Policies in healthcare have an impact on individuals, whether at the institutional, local, state, or federal level. As a profession, nursing has the opportunity to influence health policies on all levels. By understanding healthcare policies, nurses can be advocates for patients as a unified group.
Although the majority of healthcare professionals are nurses, nursing has many opportunities to increase their involvement in healthcare policy. Healthcare and nursing practice are influenced by policy. Policy affects care delivery, patient preferences, and reimbursement. Nurses are in a unique position to influence policy due to the holistic care model and patient-centered care.
For this task, you will analyze a federal and state policy that relates to a current area of focus in healthcare. You will discuss how the federal and state policies influence patient and healthcare delivery. You will consider the population impact of the policies and if the policies are equitable at both the federal and state level.
Your goal in this task is to discuss how a nurse can impact policy at the state and federal level. You should consider the role of the nurse in the development of policy at the state and federal level and how the nurse will support or influence improvements to the policy at each policy level.
A. Compare public healthcare policies at the federal and state level that affect the provision of patient care and healthcare delivery by doing the following:
1. Describe one federal and one state public healthcare policy that affect the provision of patient care and healthcare delivery.
2. Explain how each policy works (e.g., Is it mandatory? Will enforcement be necessary? Who is responsible for administering the policy?).
3. Discuss each policy’s impact on the population(s) by answering the following questions:
• What populations will benefit?
• How will they benefit?
• What populations will be negatively impacted?
• How will they be impacted?
• Does the policy impact health disparities and health equity?
4. Discuss the evidence that informs each policy, including two scholarly evidence sources published within the last five years to support your discussion.
a. Discuss whether the evidence identified in part A4 supports the chosen policies, including anymodifications that should be made to each policy based on the identified evidence.
B. Explain the role of the nurse in policy development and how the nurse could impact the administration of, or the revision of, a policy at both federal and state levels.
1. Reflect on barriers to the nurse’s engagement in each of the following healthcare policy areas:
• development
• administration
• revision
2. Reflect on ways that you will engage with healthcare policy in each of the following areas in your future nursing practice:
• development
• administration
• revision
C. Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
D. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.