Critiquing Internet Sources - Assignment Example

CRITIQUING INTERNET SOURCES CRITIQUING INTERNET SOURCES Impact of health insurance on health care delivery The issue of health insurance and its impact on healthcare delivery can be taken from several perspectives and angles. Depending on where a reviewer is coming from, there are key issues with health insurance services that can be raised for academic and professional attention (Bollen, 2009). In her address in the video titled “The Impact of Accountable Care Organizations on Healthcare Delivery Pt 1”, Loreen Brown argues that even though accountable care organizations (ACO) have a role to play in ensuring that the kind of investment patients make on their health through insurance, their roles are hampered by several factors including cost and practicality of ACO participation.

In her submission, it would be noted that there is an attempt to overcome forms of biases that exists in the delivery of healthcare where only the rich get the best of care. There is also much emphasis on the use credible sources to back her arguments and justifications, making them very valid. On the issue of applicability of information however, there are major limitations that may be faced in the attempt to generalizing accountability services to all healthcare service providers. On his part, Bottles (2013) writes in a blog titled “Healthcare can still divide the United States”.

In this post, there is bias of argument towards the provision of specialized insurance services for the elderly in the United States. In his opinion, the creation of a separate health insurance for the elderly did not come out of good faith but as a means of gaining political favor with the masses. The use of quotations and documented provisions from the Supreme Court, Alabama Hospital Association records, and studies from other researchers make the information very applicable and for that matter reliable.

The issue of validity can however not be justified because there was much use of personalized and subjective rather than quantitative and empirical logic in the reasoning of arguments in the blog. For the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2012), their podcast focused on the effects of bundled payment on Health Care Spending and Quality. This is one such post that can be said to be highly valid in information delivery as the scope of arguments and information delivery were based on empirical evidence rather than the use of subjective opinion on how bundled payment could be a disadvantage to successful health care delivery.

This was further improved with the use of randomized sampling, which enhances the internal validity of any research work (Bessant and Buckingham, 2003). With this said, the information provided cannot be said to have much applicability because it focused mainly on Rockville, making generalization of information problematic. Due to the use of random sampling, the possibility of biases was totally minimized. Looking at the fact that each of the three sources used tried to give a some in-depth information and background to health care practices from different settings, it can clearly be agreed that web-based information has a major influence on global citizenship.

Today, the internet has broken the barriers that used to exist in the flow of information and data (Bollen, 2009). Before, one had to travel distance to know about what was happening in other place but this is no more due to the power of web-based information. It is indeed a valid justification to argue that there is now global citizenship than there was some years ago, coupled with multicultural understanding. This is because through the sharing of web-information, it is now possible for people from one part of the world to learn about practices in health care delivery in other parts of the world and rightly practice this in their own setting, even if the two belong to different cultural orientations.

The era where certain kinds of information were the sole preserve of their sources has also become a thing of the past due to how easily accessible web-based information is. But even as the advantages of web-based information are being celebrated, it is important to take caution, where caution is due. This is because there are several limitations and disadvantages that come with the use of web-based information. One of these disadvantages is that the creation of blogs, videos and podcasts is so unrestricted that anyone with virtually no professional knowledge can sit in the comfort of his home and post wrong and misleading information on the web.

Three key factors must therefore be considered when evaluating internet sources for use in research information. The first of these is credibility of authors; second is the use of primary and secondary evidence in arguments, and finally, the credibility of web host. Once the background of authors can be verified as being professionals in their areas of posting, there can be some level of assurance with reliability of information. The same applies to the host source, where is it advised that credible academic sources such as the Ashford Online Library be used.

Finally, the level of evidence used in information delivery can go a long way to justify validity of arguments. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2012). Bundled Payment: Effects on Health Care Spending and Quality: Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. Accessed November 4, 2013 from http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/gapbundtp.html Bessant J, and Buckingham J. (2003). Innovation and organizational learning: the case of computeraided production management.

British Journal of Management 4(4):219–37. Bollen KA. (2009). Structural equations with latent variable. New York: Wiley- Interscience Publication. Accessed from Ashford Online Library. Bottles K. (2013). Healthcare can still divide the United States. Accessed November 3, 2013 from http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2013/10/16/healthcare_can_still_divide_us_risk_gove Brown L. (2013). The Impact of Accountable Care Organizations on Healthcare Delivery Pt 1. Accessed November 4, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?

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