NUR 550 Benchmark – Diverse Population Health Policy Analysis

Sample Answer

Introduction

Governments often make healthcare policies to address prioritized issues affecting the population. Healthcare policies are formulated with a consideration of the different factors that affect access to and utilization of healthcare services by the population. Healthcare policies such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have transformed healthcare access and utilization in the United States.

The policy has increased the utilization of health promotion and disease prevention services by the majority of the population. Nurses and other healthcare providers should be advocates of new policies that improve population health. Therefore, this presentation examines ACA and its impacts on population health.

Selected Policy ACA

The selected policy for analysis in this presentation is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The policy is also known by other names such as Obamacare or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). ACA was enacted into law in 2010 under President Obama’s tenure. The policy is considered one of the major milestones in health policy.

This is because ACA provides a near-universal guaranteed access to healthcare for all Americans. It achieves this by expanding the health insurance coverage among the Americans without insurances. Before its adoption, ACA was estimated to reduce the number of Americans without insurance by half.

ACA has been effective in eliminating barriers to access to healthcare due to factors such as costs. Experts agree that ACA has reshaped the healthcare system in America. It has transformed the financial relationship between Americans and healthcare systems (Glied et al., 2020).

Since its adoption, ACA has undergone some revisions to improve its ability to achieve the intended aim of improving the health of American citizens irrespective of their backgrounds.

Major Aims of ACA

The ACA was adopted with to achieve several aims. One of them was to provide universal health insurance coverage for all Americans irrespective of their backgrounds. The expanded insurance coverage would imply that all Americans could access healthcare services whenever they needed.

The second aim of ACA is to improve fairness, affordability, and quality of healthcare insurance coverage. Most Americans could not afford medical insurance coverage before ACA. This meant that only a few Americans could access and afford the care they needed.

The ACA addressed this challenge by ensuring affordability, fairness, and equity in the access to healthcare insurance. The policy also aimed at reducing wasteful spending in healthcare. This includes demanding the need for value-based care that focused on quality instead of quality. This move increased accountability in healthcare organizations (Dodini, 2023).

The ACA also aimed at increasing access to primary care. Eliminating barriers such as cost of healthcare services implied that most Americans could access healthcare services they needed for their health issues and optimum health.

Populations Impacted by the Policy

Several populations have benefited from the ACA. They include poor Americans, people without a medical insurance coverage, women and their families, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and people of color. Poor Americans benefited from ACA as seen from the reduced barriers to healthcare.

Poor Americans can access healthcare services they need because of having ACA coverage. People without a medical insurance coverage also benefited since they could afford healthcare through ACA. Women and their families benefited from the improved access to maternal and child health services in the society.

People with disabilities often experience considerable barriers in accessing healthcare due to cost (Campbell & Shore-Sheppard, 2020). However, ACA eliminated cost barriers, hence, increased access to healthcare for the vulnerable populations.

People of color have low socioeconomic status, which affect affordability and access to healthcare services. Similarly, LGBTQ+ experience challenges such as stereotypes, stigma, and isolation in healthcare systems. However, ACA addressed these inequalities by ensuring that each American had a medical insurance coverage, which increased access to healthcare.

How it Improves Cost-Effectiveness

The ACA improves cost-effectiveness in healthcare in several ways. Firstly, ACA brought reforms in the private insurance market which benefited individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The policy achieved this by increasing the number of conditions covered in the health insurance packages.

This in turn reduced the out-of-pocket money that patients incurred when seeking healthcare services. ACA also eliminated the traditional practice where insurance firms charged higher premiums for individuals with chronic conditions. This move implied that less-healthy beneficiaries could afford the different insurances for their health needs.

ACA also promotes cost-effectiveness by increasing access to preventive services for Americans without cost-sharing. This means that the productivity of the population is improved because of early detection and management of health problems (Zhao et al., 2020).

The ACA also focused on encouraging innovation in healthcare. The adoption of innovative practices would reduce wastages and increase the delivery of value-based care to patients and their communities.

How it Improves Health Care Quality

The ACA improves health care quality in several ways. Firstly, ACA safeguards the right of all Americans to access high-quality, safe, and efficient care. IT achieves these outcomes by eliminating barriers to healthcare access and utilization.

Traditionally, factors such as cost, employment status, income level, and ethnicity affected healthcare access. However, the ACA addressed these barriers by expanding medical insurance coverage, which assures that each American will access high quality care they need.

The other way in which ACA improves health care quality is that it increases access to preventive services without cost-sharing. This means that the beneficiaries can access high quality preventive services such as screening for different conditions, which lower the disease burden in the population.

The ACA requires accountability among healthcare providers. Some of the measures adopted to ensure accountability included cutting reimbursement for health organizations with high rates of adverse events. Such measures have improved care quality since organizations strive to provide safe, quality, and efficient care to their populations.

The ACA has also strengthened networks among community health centers in the country (Duggan et al., 2022). The strengthened networks ensures easy access and transfer of information utilized for patient care. It has also allowed for the testing of new methods of healthcare delivery, hence, innovation and improved quality of healthcare services in America.

Soundness of the Policy

The ACA is a financially sound policy. Firstly, the policy has improved health care-related economic strains experienced by healthcare organizations. The improvements can be seen in data obtained from safety-net hospitals in states that expanded and did not expand Medicaid.

The data from states that expanded Medicaid reveals that hospitals benefited from increased Medicaid in patient stays, Medicaid revenues, reduced uncompensated healthcare costs. The outcomes improved the operating margins of hospitals in the expansion states.

Other studies have also revealed that ACA has reduced financial strain in hospitals due to increased utilization of healthcare services by the population. The ACA is also financially sound because of its focus on reducing healthcare costs indirectly by increasing service utilization.

Increased utilization of services such as preventive care translate into improved productivity in the country. Improved productivity will further drive up healthcare spending by the population due to affordability of healthcare services (Duggan et al., 2022).

The ACA is also financially sound because it eliminates the financial risks that the population experience due to illnesses. The expanded insurance coverage implies that the population is assured of financial security should illnesses strike them.

How it Incorporates Nursing Perspectives

The ACA incorporates nursing perspectives, Firstly, the policy ensures equitable access to healthcare. Nurses advocate for equitable access to healthcare without a consideration of factors such as age, gender, nationality, or skin color. The ACA also incorporates nursing perspectives by protecting the population’s right to access high-quality, safe, and efficient care.

Nursing standards recognize that nurses should protect the right of patients to access the care that they need irrespective of their disease status or background. The ACA expands health insurance coverage, which means that all the American citizens will have the universal access to healthcare that they need. The ACA also utilizes best practices in its provisions.

The development of policy guidelines utilized best practices such as multi-stakeholder involvement and prioritization of the population’s needs in policy formulation and implementation. Evidence-based studies are also conducted to inform policy provisions.

Lastly, the ACA addresses social determinants of health. Nurses adopt evidence-based interventions to eliminate the effect of social determinants of health such as employment status and income on healthcare access and utilization (Michener, 2020).

The ACA supports nurses’ focus on addressing social determinants of health by expanding health insurance coverage, which lowers cost-related barriers in healthcare.

How it Incorporates Relevant Ethical, Legal, and Political Factors

The ACA incorporates relevant ethical, legal, and political perspectives. Firstly, the policy incorporates the ethical principle of justice. It ensures that all populations access healthcare that they need irrespective of their backgrounds. It also ensures that the population accesses high-quality and safe care, which ensures the protection of ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence (Takvorian et al., 2020).

The ACA incorporates political considerations that influence healthcare policies. The policy was adopted after rigorous multi-stakeholder involvement. There was also active public participation policy formulation to ensure that it addressed the prioritized needs of the population. The policy also incorporates the ethical consideration of strengthening value-based performance in healthcare.

It shifts the focus of healthcare organizations from quantity to quality-focus. The move has been effective in promoting efficiency in healthcare. The ACA incorporates the legal need for ensuring that healthcare policies ease disease burden in the population (Michener, 2020). The expanded healthcare insurance coverage implies that the population will not incur high costs in seeking the healthcare that they need.

Related Policies

Several policies relate to ACA. One of them is the VHA program. The VHA program was established to ensure that American veterans have access to high-quality care after their service to the nation. The program ensures that veterans access primary care, specialized care, and social support services to address their health needs.

The other policy that relates to ACA is SCHIPS policy. SCHIP policy was adopted to provide insurance coverage for children from families that earn too much to benefit from Medicaid but cannot afford private insurances. The program ensures that children access services such as emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and immunizations among others.

Medicaid and Medicare are the other policies that relate to the ACA. Medicare provides health insurance coverage for individuals aged 65 years and above and some people under the age of 65 years suffering from disabilities or specific conditions. Medicaid is a state and joint federal program that offers health insurance coverage to people with limited resources and income (Van Houtven et al., 2020).

How the Policies Help Achieve Equitable Health Care for The Diverse Population

The above policies help achieve equitable health care for the diverse populations in many ways. Firstly, polices such as SCHIP reduce the costs that families could incur for providing the care that their children need. Reduction in healthcare costs would ensure minimal disease burden to the families and communities.

The policies also address disparities in healthcare. For example, Medicare ensures that people below 65 years with chronic conditions or disabilities have the right to live healthier lives that other populations without limitations have.

The policies also increase the utilization of health promotion services. Studies show that the adoption of policies such as the ACA increased the utilization of screening services among the underserved populations. The increased utilization of health promotion services contribute to the optimum health of the population because of timely diagnoses and treatment of health problems (Van Houtven et al., 2020).

The policies also offer consumer protections. For example, Medicaid and Medicare ensure that private insurance firms do not impose limitations on the types of healthcare that their beneficiaries can access.

Advocacy Strategies

Several advocacy strategies can be adopted to improve access, quality, and cost-effective healthcare for the vulnerable populations that cannot afford healthcare services. One of them is health education. Health education raises awareness level among the vulnerable and stimulates lifestyle and behavioral changes that lower their risk of health problems.

Health education also promotes ownership of public health initiatives adopted to improve population health. The other advocacy strategy is linking the vulnerable to resources. Linking the vulnerable to resources within their communities is important in lowering the perceived level of disease burden. It also ensures that they optimize opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention in their communities.

The other strategy is protecting the rights of the vulnerable. Nurses and other healthcare providers should be patient advocates. They should stand up for patients in situations where their rights are being violated. They should ensure the policies align with the prioritized needs of their populations (Abbasinia et al., 2020; Florell, 2021).

Creating safe and sustainable environments for the vulnerable is the other advocacy strategy. Safe and sustainable environments prevent the risk of illnesses among the vulnerable. The other advocacy strategy to improve quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of care for the vulnerable population is creating patient safety culture in an organization.

A patient safety culture drives continuous quality improvement in systems and processes utilized in service delivery. It ensures that organizations are dedicated to adopt best practices that will minimize the risk of harm to patients. Nurses and other healthcare providers should strengthen equality in healthcare as an advocacy strategy. Promoting equality ensures that all populations are assured of access to the healthcare they deserve irrespective of their backgrounds.

It also ensures the adoption of policies and strategies that protect the rights of the vulnerable. Nurses also play the role of their patients’ voice in their advocacy roles. They stand in place of the patients should the adopted interventions predispose them to risk (Abbasinia et al., 2020; Florell, 2021).

Lastly, the advocacy role also extends to ensuring the adopted policies align with the prioritized needs of the population. The alignment ensures relevance of the strategies and effective use of the allocated resources.
Professional and Moral Obligations of Master’s Prepared Nurses.

A master’s prepared nurse had professional and moral obligations to respect human dignity and advance common good when working with diverse populations. One of the obligations is respecting diversity. A master’s prepared nurse must recognize that vulnerable populations have diverse needs, values, beliefs, and preferences.

The diversity implies that the populations might have attitudes or practices related to health that might differ from those of the nurse. The nurse should respect the diversity by adopting strategies, such as open communication, promoting respect, honesty, and active participation of the populations in addressing their issues.

The master’s prepared nurse also has the obligation to provide culturally appropriate care. The care given should respect the population’s cultural values, beliefs, and practices. Culturally-appropriate care empower patients to be proactively involved in addressing their needs. The nurse also has the obligation to be an advocate of their patients (Abbasinia et al., 2020; Florell, 2021).

The nurse ensures the adopted care strategies align with the actual and potential needs of the vulnerable populations. The nurse ensures the adopted strategies do not predispose patients to any form of harm.

References

• Abbasinia, M., Ahmadi, F., & Kazemnejad, A. (2020). Patient advocacy in nursing A concept analysis. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 141–151. https //doi.org/10.1177/0969733019832950
  
• Campbell & Shore-Sheppard. (2020). The Social, Political, and Economic Effects of the Affordable Care Act Introduction to the Issue. RSF The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 6(2), 1. https //doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2020.6.2.01
  
• Dodini, S. (2023). Insurance Subsidies, the Affordable Care Act, and Financial Stability. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 42(1), 97–136. https //doi.org/10.1002/pam.22418
  
• Duggan, M., Gupta, A., & Jackson, E. (2022). The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Evidence from California’s Hospital Sector. American Economic Journal Economic Policy, 14(1), 111–151. https //doi.org/10.1257/pol.20190279
  Florell, M. C. (2021). Concept analysis of nursing activism. Nursing Forum, 56(1), 134–140. https //doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12502
  
• Glied, S. A., Collins, S. R., & Lin, S. (2020). Did The ACA Lower Americans’ Financial Barriers To Health Care? Health Affairs, 39(3), 379–386. https //doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01448
  
• Michener, J. (2020). Race, Politics, and the Affordable Care Act. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 45(4), 547–566. https //doi.org/10.1215/03616878-8255481
  
• Takvorian, S. U., Oganisian, A., Mamtani, R., Mitra, N., Shulman, L. N., Bekelman, J. E., & Werner, R. M. (2020). Association of Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act With Insurance Status, Cancer Stage, and Timely Treatment Among Patients With Breast, Colon, and Lung Cancer. JAMA Network Open, 3(2), e1921653. https //doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.21653
  
• Van Houtven, C. H., McGarry, B. E., Jutkowitz, E., & Grabowski, D. C. (2020). Association of Medicaid Expansion Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act With Use of Long-term Care. JAMA Network Open, 3(10), e2018728. https //doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.18728
  
• Zhao, J., Mao, Z., Fedewa, S. A., Nogueira, L., Yabroff, K. R., Jemal, A., & Han, X. (2020). The Affordable Care Act and access to care across the cancer control continuum A review at 10 years. CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70(3), 165–181. https //doi.org/10.3322/caac.21604