Applying policies to ACA
Health policy reinforces decision-making and planning processes that aim explicitly at societal health improvement. Policy, if implemented meticulously, allows healthcare leaders to forecast based on financial, political, and societal trends. Policy also provide objectives and contingency plans to facilitate growth through definition and/or redefinition of the company’s mission and vision (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2014). In a minimum of 250 words, discuss the following:
Choose one of the following processes and apply it to ACA:
Policy Analysis Process of Identification & Definition
Policy Analysis Process of Health Technology Assessment
Policy Analysis Process of Evidence-Based Medicine
Policy Analysis Process of Evaluation of Political Feasibility
Policy Analysis Process of Evaluation of Economic Viability
Policy Analysis Process of Analysis of Values
Implementation Strategy and Planning
What are the defining characteristics of policy change? Provide a scholarly supported rationale.
Sample Answer
Policy Analysis Process of Identification & Definition
The first step in the policy analysis process is to identify and define the problem that the policy is intended to address. In the case of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the problem was the lack of health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. The ACA was designed to address this problem by expanding health insurance coverage to millions of Americans through a variety of mechanisms, including subsidies, tax credits, and Medicaid expansion.
Policy Analysis Process of Health Technology Assessment
Health technology assessment (HTA) is the process of evaluating the clinical and economic effectiveness of health technologies. In the case of the ACA, HTA was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the ACA’s provisions related to health insurance coverage. For example, HTA was used to evaluate the impact of the ACA’s subsidies on the number of people who were able to afford health insurance.