Health Policy Discussion Responses Post Health Policy

Health Policy Discussion Responses

POST

Health Policy and Its Influence

The discussion post authored by L.N. concerning health policy and its various influences was well-written and informative, providing a clear definition of the term while also providing tangible examples of health policies as they currently exist. By beginning the discussion with a scholarly reference to the definition of health policy constructed by Williams and Torrens in 2008, which classifies the term as a collection of targeted laws, entitlement benefits, regulatory practices, administrative edicts, and the various participatory conditions applied to patients, this post immediately establishes the focus of the subsequently presented information. I especially enjoyed how the discussion shifted to the real-world implications of a seemingly abstract discussion of health policy as a concept, because in reality the application of health policy affects hundreds of millions of Americans in terms of patient acuity. By referencing the cooperative dynamic which exists between publically accountable policymakers on the local, state and federal legislative level, and the private interest groups who employ legions of lobbyists to manipulate the health policy process, L.N. is successful in capturing the reader's interest through a direct appeal to their sense of fairness and logic -- which is an especially effective rhetorical strategy. The discussion then shifts its focus once again, this time to examine the notion that the delivery of successful patient outcomes and high quality has have been converted from a formerly institutional responsibility -- that is one effected predominately by hospitals and private practices on an internal basis -- to a matter of public policy supervised by governmental oversight. To emphasize this point, L.N. concludes by referencing the controversial Affordable Care Act as a prime example of this foundational shift in the health care industry, demonstrating that health policy often has implications which are far more wide ranging than ever anticipated.

POST 2

Health Care Provider Changes and Service Delivery

The discussion post authored by T.H., which is meant to investigate the ways in which changes to the health care delivery model have impacted the quality of care and the success rate of patient outcomes, provided an extremely intriguing analysis of the structural components of health care delivery as we know it today -- and how alterations to those components can adversely affect actual patients. Beginning with the transition period that occurred during the 1990's, which is defined by the advent of non-physician health care providers as a primary facilitator of basic health care services, T.H. leads the reader through an extensive analysis of the industry's rapid evolution during the last two decades. The post makes several references to the rising use of legislation to address the shift from physician-based health care to non-physician providers, including the wave of state legislature enacted restructuring of health care delivery models to provide non-physician health care providers with an expanded level of responsibilities and scope of practice (Druss et al., 2003). By also providing an explanation of why this transition has occurred -- which is premised on the fact that patients have found the use of non-physician providers to be more cost effective -- the discussion manages to expand its focus without diluting the overall impact of the message.