that the bill intends to solve and not the bill you chose quite yet.
• Use the template Within your paragraphs, APA is expected as applicable— grammar, spelling, citations, number format, etc—with the exception of spacing (see below).
• The template uses 1.5 (not double) line spacing and a smaller san serif font. This will help with the readability of your assignment in the outline and digital format and should not be changed.
• The assignment should be approximately 4.5 pages in length (excluding the reference pages). No title page is required. A minimum of ten (10) references, the majority of which should peer reviewed, are References should be timely: published within the previous five (5) years.

Submission Instructions: The assignment is to be submitted using the template provided as a single Word document or PDF to the appropriate assignment area. Your work will automatically be submitted to turnitin.com upon submission to the course. APA.