Health Policy

Background:
The information this week covered several topics on health policy from a U.S. perspective and an international perspective. The course readings offered details from an overview of health policy; information on federal and state health policymaking; and information on international policy and international policy development. Understanding these concepts is essential for healthcare administrators as you continue on your professional career, the ability to understand health policy can support with clarifying priorities, establishing roles as well as expectations, and can assist in the development and delivery of an organization’s policies and procedures. Additionally, there should be a basic knowledge of U.S. health policy and international health policy, as you start your academic journey working on your graduate degree, as these concepts can be viewed as some of the fundamental tools that assist in protecting all population’s health outcomes and address some of the core functions of healthcare from assessment, policy development, and assurance.
Assignment Scenario:
As a director for your healthcare organization, one of your duties is to participate in writing articles for your company’s website. This month the executive leadership team has asked you to write about health policy. The executive leadership team would like you to address the following items that are bulleted below. You may be as creative as you would like to present this article. However, you must create your article using Microsoft Word, Publisher, or PowerPoint.
Your article needs to provide information on the following items associated to U.S. health policy and the importance of having an international perspective in health policy development:
Aspect 1: Discuss the key characteristics of health policy, explain the major determinants of health, and describe how the social determinants of health influence policy development.
Aspect 2: Identify at least two major types of U.S. health policy, provide an example of each type, and describe how these types of health policy can affect patient care associated to one of the following social determinates of health: economic stability, physical environment, education, food, community, social context, or healthcare system.
Aspect 3: Describe why it is important to have an international perspective in health policy development and discuss how international policy development may influence the U.S. population from one of the following views: immigration, public health, or regulatory.
Aspect 4: Discuss why it is important for healthcare administrators to understand health policy, explain how these concepts can support an administrator’s operations and provide a policy example that you may create as an administrator, with an explanation to why the policy is needed, and how the policy may influence one of the social determinants of health. Note: Example – an administrator may assist in the creation of policies for an organization, within a specific department, from a community perspective, or regulatory requirement.