Evidence Base in Design Essay Paper
Discussion 1: Evidence Base in Design
When politics and medical science intersect, there can be much debate. Sometimes anecdotes or hearsay are misused as evidence to support a particular point. Despite these and other challenges, however, evidence-based approaches are increasingly used to inform health policy decision-making regarding causes of disease, intervention strategies, and issues impacting society. One example is the introduction of childhood vaccinations and the use of evidence-based arguments surrounding their safety. Evidence Base in Design Essay Paper
In this Discussion, you will identify a recently proposed health policy and share your analysis of the evidence in support of this policy.
To Prepare:
Review the Congress website provided in the Resources and identify one recent (within the past 5 years) proposed health policy.
Review the health policy you identified and reflect on the background and development of this health policy.
By Day 3 of Week 7
Post a description of the health policy you selected and a brief background for the problem or issue being addressed. Explain whether you believe there is an evidence base to support the proposed policy and explain why. Be specific and provide examples.
Required Readings
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 5, “Public Policy Design” (pp. 87–95 only)
Chapter 8, “The Impact of EHRs, Big Data, and Evidence-Informed Practice” (pp. 137–146)
Chapter 9, “Interprofessional Practice” (pp. 152–160 only)
Chapter 10, “Overview: The Economics and Finance of Health Care” (pp. 183–191 only)
American Nurses Association (ANA). (n.d.). Advocacy. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/advocacy/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (n.d.). Step by step: Evaluating violence and injury prevention policies: Brief 4: Evaluating policy implementation. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/injury/pdfs/policy/Brief%204-a.pdf
Congress.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.congress.gov/
Klein, K. J., & Sorra, J. S. (1996). The challenge of innovation implementation. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1055–1080.
Sacristán, J., & Dilla, T. D. (2015). No big data without small data: Learning health care systems begin and end with the individual patient. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 21(6), 1014–1017.
Tummers, L., & Bekkers, V. (2014). Policy implementation, street level bureaucracy, and the importance of discretion. Public Management Review, 16(4), 527–547. Evidence Base in Design Essay Paper
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Evidence Base in Design
The matter of healthcare policy affects both the nurse and the patient. Policy is extremely important as it is what regulates practice as well as the provision of healthcare services. However, policy is usually legislative in nature and thus it is formulated by elected representatives that themselves may not have any medical background. It is for this reason that the nurse is called upon to engage in the politics of healthcare and advocacy for the sake of the profession and the patient (Milstead & Short, 2019; O’Rourke et al., 2017). The purpose of this short paper is to analyze the recently proposed healthcare policy called the Reduced Costs and Continued Cures Act or RCCCA. Its objective is to reduce the cost of prescription medications for patients.
The Policy Description, Background, and Evidence
The RCCCA policy aims at reducing the cost of prescription drugs because in the United States these medications are too expensive. As many average Americans depend on the ACA 2010 or Obamacare (Kominski et al., 2017) for health insurance, most of them cannot afford expensive prescription medications. In recent years, the prices of prescription medications have risen steadily (Rand Corporation, 2021). The RCCCA healthcare policy bill was introduced in September of 2021 by legislators Scott Peters (CA-52) and Kurt Schrader (OR-05). Because pharmaceutical corporations have had a near monopolistic grasp on the American market for pharmaceuticals, they have actually controlled the prices of prescription medications. This means that they are operating in a capitalistic environment on matters of health that mean life and death. It is for this reason that the two legislators found it fit to put in some checks and balances. The evidence is in the scholarly literature such as that by Cai et al. (2020) advocating for single payer health financing.
Conclusion
The RCCCA healthcare policy was proposed in 2021. It aims to oblige the pharmaceutical corporations to leave prescription drug prices at reasonable and affordable levels. It was proposed by the two legislators Scott Peters and Kurt Schrader.
References
Cai, C., Runte, J., Ostrer, I., Berry, K., Ponce, N., Rodriguez, M., Bertozzi, S., White, J.S., & Kahn, J.G. (2020). Projected costs of single-payer healthcare financing in the United States: A systematic review of economic analyses. PLOS Medicine, 17(1), 1-18. https://doi.og/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003013
Kominski, G.F., Nonzee, N.J. & Sorensen, A. (2017). The Affordable Care Act’s impacts on access to insurance and health care for low-income populations. Annual Review of Public Health, 38. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044555
Milstead, J. & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide, 6th ed. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
O’Rourke, N.C., Crawford, S.L., Morris, N.S., & Pulcini, J. (2017). Political efficacy and participation of nurse practitioners. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 18(3), 135–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527154417728514
Rand Corporation (January 28, 2021). Prescription drug prices in the United States are 2.56 times those in other countries. https://www.rand.org/news/press/2021/01/28.html
Evidence Base in Design Essay Paper
