Lobbying and Legislative Red Tape Impacting Reform - Essay Example

Task: Critical Analysis 2 – Lobbying and Legislative Red Tape Impacting Reform Overview Red tape refers to a collection of procedures and forms that are required in the process of gaining bureaucratic approval for an issue. In other words, it involves too much regulation or stiff conformity to recognized rules that are deemed unnecessary or bureaucratic and hampers or averts action or judgment making (RoSPA 27). Such procedures are often complex, oppressive and consume a lot of time. The issue of red tape hit the historical records from the 16th century, in the Maryland laws. Since then, it has spread gradually in the current world. It is typically handy to governments, corporations and additional large organizations. Red Tape can further be defined as the bureaucratic application of hair dividing or foot lugging, charged by its practitioners on the structure that powers them to pursue stipulated processes to the letter. Red tape commonly consists of filling out of rules and regulations, acquisition of licenses, enclosing several people or committees commend a judgment and diverse low-level policies that create performing one's affairs sluggishly, more complicated, or both. It can as well comprise of filing and documentation prerequisites, reporting, study, scrutiny and implementing methods and practices. This paper explores the issue of red tape in the healthcare industry and goes a step further to analyze red tape in the context of healthcare in the US. The paper also explores the implications of red tape and concludes that; policy makers should revise the regulations with regard to healthcare issues so as to better the incorporation of red tape in the industry. Lobbying and Legislative Red Tape Impacting Reform Despite regulation efficiency being a priority in the present business world, red tape has also been extended to the current healthcare issues. In this case, many practices in the health industry have been massively disadvantaged. As a result, controversies have been raised over the necessity of red tape in the health industry. Many assertions have pointed a finger at the regulatory structure, for complicating the practices in the current healthcare issues. However, red tape in the scope of health issues is not indecent wholly, even though its vices are evident. This means that the benefits of red tape precede its shortcomings. Red tape impacts reforms in the current health issues globally. The reduction of red tape is a renowned electoral and policy assurance. In the western countries, multiple committees have debated acts of Red Tape Reduction. Research on a number of Healthcare issues has been done to comprehend the effects of red tape on Health Industry (Pozgar 77). The main aim of these industry case researches is to increase a comprehensive report of the manner in which actual businesses conform to regulatory necessities, emphasizing parts of unnecessary or superfluous requirements and recognizing the collective consequences of regulation on health care productivity. Red tape hinders concern for poor and disabled patients. These patients are eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, but going backward and forward amid state and federal bureaus can augment medical expenses and diminish their eminence of care (Shi and Douglas 537). Today, federal officials are searching for ways of managing costs, under healthcare restructuring and reforms; they are emphasizing on many patients with heart problems and lack money for treatment. These efforts prove to be futile because system restructuring and reforms is a subject that is sensitive. The federal government imposes multiple amounts of pages of weighty and exclusive rules with additional numbers issued all the time. Politicians should examine new and on hand rules to make certain that each is essential and to reduce costs. HHS Issues Regulations are deemed to decrease Red Tape for Health centers and Providers. The stipulated effects could effect in savings of approximately one billion dollars annually, in reference to the Health Department and Human Services. Health and human services suggest that the deemed modifications would be relevant to exceedingly 6000 health centers. This would also save approximately 1.1 billion dollars annually to providers without impacting any aftermath dangers in patients. Health centers would no longer require a devoted executive of outpatient services and might contract out radiology and laboratory checks (Clinton 51). The volumes of the expected savings emerge from the amends in the circumstances of input for health centers and critical care health centers. The amends are likely to save about $900 million in the initial year. According to Health and Human Services, secretary health personnel and health insurance industries waste a lot of money and time filling out paperwork and processing forms. The Affordable Care Act is aiding health personnel to function more proficiently and use their time attending to patients as opposed to processing paperwork. The interim rule is intended to ease the work of providers; in establishing whether a patient is entitled for treatment and the position of a provider’s assert for compensation to a health insurer. This normalizes transmission and information designs for insurers and providers. Analysis of Red Tape in the US Healthcare Industry Presently, thousands of pages containing regulations that are expensive and burdensome are being enforced by governments in the scope of health issues. For instance, the United States (US) is characterized by red tape in almost every industry, with the health industry being inclusive. Recently, the US placed 5 regulations in the healthcare industry (Jindal 230), which developed from Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). These healthcare industry regulations were among other regulations that have extracted a considerable $1.75 trillion from the US economy. Presently, the health of US citizens is safeguarded by the Food and Drug Administration through the taking of appropriate precautions. The individual health insurance mandate provided in the US healthcare industry provides that healthcare insurance should be obtained by the Americans. Failure to obtain the insurance leads to financial penalties. This provision is critical to the fact that the dilemmas resulting from the uninsured citizens cannot be solved by the individual mandate. Instead, the provision will subject the tax payers to an enormous economic burden, through the subsidies that are inclusive in it. Similarly, the employer health insurance mandate has the requirement that companies having over 50 employees should provide for the employees’ health benefits. A considerable penalty of $2,000 dollars is imposed on such companies per employee (Jindal 232). From a critical standpoint, this mandate corresponds to unintended consequences. The mandate encompasses a significant taxation on business. These costs will most undoubtedly be realized by consumers and workers through increment in prices of services and goods, job losses and low wages. In general, these mandates in the US healthcare industry are beneficial, but they should be revised with keen considerations so as to ensure they are for the good of all. This entails a keen examination of the adverse effects of the mandates. The Implications of Red Tape in the Healthcare Industry Red tape has come with various implications in the health industry. For example, the whole process encompasses massive spending. The cost of managing the procedures in healthcare has corresponded to a considerable amount of spending. This has been critical since the management of the procedures is done at a remarkably broad platform. Favoritism has also been discouraged by red tape in health institutions. The various procedures that have been put in place in health institutions have seen patients acquiring medication at a platform of equality (Whelan para.2). The services being offered in many health institutions are characterized by fairness, and some procedures have enabled all people to access healthcare funding easily. However, in some countries, red tape does not guide the procedures in health institutions. Such cases are unusually prevalent in the developing countries since the legislative red tape is not being incorporated in the structure of services. From another perspective, red tape has impacted practitioners positively over time. Some researches carried on social grounds indicate that many practitioners have thrived in those environments (Syna 35). The procedures have guided the delivery of services in healthcare institutions and many practitioners have been satisfied with red tape. However, many physicians have no confidence in the red tape with regard to healthcare issues. Some have even opted to drop health programs (Rais and Viana 24). Therefore, it is logical to assert that red tape has positively impacted the healthcare industry but its adverse effects have not been critically analyzed. Though the positive implications precede the negative, the whole structure is not successful in meeting the intended objectives. Thus, they have to be abolished or revised depending on their necessity. Conclusion With the continuous allegations that red tape has complicated the healthcare industry, it is a call for the policy makers to take some steps. Some relief is urgently needed, given that the costs associated with red tape have made global records. More critically, reducing the number of regulations on healthcare procedures is not entirely enough to address the shortcomings of red tape. The rules in the healthcare industry should be reviewed thoroughly by policy makers, to enable them cite the ones that should be retained or abolished. Works Cited Clinton, Bill. Health Security: The President's Report to the American People. Washington, D.C. The Council, 1993. Jindal, Bobby. "The New Louisiana" vs. "The Washington Way." Vital Speeches of the Day, 2010. Vol. 76(5): 228-234. Pozgar, George. Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Rais, Abdur & Viana, Ana. “Operations Research in Healthcare: A Survey.” By: International Transactions in Operational Research, 2011. Vol. 18(1): 1-31, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-3995.2010.00767.x. RoSPA. “Firms Struggle under Flood of Red Tape.” Occupational Safety & Health Journal, 2010. Vol. 40(9): 24-31. Shi, Leiyu & Douglas, Singh. Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett, 2008. Syna, Helena. “Gender, Globalization and Ethics in Public Healthcare System: The Challenges of Nurses-managers in Engaging Moral Dilemmas.” Global Management Journal, 2010. Vol. 2(2): p34-40. Whelan, Patrick. "The Obama Health-Care Plan is headed in a Positive Direction." My family Doctor website, 2012. Accessed 28 January 2012 at: . Read More