Policy Process: Womens Health Care Services and Prevention Programs - Essay Example

"Policy Process: Women’s Health Care Services and Prevention Programs" is an excellent example of a paper on the health system.
This paper describes two stages in the process of forming a policy: analysis and revision stages, with some focus on women’s health care services and prevention programs.

Evaluation Stage

In the evaluation stage, the results of the newly formulated mechanisms are brought into comparison with the desired results of the policy. The impacts of the policy are evaluated. The effectiveness of the policy toward the achievement of goals is assessed. Any threats are determined. After completing the evaluation, the next step is the revision stage. Public policy evaluation is an interesting means to determine whether the policy is actually meeting the needs of people or not. Government agencies, institutions, and think tanks, all contribute equally in evaluating a public policy. The methodology is as under:

First of all, it is important to learn about the legislative record of the public policy being evaluated. This record is present in libraries under Congressional Record. We should also find out how the policy has come in its current state. The next step is to identify the stakeholders. It is important not only to identify the agency that has been charged with its implementation but also the recipients of services. Next comes a description of the policy in which the goals and objectives are identified and the procedure to attain these goals is described. After this, qualitative or quantitative data for evaluation is collected. The next step is to analyze the data. The analysis can be qualitative or quantitative based upon the nature of the data collected for evaluation. The final stage is to make recommendations for either the adoption of the policy or modification.

Health care organizations and health professionals play their role in evaluating public policies related to women’s health care. Prevention programs being employed by the government are also analyzed. This includes a look at how the policies are being implemented and what services are being provided to the women for their health improvement. For example, if a hospital employs the policy of giving special benefits to women suffering from diseases of heart or cancer, and the evaluators see that the policy is not being acted upon, then the hospital may be charged against the non-implementation of the policy.

Revision Stage

In this stage, the results seen in the evaluation stage are modified according to the desired outcome. This stage leads to either the adaption of or termination of the policy. The evaluated policy is either accepted the way it has been formulated, or modified a little bit, or terminated for good if desired outcomes do not seem to get achieved. This is why this stage is also called the modification/termination phase.

All policies, even once they get implemented, at some stage or other require a revision. Policies are often modified when such a perceptible incident happens that requires the organization to act in response. This is because of the occurrence of demanding events like the advent of technology and the internet. When there was no internet, policies were different. When the internet came and the company had to survive, the policies were revised and modified according to the modern world’s needs.

As in women’s health care and prevention programs, the evaluators must decide what modifications are necessary for the policy that would ensure how the services can better be made available to women of the community.