The Role and Authority of the Federal Government in the American Healthcare System - Essay Example

Describe at least five mechanisms used by the federal government to provide oversight of the United States health care system. As oversight requires vast resources, deeming is a process used that allows a federal government to delegate its oversight process. Provide an example of a federal agency that employs deeming as a mechanism of oversight.

In your response, discuss the entity to which the oversight is deemed, why the entity is appropriate to perform the deemed oversight function, and the oversight function that is delegated. The United States Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to assume a role in the United States Healthcare System. Within the clause of federalism, Congress “unquestionably possesses the power to deal directly and specifically with healthcare to obtain social health and economic advantages for the American people” (Dellinger and Powell, 1993).

In this regard, the involvement or function of the Federal government in American Health care is limited by two powers that it was given through the Constitution: (1) the power to directly regulate commerce between the states or the “Interstate Commerce Power” and (2) the power to spend money for the general welfare of the US citizens (Swendiman, 2012). The scope of the Federal Government’s role in providing health care includes choosing healthcare providers to accreditation of hospitals that will receive federal funds.

The Federal Government also has the power to dictate the inclusion of certain people groups into Federal healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare subsidies for the poor, children, and prisoners. However, qualifying individuals as recipients of these grants are still subject to the authority of the individual States, and setting the limits on the diseases and procedures covered by these programs are also State-controlled (Swendiman, 2012). Regulation is the primary responsibility of the Federal Government regarding healthcare and that requires a system of oversight.

The mechanisms that the Federal Government uses to oversee the health care system are the following: (Field, 2007)1. Regulation of Physicians and other Healthcare Professionals through licensing and Federal accreditation2. Regulation of Hospitals and other Healthcare Institutions s through inspection and accreditation3. Regulation and Administration of Healthcare Finance through legislation4. Regulation of drugs and healthcare products through the FDA5. Regulation of Public Health through agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).6. Regulation of Healthcare business relationships through taxes and other economic devices7.

Regulation and Funding of Research through agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NHI). Deeming is one mechanism employed in Hospital Federal and State Accreditation. The Agency responsible for this is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), yet the responsibility for giving the accreditation is given under contract to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). This process of deeming is beneficial to lessen the burden of costs against the Federal Government and the taxpayers, as well as to efficiently and effectively do the monitoring and accreditation for the workload is distributed and not swamped in one agency alone.

The JCAHO and the AOA are composed of the top caliber experts that are qualified if a healthcare institution performs its practice according to Medicare’s Conditions of Participation. The two organizations are then the ones who are directly supervised by the CMS (Sprague, 2005).