Health Care Economics and policy - Health Policy Analysis

Health Care Economics and Policy:
Health Policy Analysis
(Student`s Name)
(Course Code/Number)
(Name of Professor)
(Date of Submission)
Health Care Economics and Policy:
Health Policy Analysis
Introduction
Healthcare and nursing have changed greatly from its earlier days of intuition and superstition on evil spirits, humors or fluids and others, up to today`s scientific and evidence-based practice CITATION Bar081 \l 1033 (Kozier, Erb, Berman, Snyder, Lake, & Harvey, 2008). Indeed, modern healthcare is now governed by laws and standards that highlight more than anything else the significance of empirical and scientific evidences to every intervention and decision CITATION BTB04 \l 1033 (Basavanthappa, 2004). Even the different laws that govern the said dynamics of modern healthcare are subjected to research and continuous revisions and changes. In fact, although the world may have come a long way from the less-scientific nature of the intuitive periods of nursing, modern healthcare may still have a long way to go. This is especially in view of the expanding role of nurses, and the observable role of administration and politics in the success of healthcare. Certainly, political moves by leaders have led both to solutions and problems on nursing, especially in terms of staffing and the nurse-patient ratio. Therefore, this calls for the need for more intensive and continuous analysis of policies on healthcare and nursing.
In relation, this paper will then involve a policy analysis, specifically an analysis of state and federal policies involving nursing staffing. The said analysis will be guided by a policy question, as well as the student`s position on the said question. For purposes of clarity and greater comprehensiveness, the policy question and the student`s position will be presented in the next subsection of this paper. After the presentation of the policy question, the relevance of the question to federal or state health policies will be discussed, followed by the economic analysis of the student`s position, and the significance of the policy question and the policies themselves.
Policy Question and Student`s Position
The policy question that would serve as the focal point of this essay is:
Based on what president Obama said that nurses are the "front lines of the healthcare system", is the shortage of hospital Registered Nurses (RNs) better or worse?
Better.
I strongly believe that in light of the president`s declaration, the policies that have been instigated with it have led to a better status and improvements in the shortage problem of nurses among hospitals.
Nursing shortage has always been a major concern within the healthcare industry, not only in hospitals but also in numerous settings of health care CITATION Ame07 \l 1033 (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2007). Various reasons have provided a strong support to the concept of a nurse-patient ratio that allows for the most optimal productivity and the most minimum burnout. Indeed, nursing shortages have been pointed out as a major reason for numerous adverse events that occur in different healthcare settings, especially hospitals CITATION Kov00 \l 1033 (Kovner, Jones, & Gergen, 2000). In fact, most injuries and falls that occur within hospitals can be attributed to the lack of a nursing staff at the patient`s bedside, prompted by the minimal number of nurses and nursing attendants CITATION Ste04 \l 1033 (Stevens, 2004).
Wieck, Oehler, Green, and Jordan (2004) even found that nursing shortage has led to patients seeing a smaller number of RNs at their bedsides, which may a pose a problem in this period wherein there is a high requirement for high acuity health care, as well as the high usage of healthcare facilities. The same authors added that a possible solution to the problem of nursing shortage is the improvement of standards of safety that govern nursing staffing and the nurse-patient ratio, and most of the said standards are governed by laws and policies that are drafted and passed by both the state and the federal governments.
Thus, policies are a significant factor that affects the healthcare industry, specifically nursing shortage, making this paper`s policy question a significant one. A main support to the student`s position involves in a statistical report by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), compiled by Rosseter (2012), which show a positive trend in terms of nurse recruitment, staffing, nurse-patient ratio and several others. Although the said source also provided different statistics indicating a projection of possible increase in the nursing shortage in the coming years, but the most immediate statistics reveal an upward trend for the healthcare and nursing sector.
According to the ACCN, for 2012, job growth in the healthcare sector, especially the field of nursing, has overtaken its growth rate for the previous year of 2011, with one out of five jobs created in 2012 belonging to the healthcare sector. Indeed, by February 2012, ambulatory care settings, long-term care facilities, and hospitals especially have added almost 49,000 new jobs. Several other statistics have been provided by the AACN, and these improvements in the nursing shortage problem will be discussed further in the ‘Economic Analysis` section of this paper. Still, before the said discussion, the relevance of the policy question to federal or state health policy will first be presented.
Relevance of Question to Federal or State Health Policy
The policy questions works on the premise that nurses are the front lines of the healthcare system, and attempts to determine whether the shortage of hospital Registered Nurses (RNs) is better or worse. This exploration of the state of the US`s nursing shortage problem is relevant to federal or state policy since the evaluation of the effect of previous policies that have been implemented. By determining whether staffing conditions and nursing shortages have improved or not, administrators, managers, and policy-makers can be made aware of the current standing of the said problem, and they can therefore make the necessary changes or improvements to be able to address the problem further.
For example, if the answers revealed a the policy question reflect a negative impact on the nursing shortage problem, then executive and legislative bodies can work by drafting new laws to help raise nurse recruitments, or they can opt for a more intensified implementation of the different laws and policies already in effect CITATION Sca01 \l 1033 (Scanlon, 2001). If, on the other hand, the results of the policy question reveal that a positive trend is being achieved in terms of addressing the nursing shortage problem, then the policies implemented can be continued, or even improved further CITATION Nur03 \l 1033 (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2003).
The relevance of the policy question to federal or state health can be further seen in the fact that President Obama has labeled nurses as the front lines of the healthcare system. This important role played by nurses, both as leaders and team players in the healthcare system have made them a focus in healthcare policies, both in drafts and in laws or bills that have been passed. For example, the nation has the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2011 CITATION Uni111 \l 1033 (United States Congress, 2011), which dictates the number of nurses that are ideal for the care of a number of patients CITATION Civ11 \l 1033 (Civic Impulse, LLC, 2011). Also, the federal government has provided for the screening and acceptance of non-US citizens to work as nurses, in order to address the said problem on nursing shortages CITATION USD09 \l 1033 (US Department of Labor, 2009).
Different states have also passed different laws on nurse staffing, recruitment, compensation, and others, so as to address the problem of nursing shortage. For example, Illinois released its Public Act 92-0043, which lifted the limitation of only 500 nursing scholarships provided every year. Also, Oregon passed its HB2800, which limits the number of hours that a nurse can work overtime in an acute inpatient care facility. The same law requires that one registered nurse and another nursing care staff should be present and on duty when there is a patient requiring healthcare. For Maine, it passed its Public Law 104, which grants privileges to nurses who are overworked to be granted specific hours of break or off after they have worked more than the specific number of hours after their overtime. This same law protects nurses from undue punishment in cases of refusal to work overtime. Texas also passed its SB 672, which set up programs and strategies to increase the enrollment of students in education programs, and similar other steps to reduce the nursing shortage. Moreover, North Dakota passed SB 2114, which provides for the study and research of different nursing needs that could be addressed to alleviate the problem of shortage of nurses within the state CITATION Can01 \l 1033 (Romig, 2001).
Numerous other bills have been passed by other states, all aiming to encourage people to go into and stay in nursing, and several of these have been passed in more recent years. However, it should be noted that not all of these bills have been passed, and a small number have only been introduced and proposed. Still, given the number and immensity of the emphasis being given on the nursing shortage problem, it can be seen that the policy question is very much relevant to the different state and federal policies. By looking into the current status of the nursing shortage problem, a great concern of the society, not only of the healthcare sector, is addressed. Also, by exploring whether the nursing shortage problem has become better or worse, one can come to see which laws are most effective in bringing in nurses, retaining them, and ultimately addressing the nursing shortage problem. The policy question is also significant to policies in the sense that through the answers it can provide, a better methodology can be developed to identify areas most experiencing shortage, and those most in need of nurses CITATION USG07 \l 1033 (U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 2007). Given that the policy question is relevant to federal and state policies, an exploration of the economic implications of the student`s position will then be presented in the next section of this paper.
Economic Analysis of Student`s Position
Earlier, it has been presented that the student`s position is: I strongly believe that in light of the president`s declaration, the policies that have been instigated with it have led to a better status and improvements in the shortage problem of nurses among hospitals. Indeed, the statistics presented by the AACN, compiled by Rosseter (2012), reveal that in terms of job growth, the Registered Nursing workforce is the top job which received a job growth through 2020. This same source added that the number of nurses who are employed will grow from 2.74 million to 3.45 million by the year of 2020, and observable increase of 26% in the nursing workforce. Also, job postings for nurses have increased especially in May 2011, which rose by 46% from the value of May 2010. However, AACN warned that despite the increase in the number of nurses, the nursing shortage problem is far from over, and that further actions still have to be taken.
Still, given that there has been observable decrease in the nursing shortages across most states, it can be acknowl...