Health Care Policy Concern Essay Paper

Overview of the healthcare policy concern and solution: This section provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the healthcare policy as well as the solution. Required content includes:
Identification of the healthcare policy
Identification of the student identified solution
Relevance to the community or population group
Identification of communication techniques: This section requires the delineation of communication techniques useful to the upcoming presentation to the selected elected official. Required content includes:
Identification of the selected elected official and position
Rationale for the selection
Identification of 4 (four) beneficial communication/presentation techniques
Providing scholarly resources that support the use of the identified communication techniques

The paper (excluding the title page and reference page) should be at least 2, but no more than 4 pages. Points will be lost for not meeting these length requirements.
Title page, body of paper, and reference page must follow APA guidelines as found in the current edition of the manual. This includes the use of headings for each section of the paper except for the introduction where no heading is used.
A minimum of 4 (four) appropriate research-based scholarly references must be used.
Required textbook for this course, dictionary and Chamberlain College of Nursing lesson information may NOT be used as scholarly references for this assignment. For additional assistance regarding scholarly nursing references, please see the course Library Guide. Be aware that information from .com websites may be incorrect and should be avoided. References are current – within a 5-year time frame unless a valid rationale is provided and the instructor has approved them prior to submission of the assignment.  Health Care Policy Concern Essay Paper
Ideas and information from scholarly, peer reviewed, nursing sources must be cited and referenced correctly.
Rules of grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation are followed and consistent with formal, scientific writing

Health Care Policy Concern

Health care policy issues remain one of the most pressing concerns for lawmakers in the USA and around the world. The federal and state legislatures, as well as the White House continue to tackle the important health care matters that impacts all Americans, such as lowering the price of prescription medication (Milstead & Short, 2019). The present paper discusses the price of prescription medication as a policy concern and proposes an effective solution and an appropriate communication strategy.

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Identification of the healthcare policy

The health care policy concern is the high price of prescription medication. In fact, the USA is experiencing an increasing cost of prescription medication, and this is a source of concern for policy makers, payers, prescribers, and patients. A review of the associated figures reveals that the USA has a higher per capita prescription medication spending when compared to other countries. For instance, the US per capita spending on prescription medication was $858 in 2013, compared to the average figure of $400 reported for 19 other industrialized countries. In addition, about 17% of health care costs comprise of prescription medication. This state of affairs has been largely blamed on brand-name medication prices whose rates are far exceeding the consumer price index. Protected monopoly rights awarded by patents and the FDA allow manufacturers to enjoy market exclusivity and high drug prices (Kesselheim, Avorn & Sarpatwari, 2016).

Identification of the student identified solution

The identified policy solution to the issue of high prices of prescription medication is the faster approval of biosimilars and generics. The approval process is slow as providers are reluctant to trust them, clinical trials could be required prior to approval, incentives offered by the manufacturers of the original medication, and lawsuits that prevent market entry. The proposed policy change is intended to greatly stimulate biosimilars and generics sciences. Simplifying the approvals and making them faster as has been the case in Western European Countries and Canada can help to reduce redundancies. With this system, biosimilars and generics already approved in Mexico and Canada would be automatically granted approval in the USA thereby simplifying the regulatory process. This policy change requires cooperation, shared standards, and trust. Still, it is important to note that any Americans cross the border into Canada and Mexico to purchase biosimilars and generics at lower prices every year (Rajkumar, 2020).

Relevance to the community or population group

The high cost of prescription medication presents a concern to the community because of four reasons. Firstly, it threatens the government health care budget while limiting the funding that would be available for other health care areas requiring public investment. Secondly, patients with health insurance are likely to face unaffordable out-of-pocket costs. Thirdly, it risks medication innovations as manufacturers are motivated to go the less risky route of modifying existing medication instead of developing new medication that have a high probability of failure. As such, making the policy change as proposed would result in reduced prescription medication prices thus increasing public funding available, reducing costs that patients incur, and acting as impetus for drug innovation (Rajkumar, 2020).

Identification of communication techniques

An appropriate communication technique is the use of situation, background, assessment and recommendation (SBAR) situational briefing tool. This is an evidence-based communication tool that optimizes time and ensures effective communication (Jurns, 2018). Communication will be conducted through four approaches targeting the different stakeholders. Firstly, emails targeted at lawmakers to inform them about the issue and proposed solution. Secondly, presentation used to engage the public and inform them about the issue. Thirdly, posters used to inform the public. Finally, conferences used to engage policy makers in discussion forums (Garcia-Dia, 2019).

The elected official targeted for communication is Congresswoman Ann G. Eshoo who represents the 18^th Congressional District in California. She has two decades of policy making experience as a member of congress. She is the Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Health and is best positioned to frame and present the proposed policy change in a manner that garners the interest of other lawmakers for deliberation (eshoo.house.gov, 2021).

References

eshoo.house.gov (2021). Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo: California’s 18^th Congressional District. https://eshoo.house.gov/

Garcia-Dia, M. (2019). Project management in nursing informatics. Springer Publishing Company.

Jurns, C. (2018). Using SBAR to Communicate with Policymakers. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol24No01PPT47

Kesselheim, A. S., Avorn, J., & Sarpatwari, A. (2016). The high cost of prescription drugs in the United States: origins and prospects for reform. JAMA, 316(8), 858-871.  https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.11237

Milstead, J., & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics: a nurse’s guide (6^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Rajkumar, V. S. (2020). The high cost of prescription drugs: causes and solutions. Blood Cancer Journal, 10, article number 71. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-020-0338-x  . Health Care Policy Concern Essay Paper