Health Policy and Politics Assignment Essay

HealthCare Bill

House Bill 1239

Bills are ideas that lawmakers have established need to be passed into law.   The source of the ideas may include the lawmaker’s own experiences; issues brought forward by special interest groups, constituents, or lobbyists on their client’s behalf, and as a result of catastrophic events that elicit public uproar for an amended or new law.   Once the idea is drafted into the appropriate bill format, it is introduced into the Senate or House, depending on the chamber to which the legislator sponsoring the bill belongs.  Each bill is assigned a number, and it maintains this number all through the process (Milstead & Short, 2017). Health Policy and Politics Assignment Essay

Florida House Bill 1239  is a Florida state legislation that was introduced into the House Chamber on January 6, 2022, by Florida Representative Lauren Melo. The bill specifies functions that do not comprise direct care staffing hours for purposes of needed nursing home staffing ratios. ; require nursing homes to establish their direct care staffing needs on the basis of certain assessment and resident care plan; nursing home staffing requirements;  and amends provisions relating to nursing home’s failure to adhere to minimum staffing requirements (The Florida Senate, n.d).

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The bill made it out of House committees and Subcommittees and was signed into law by Florida governor on   April 6, 2022. Health News Florida (2022) indicates that legislation reduced the minimum number of hours that certified nursing assistants provide direct care per resident per day from 2.5 hours to two hours.  Also, the law mandates that licensed nurses and certified nursing assistants provide a weekly average of 3.6 hours of direct care per patient per day but permits the time spent by other health care workers like occupational therapists and physical therapists to be factored into the calculation. Health Policy and Politics Assignment Essay

Nursing was not involved in drafting the bill. House Bill 1239 was drafted after the COVID-19 pandemic shone light on problems that nursing homes face and thus the need to revise rules that change facility staffing.  The legislation might impact health care by lowering the standards of care nursing home patients receive. Cutting the number of hours certified nursing assistants provide direct care from 2.5 to t two means that patients will receive less and lower quality of care which will affect their physical and mental health (Pellicone, 2022).

References

Health News Florida. (March 7, 2022). Bill to revamp nursing home standards passes the Florida House. https://health.wusf.usf.edu/2022-03-07/bill-to-revamp-nursing-home-standards-passes-the-florida-house

Milstead, J.A., & Short, N. M. (2017).  Health Policy and Politics: A Nurse’s Guide. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Pellicone, A. (Feb 15, 2022). Bill could cut down on care Florida nursing home residents receive. https://www.wcjb.com/2022/02/15/bill-could-cut-down-care-florida-nursing-home-residents-receive/

The Florida Senate. (n. d). CS/CS/HB 1239: Nursing Homes. Health Policy and Politics Assignment Essay 

Go to the Florida state legislature website, identify a recent health care bill or nursing practice bill, and address the following questions in your initial post:

State the legislation (briefly describe the bill)
Who introduced and/or sponsored the bill?
Was nursing involved in drafting and sponsoring the bill?
Did the bill make it out of Committee?
Was the bill enacted? If not, will the bill be proposed during the next legislative session?
What is the impact on health care and/or nursing practice? Health Policy and Politics Assignment Essay