NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
Program/policy evaluation is a valuable tool that can help strengthen the quality of programs/policies and improve outcomes for the populations they serve. Program/policy evaluation answers basic questions about program/policy effectiveness. It involves collecting and analyzing information about program/policy activities, characteristics, and outcomes. This information can be used to ultimately improve program services or policy initiatives. Nurses can play a very important role assessing program/policy evaluation for the same reasons that they can be so important to program/policy design. Nurses bring expertise and patient advocacy that can add significant insight and impact. In this Assignment, you will practice applying this expertise and insight by selecting an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation and reflecting on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program/policy. To Prepare: Review the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template provided in the Resources. Select an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation or choose one of interest to you. Review community, state, or federal policy evaluation and reflect on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program or policy described. The Assignment: (2–3 pages) Based on the program or policy evaluation you selected, complete the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template. Be sure to address the following: Describe the healthcare program or policy outcomes. How was the success of the program or policy measured? How many people were reached by the program or policy selected? How much of an impact was realized with the program or policy selected? At what point in program implementation was the program or policy evaluation conducted? NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health. What data was used to conduct the program or policy evaluation? What specific information on unintended consequences was identified? What stakeholders were identified in the evaluation of the program or policy? Who would benefit most from the results and reporting of the program or policy evaluation? Be specific and provide examples. Did the program or policy meet the original intent and objectives? Why or why not? Would you recommend implementing this program or policy in your place of work? Why or why not? Identify at least two ways that you, as a nurse advocate, could become involved in evaluating a program or policy after 1 year of implementation.
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) Evaluation Analysis
| Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation | The Affordable Care Act (ACA) |
| Description
|
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obama Care is a major reform of healthcare that President Obama passed into law in March 2010 (Gaffney & McCormick, 2017). ACA was designed to significantly increase access for all American people to quality healthcare. It has three major objectives, including to increase the number of people with insurance coverage, to improve patient care quality and to reduce health care costs (Gaffney & McCormick, 2017). |
| How was the success of the program or policy measured?
|
ACA’s success was evaluated on the basis of whether it fulfills its core objectives: decreasing the number of uninsured American people, enhancing care quality, and lowering healthcare expenses (McIntyre & Song, 2019). NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health. |
| How many people were reached by the program or policy selected? How much of an impact was realized with the program or policy selected?
|
Over 20 million individuals have received health coverage owing to the ACA. Approximately half of the rise represents private coverage increases, attributable to ACA policies like individual market coverage subsidies, individual insurance market reforms, allowing youths under the coverage of their parents, and the individual requirement compelling numerous individuals to have insurance or incur a penalty. (Congress abolished the individual requirement beginning in 2019.) The remainder stems from expanded availability of Medicaid, largely attributed to the extension of Medicaid to low-income individuals by the ACA, but also to ACA policies that made it possible for eligible persons to enroll in Medicaid (Gaffney & McCormick, 2017). |
| What data was used to conduct the program or policy evaluation?
|
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data
|
| What specific information on unintended consequences were identified?
|
l Eligible individuals lost coverage if, because of technical issues , they lost Medicaid due to job loss or employees with precarious occupations who undergo unemployment periods or reduction of monthly working hours (McIntyre & Song, 2019). |
| What stakeholders were identified in the evaluation of the program or policy? Who would benefit most from the results and reporting of the program or policy evaluation? Be specific and provide examples.
|
The major stakeholders identified in the evaluation of the ACA include states, consumers, employers, healthcare providers, and low-income adults.
The ACA has benefited all these stakeholders. It benefited the low-income adults the most due to expansion of Medicaid to them. NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health. |
| Did the program or policy meet the original intent and objectives? Why or why not?
|
ACA achieved the initial aims and priorities of increasing health insurance coverage, enhancing care quality, and lowering costs. |
| Would you recommend implementing this program or policy in your place of work? Why or why not?
|
I believe that access to affordable healthcare is a health challenge and should be a privilege for everyone, and that the government should help people who are not in a position to access healthcare services due to financial constraints. For those reasons, I would suggest enforcing the Affordable care act in my workplace. Medicaid outreach to low-income adults was enabled by the ACA, which was intended to decrease the unpaid services rendered by hospitals, thereby raising their financial situation. The benefits of the ACA even surpass the negatives in terms of public health, in the context that healthcare access and preventive services are enhanced. ACA also prohibits prejudice on the grounds of pre-existing medical problems and reduces lifelong coverage caps for those with serious medical conditions (Warner et al., 2020) |
| Identify at least two ways that you, as a nurse advocate, could become involved in evaluating a program or policy after one year of implementation.
|
1). Take part in policy analysis through participation in professional nursing associations including the American Association Of nurse practitioners (AANP). Nurses play a crucial role in program and policy evaluation as representatives of the highest section of the healthcare tea. AANP is the advocate of the nursing field, and the large part that nurses play in enhancing healthcare and health for everyone (AANP, n.d). NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health.
2).Learn more regarding the policy and the active legislators, then offer to engage in forums for policy analysis. The criteria used by nurses to measure the outcome and efficiency of care services treatments practices or clinical methods may be extended to the assessment of program. |
| General Notes/Comments | The ACA is now the rule of the nation, passed into law in March 2010 by President Obama. This policy has undoubtedly made a beneficial effect on the U.S. healthcare sector on the grounds of this evaluation. In addition, many individuals can access affordable healthcare services, more preventive care is available, and the Medicaid extension initiative accounts for coverage to hospitals and other facilities. It is important to remember that, for purposes better understood to them, attempts have been made to amend the legislation by the Republican party, which has raised skepticism over the continuing existence of the policy. While the ACA is not a flawless law, there is space for lawmakers to continue to optimize the numerous enhancement features. |
References
AANP. (n.d.). Why join AANP? American Association of Nurse Practitioners. https://www.aanp.org/membership/why-join
Gaffney, A., & McCormick, D. (2017). The Affordable Care Act: implications for health-care equity. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1442-1452.
McIntyre, A., & Song, Z. (2019). The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade.
Warner, J. J., Benjamin, I. J., Churchwell, K., Firestone, G., Gardner, T. J., Johnson, J. C., … & American Heart Association Advocacy Coordinating Committee. (2020). Advancing healthcare reform: the American Heart Association’s 2020 statement of principles for adequate, accessible, and affordable health care: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 141(10), e601-e614. NURS 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health.
