Cost of Health Care Essay Paper
Cost of Health Care Essay Paper
Perform an informal literature search on the funding of THE NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA AND IN THE USA. Include at least two articles that discuss cost-effectiveness and cost controls pertaining to either your policy or nursing practices in general. Use these resources to respond to the following prompts:
Describe how the policy is funded and annual costs of continuing the policy for the last year.
Analyze any financial and budgetary efforts developed or being proposed to contain costs.
Relate current cost-containment strategies, including regulations, managed care efforts, or other financial and budgetary initiatives.
Describe how the financing of your policy impacts health outcomes and the role of the nurse in the workplace.
Support your responses with evidence.
In addition to the course resources, you must use at least two articles that discuss cost effectiveness and cost controls.
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The Cost of Health Care
Describe how the policy is funded and annual costs of continuing the policy for the last year.
The needle exchange of the State of Florida and the rest of the USA is targeted at establishing sterile needle and syringe exchange program targeted at reducing the transmission of HIV and other blood borne infections that are linked to the reuse of contaminated needs and syringes by injection drug users. The program is prohibited by state law to from accepting public funds. Cost of Health Care Essay Paper The Florida program receives funds from the Gilead COMPASS Initiative under its screening component. The Initiative is committed to partnerships in addressing HIV/AIDS in Southern States. In addition, the program received funding from the Health Foundation of South Florida, the Comer Family Foundation, the Fishman Family Foundation, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and the MAC AIDS Fund, all of which offer grants (The Florida Senate, 2019). However, the federal appropriation act of 2016 allows federal funds to be used in the program to either establish the program or expand the services of an established program. Still, there are caveats on federal funding to exclude materials used for preparing and injecting drugs. A review of the annual costs of the program are estimated at $0.4 for rural areas serving 250 clients and $1.9 million for urban areas serving 2,500 clients. The cost per syringe are estimated at $1 in rural areas and $3 in urban areas. The annual cost per client are estimated at $700 for rural areas and $2,000 for urban areas (Teshale et al., 2019).
Analyze any financial and budgetary efforts developed or being proposed to contain costs. Relate current cost-containment strategies, including regulations, managed care efforts, or other financial and budgetary initiatives.
There are four strategies developed to contain costs. The first strategy is limiting federal funding to exclude materials used for preparing and injecting drugs. The second strategy is the use of volunteers from among persons who inject drugs. The use of volunteers is intended to reduce salaries and wage costs (Teshale et al., 2019). The third strategy entails pooling funds so that materials are purchased in large quantities for distribution to exchange sites thereby allowing the purchasers to negotiate lower prices. This strategy makes use of integrated management of public health initiatives at the state level to ensure that all resources allocated to the program are managed at the state level thus creating a coordinated effort. The unified management significantly reduces purchase costs for materials. The fourth strategy entails establishing planning and contracting mechanisms that are specified in the program guidelines. The guidelines ensure that there is accountability and accuracy for all materials purchases and services associated with the program. The contracting procedure is compulsory for all materials purchases with the program’s management team responsible for accurately implementing the contracting procedure, justifying purchases, soliciting tenders and identifying the best offers, and ensuring the accuracy of the contracts. Regardless of the source of funds, the program’s management team must observe the planning and contracting guidelines (Black, 2020).
Describe how the financing of your policy impacts health outcomes and the role of the nurse in the workplace.
Financing of the needle exchange program has an impact on health outcomes and the role of nurses in the workplace. Financing determines the amount of funds available for acquiring the materials required for the program. It determines whether the syringes and needles will be available when required by the target population. In addition, it determines how much money can be allocated on remunerations for nurses. This has implications for the number of nurses available for the program as well as their responsibilities in the program. Besides that, the conditions attached to the funding determines the specific actions that can be undertaken in the program, to include the proportion of funds spent on materials and salaries of nurses (Rambur, 2015). As a result, financing has an impact on health outcomes and role of nurses.
References
Black, B. (2020). Professional Nursing: Concepts & Challenges (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Rambur, B. (2015). Health Care Finance, Economics, and Policy for Nurses: A Foundational Guide. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Teshale, E., Asher, A., Aslam, M., Augustine, R., Duncan, E., Rose-Wood, A., … & Dietz, P. (2019). Estimated cost of comprehensive syringe service program in the United States. PLoS One, 14(4), e0216205. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216205
The Florida Senate (2019). Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement: PCS/CS/SB 366 (858036). https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/366/Analyses/2019s00366.ahs.PDF
