Feb 23, 2024 POLICY ANALYSIS SUMMARY NURS 8100
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: POLICY ANALYSIS SUMMARY NURS 8100
The affordable care act and patient protection is a population healthcare policy that is designed to improve quality and access to cost-effective health care services in the United States. It was launched in the year 2010 by the Obama administration under the famous name Obamacare. The main aim of the policy amendment was to deliver quality healthcare services to the majority of the people with minimum cost incurred.
It was enacted into a law that saw an increase in insurance coverage and utilization. This move made sure that every American citizen has to pay insurance premium and acquire an insurance plan (Friedman, 2017). Other insurance companies and health care institutions exploited nationals with overcharge of premiums.
Despite the controversies surrounding the law, it has a lot of benefits to the population. Unemployed youths have increased in number, those with chronic conditions and pre-existing chronic conditions. This paper defines the affordable care act as the healthcare policy of choice in reducing the cost for easy access to healthcare.
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Affordable Care Act Strategy to Improve Cost Effectiveness
Eligible individuals have the privileges to healthcare receive services at a low cost compared to non members. There is premium tax credit and cost sharing among the less fortunate and low income families. In the first 5 years of implementation, the program has had more than 16 million Americans. Fortunately, children are treated under the policy of the parents until the age of 26 years.
There are a range of services that are offered under the affordable care act. The services range from ambulatory patient services, women’s health and diagnostics, health promotion, curative and well planned curative services. A list of preventive services includes check-ups, counseling, immunization and health screening services (Friedman, 2017).
Financial Aspect of the Affordable Care Act
The patient protection and affordable care act are financially sustainable and sound. Therefore, the financial impact on the hospitals and other health care service providers is limited. Implementation of the affordable care act helped many families to enroll in the program; consequently, this reduced the number of uninsured patients hence reducing health care cost of such patients. Health organizations will hence improve their financial status.
Affordable care act supports the need for ethical considerations in care, funds disbursement and care of the ill as the economy changes. Population and member enrolment is done yearly with an open forum for proper selection. During this time, the members are allowed to switch from one insurance plan to the other.
Further enrollment is closed after this window period is over, unless under limited social and unique circumstances such as remarrying, becoming a parent or losing a job that provided the health insurance cover (Harris & Wise, 2020). The act is free from any political interference with little or no idea of political alignments.
Ethical standards should be maintained in every aspect of our life. Private hospitals are being observed for turning patients away due to insurance covers and inclusion factors. The hospital structures for operation are very adaptable and flexible by all members and all should be considered for treatment.
Ethical, Legal and Political Factors Affecting the Affordable Care Act
Health insurance and coverage I the USA is a legal provision since a more convenient opportunity has been achieved. Legal provisions lead to health care reforms, which further lead to justice and fairness in the community. Other forms of health insurance plans are made stronger and relevant due to the presence of a wide provision of the code of ethics in insurance provision.
During the start of Medicaid and Medicare, there were areas that needed improvement and goals were set aside to achieve the affordable care act (Harris & Wise, 2020). One of the main objectives was the maintenance and offer of health insurance to the lower income generations and families.
Premium tax credits and cost sharing are ways of increasing the coverage and utilization of the insurance plan. It has also improved the eligibility for the citizens of the state. There is the provision of services to adults earning as low as 138% of the federal poverty line, spurs more usability of the plan. The insurance policy also allows inclusion of dependants and persons living with chronic conditions for care and evaluation.
Nursing Considerations in the Implementation of Affordable Care Act
Nurses are the majority of the healthcare workforce. They should consider the best ways of implementing the affordable care act and understand their role in changing the condition of injustice in healthcare. Once the policy is well accepted and adopted by the nursing fraternity, implementation becomes an easy task.
Mobilization for awareness and benefits is well taken care of by the influence and courage portrayed by the nursing profession. However, nurses do not work alone; they function in a multi-dimensional team approach. They should use this opportunity to change the attitude of other teams towards the policy (Young et al, 2019).
Additionally, registered nurses should be innovative and coordinate their care well. Patient access to healthcare should produce an overall improvement in their health status to evaluate the success of the policy. Due to the increased coverage and eligibility of members in the policy, an adequate nursing workforce is needed to meet the demands of the population. The authorities should take into consideration the issue of adequate ratio and manpower for quality health outcomes.
Advocacy Strategies to Improve Access To The Policy
The stability of the insurance market should be firm. Once the insurance is stable, the access to medical cover will automatically improve. The stability will reduce exploitation of individuals and mismanagement of available chances for acquisition of an insurance policy. Therefore, nurses are in the best position to enhance access to the health care services in the community as a result of benefiting the affordable care act (Hanks et al, 2020).
Advocacy strategies that need to be considered include making the insurance market stable for the citizens, adoption of reforms to enhance progress, team work and collaboration with different stakeholders to identify pressing needs of the community and creating awareness and education plans about the importance of affordable care act. By doing this, the government identifies their needs easily to implement an insurance plan (McIntyre et al, 2019).
The Role of an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse in Health Promotion and Advocacy
A registered practice nurse is an advocate of the patient. The nurse fights for the rights and privileges of equal access to affordable healthcare. In the community and diverse populations, they educate and create awareness on health promotion and disease prevention (Hanks et al, 2020). Christian nurses should exercise patience, care and compassion in their profession.
Nurses should stick to their pledge and make people’s lives better by alleviating suffering and giving dignity where possible. Nurses engage other professionals to provide plans for easy access to care and smooth payment methods. They assume leadership roles in devising case management processes that are aligned towards cost effective quality of care.
Conclusion
The affordable care act is a policy that has provided access to healthcare services to many people across the nation through a legislation of the state and senate. Proper enactment of the law and advocacy from the stakeholders can create a policy that is beneficial to the healthcare fraternity. The policy increased the insurance coverage to a tune of more than 45 million Americans. The policy was achieved through strategies like advocacy and stabilization of the insurance marketplace.
References
Friedman, L. S. (2017). Public policy making and public policy analysis. Does Policy Analysis Matter?. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520287396.003.0001
Harris, P., & Wise, M. (2020). Healthy public policy. Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0196
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
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McIntyre, A., Song, Z., & Song, Z. (January 01, 2019). The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade. Plos
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
Health care policy can facilitate or impede the delivery of services. For the past several weeks, you have been engaging in an authentic activity by critically analyzing a specific health care policy and various aspects of the impact associated with its implementation. A critical step in the policy process is communicating your findings with others. This week, you will share information from your policy analysis and its implications.
To prepare:
Briefly summarize your policy analysis, focusing on the implications for clinical practice that may be most relevant or interesting for your colleagues. Include how evidence-based practice influenced the policy, policy options, or solutions.
By Day 3
Post a 1- to 2-paragraph succinct summary of your policy analysis paper. Include at least two of the options or solutions for addressing the policy and the resulting implications for nursing practice and health care consumers.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.
By Day 5
Respond to at least two of your colleagues sharing insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence, and the practice implications of the policy.
Note: Please see the Syllabus and Discussion Rubric for formal Discussion question posting and response evaluation criteria.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments made by your colleagues.
Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and any additional sources.
The selected policy is HB3871 Safe Patient Limits Act, which is currently pending action in the Illinois Legislature. The proposed policy sets a minimum nurse staffing requirement for all hospitals in Illinois. It states the maximum number of patients assigned to a registered nurse in specific situations.
It also provides that nothing shall bar a healthcare facility from assigning fewer patients to a registered nurse than the limits stated in Act (Illinois General Assembly, n.d.). Besides, it provides that nothing in the Act stops the use of patient acuity systems consistent with the Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity Act. Nonetheless, the maximum patient assignments in the Act may not be exceeded, despite using and applying any patient acuity system.
The policy can be addressed by having each hospital’s clinical team make staffing decisions for their hospitals depending on the unique circumstances at the specific hospital at any given time (Han et al., 2021). The policy can also be addressed by having professional nursing organizations advocate the implementation of the mandated staffing ratios in all hospitals to promote better working conditions for nurses and improve patient safety and quality of care.
Implementing the policy can reduce nurse burnout and low job satisfaction associated with high workloads and physical and emotional fatigue (Lasater et al., 2021). In addition, it can improve the safety of patient care and patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
References
Han, X., Pittman, P., & Barnow, B. (2021). Alternative Approaches to Ensuring Adequate Nurse Staffing: The Effect of State Legislation on Hospital Nurse Staffing. Medical care, 59(10 Suppl 5), S463. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001614
Illinois General Assembly. (n.d.). Bill status for HB2604. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=2604&GAID=15&SessionID=108&LegID=118738
Lasater, K. B., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D., French, R., Martin, B., Alexander, M., & McHugh, M. D. (2021). Patient outcomes and cost savings associated with hospital safe nurse staffing legislation: an observational study. BMJ open, 11(12), e052899. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052899
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