Health Policy Analysis - Essay Example

Health policy Healthy policy is plan than drives the investment and action of design in order to improve health care and prevent illness for persons within a locality. Laws, bureaucratic edicts and the guiding principles can manifest the policy. Health policy makers are tasked with a navigating path between competing interests and demands to develop an analytical response to the health problems. There has been an increasing interest in evidence-based policy, although research policy is not a factor influencing policy but a contributor to effective health. In a health policy research, the obtained information is very important in provision of basis for the allocation of government resources in an area (Lee and Mills 2004:12). A policy impact refers to policy implementation strategies in health of an individual like in the case of clinical management policies application. There are many opportunities for funding without evidence more so the political and economic factors. Detailed healthy policy analysis and evaluation improves the chances of a successful implementation of future policy by revealing opportunities, which may contain enhancement documentation. Introduction Healthy policy is the plan and actions that government or other established bodies undertake in order to achieve certain health care goals in a given society. An explicit health care may achieve certain things inclusively designing the future of the health industry as well as distributing priorities and role of each player. Health is the most important secondary need that every person would want (McLaughlin 2004:173). In the developed world, more emphasis is on improving health and the longevity of the global citizens. The main policy within the health department is that it aims at quality life. Now another question, of what is quality life develops. Participation in health policy Health policy in its evaluation has many disciplines that are very involving and majorly cater for the biological and behavioral changes of the mortal beings. Both the macro and the microeconomics incorporate the connections of health whereabouts and demographic transition through research methods, findings, and the casual relations. The of the connections in which people live in and their expected live span promote the health production status as well strengthening the relationship between an individual stock of health and the productivity of the same. Health goes hand in hand with demographic growth of any state. Control of reproduction improves the health of the mother as well as the well-being of the offspring’s. The mother also has many opportunities to improve economically. The service offered in health centers must of high quality because the patients are not very many (Johnson and Stoskopf 2005:112). The health policy is as well demanding and calls for effective participation of each player for effective results. The conceptual understanding of each social and political trend that are in the public health participation leads to critical decision making of the heads as part of their management. Health policy participation can be a form of reflection and response to legitimacy and superiority of professional knowledge as key determinant to health care decision making (McLaughlin: 302). It can also be a form of redefinition of the role of provincial government in the local health resource care and the desire to hold health care providers more accountable to the dire community they serve. The freedom of participation in the health policy shifts the in the political philosophy on who is to make certain health care decisions. This shift is more of the participatory process of decision making that is away from the professional dominance particularly in the medical field. Healthy policymaking and participation is hierarchical but very inclusive. At its lowest, the policy may reflect the technical expertise that does not give any informational advantage when it comes numerous values considered as today’s health care resource allocation decisions. At the treatment level, the policy reflects a growing recognition that patients value, prefer, and ought to incorporate in the decision making process in assessing merits of the different alternatives in the health problems. This second approach induces the recognition of the strong technical component to decision making concerning the selection of treatment options (Helms 2003:45). Finally, the patient can analyze and place value on the benefits of living in regards to cost and the potential consequences of the various treatments. Patient is a very important player in the health policy as he facilitates seeking to develop algorithms, decision rules, and interactive videos that clarify and explain treatment choices and their anticipated health outcome to him. The basic aim is to provide patients’ best technical information that will enable him to make the treatment decision which best suit him. This information also helps in potential breakdown of the traditional knowledge that is asymmetrical between the specialists and the patients. It also enhances the autonomy of the patients in the treatment decision making. The greater participation of the different parties in the health care decision makes the results shift in perceptions of the appropriate role and the responsibilities of the provincial governance in the health care. This shift is from a dominant and direct decision making role of a less intrusive partnership that facilitates the communist role (Kirch 2008:217). For example in a fiscal environment where the federal government continues to incur most of its finances to the provisions of health care insurances programs the administrators are responding by decentralizing difficulties in resource allocation decisions at the local areas. The concentration of energies on formulating global systems objectives and principles facilitate mobilization of local planning and management initiatives. Major impetuses that hinder the increasing community involvement in healthcare decision-making are like the desire to make providers more accountable in the communities (McLaughlin: 346). These providers serve by promoting an enhanced role for local communities in health care resource allocations. Currently several mechanics have been employed to involve all citizens in the decision making processes. Provincial health ministries and other various stakeholders that generally form the eye of the public have made health care policies. Some societies have tuned the health care cost to be a responsibility of the individual to be accountable for clearing their bills. Dire participation in the healthy policy arranges to introduce more accountability in order to hold more health care systems that provide market disciplines. These systems make producers it more responsible than the patients to have had attenuation do. Currently, specific mechanisms have been employed in order to increase public accountability. Most provincial governances have decentralized decision making to local boards that have enhanced community representation and reflected better local preferences, a strategy which incorporates two assumptions. The first assumption is priorities determined by centralized provincial government cannot adequately reflect local community preferences (Somerville and Saul 2002:18). The assumption is that decentralizing resource allocation decision to be resolved within the context of regional funding envelopes the facilitation cost and the buffer provincial government budget. However, the health department has so many unresolved key issues. For example, the question of the exact kind of tasks that the individual participants should participate in, and how one should present to the person who is responsible over him or her are yet to have discussion. The governments that are met by these problems are have began to tackle the problem by establishing interim health boards which are to recommend on the permanent structures of board selection methods in the respective districts. A greater public accountability is against the backdrop of an increasingly critical appraisal in the current health care interventions and the widespread concern over rising health care cost. Greater public participation in health care facilities have a played a central role in the emphasis of socio-democratic ideas and goals. Community empowerment and participation in the health care facility management consolidates the power of professional bureaucrats rather than empowering citizens. Level of participation The level of participation in health care decision-making is dependent on the individual’s vitality ij the discussion table for decision-making purposes (McLaughlin: 379). There is a big difference between listening to the views or orders addressed by others and the complete involvement in decision-making. The level of involvement in decision-making is dependent on participation and the process established to structure it. Participation in decision-making can take different forms. It can be through informing. Informing alone in strict speaking order is a minor form of involvement and thus not actually recognized as a mode of decision-making. It is the lowest actual ray of participation in the decision-making. Informing and consultation only provide an opportunity for individuals to only express his views but no guarantee that individual that the views may be taken into account. Evaluation of health policy Health policy is evaluated in terms of cost-effectiveness, technological efficiency and the adoption of the behavioral responsiveness to the intervention of family, individual, and communities. Health policy strategies are required to address the economic production and health capacities of persons from conception to the old age, improve the health status that attribute to policy interventions, and the raw conditions of fertility, family, and time distribution as it changes from time to time. Health policies aim at giving brighter future to the individuals as well as technical and financial assistances of the member group (Helms 2003:81). Health policy faces a broad range of entrenched and other worse cases of public health problems. These emerging issues of public health problems have posed great challenges to the mode of operation of the most of health centers across the globe. Some of the major challenges that are facing the hospital industry are like; persistent aboriginal health status due to emerging and more chronic illnesses whose immediate cure is yet to be found. Another problem facing the healthy policy is the widening inequality in health where the poor and the rich cannot access equal medical services. The poor because of the financial instability are unable to access some standard medical services (Kirch 2008:197). The aging population has also become a bother to the medical policy makers since some require very special services that are not available in some health centers. There are also emerging health threats in the current society where the existing medical personnel could unaware of thus many patients die of it before the cure is established. Health bureaucracy is another common problem in health centers in most of the countries especially the common wealth members. These barriers should however be overwhelmed if at all the medical programs are to run smoothly. The health centers should lower the complexity in health systems financing programs (McLaughlin 2008:412). The state level of each country should plan effectively and put policies that ensure health system is organized ,funded and the services offered co-ordinate in the most effective and sustainable way. For example the policy should look into ways of vaccinating the most chronic diseases or look for prevention measures. The capacity to invest in prevention initiatives is hampered by health system largely focused on the emerging episodes of acute care, the free services offered in the general practice and the poor coordination of the different community healthcare sectors and the work force shortages in most of the health professional offices (Somerville and Saul 2002:57). Another major problem facing the health policy is the division of labor and responsibilities amongst the health workers. This issue of professional duty distribution is becoming a major problem in the commonwealth countries and it has led to coordination complication, overlap, and duplication of services, gaps, and cost shifting in the service delivery. This complicated mix in the public health policy as well as the private insurers and providers has entrenched powerful interests that limit the ability of the state to bring about changes. Policy problems like social exclusion and health inequalities also cross the periphery and portfolio boundaries. These however require a policy makers and public sector organization to work in the new orders in order to be effective. The health policy-makers have also been faced by the challenge of balancing the different health systems like the equity, efficiency, and quality service delivery especially for the demanding customers. Most of the health centers have limited resources that need immediate action. Equity is required in the health care centers, which will automatically come out of universality in the service delivery, and the cost of the same standardized. The policy-making environment has become more complex over the last few decades because of major shifts in the relationship between the government and the general society. This has become the trend because of the large forces of globalization, that is, the increasing international nature of the political and economic forces, which frame the policy due to the increasing use of technology (Helms 2003:102). Market reliance mechanisms programs like the managed competition policy tools have resulted to changes in the roles of the public forces in policymaking. The increasing involvement of the third party like the citizens and the stakeholders in the service delivery results into a more complex policy environment that has more players outside the government boundaries and creates more complexity in terms of involving the most responsible service provision policy developments projects. These developments shape and reflect the increasing complexity of health and its environment. The constant changes in the policy environment around the health centre have resulted top great uncertainty and complexity in the policymaking. Emerging issues in the health policy literature like evidences of policymaking call for greater policy coherence. It also brings about the skills required in the policy making process and for institutional supports required in the change of working ways (McLaughlin 2004:187). Through integration of framework in all the program operation stimulates innovation towards outcome improvement and better positioning to detect effective programs. This enhances the ability to interpret findings and put them into practice. Working of healthy policy The healthy policy of most of the countries is the most vigorous policy in the various societies and reflects the nature of political administration of the country. The health policy of any country reflects the health of well being of the people in a certain society. The operation of the healthy system has been perfect for past few decades (Helms 2003:148). The health outcomes also have been excellent when measured in terms of money value, the quality of medical care and rate of demand of the medical service. However, all this can be improved on the course of, and sense of health policy circles. The healthy policy has foundations within the federal state and territory government and scores within professional association of charities and lobby groups. However, there is no specific master plan, which readily defines dominant force in the healthy policy. Health policy requires an elaborate population that will effectively influence changes in its system functioning (Kirch 2008:274). The changing knowledge and the emergence of new monitor performance and complicated machines has called for the health personnel to keep abreast of the current issues and the emerging trends in the health industry. The health policy is and remains to be a major political issue across the globe. However, the health department is aiming at a situation when the officials in the department will look upon the health situation as their own perils and work towards bettering the lives of patients in the health centers. Currently health indicators show that majority of global citizens has limited access to health centers. The program of functioning of the health policy revolves around financing, provisions, stewardship, and resource generating programs. Majority of the effort in the healthy policy is in the system issues across the organization. A comprehensive analysis of the health finance option is the setting underway to culminate in the WHO financing policy. Health Policy formation The basic goal of the health policy is to protect and promote health of the individuals as well as the community. Government officials can accomplish this objective of the health policy with dire respect of human rights and through the right self-determination, privacy, and nondiscrimination (Kirch 2008:278). Health policy is determined through the process of framework that has influence by actors, content, and context. Its formation includes negotiation and bargaining, which satisfy the various interests, and has basis in a coalition. However, it varies according to the nature of the policy and the organizational structure in which makes. Government has a direct influence to the formation of healthy policy as it contributes in financial support, technology improvement, engagement and implementation of social values, and the utilitarian of people’s attitudes towards research. Health policy formation is thus a complex process due to combination of all these factors. Government, before establishment of the health policy it must consider some factors like cigarette smoking, federalism, that is, the share of power among the different levels of administration, and the pressure from the different medical organizations. Currently, there has been a problem with the administration forces of the various health centers. They have been ready to support the olden beliefs that have existed in the health department for over years than raising and supporting new appraisal that would positively effect management. Generally, national, state and the local advisory committees shape health policy, which render it impossible to offer a systematic and a comprehensive analysis of the same (McLaughlin 2004:203). The committees that are selected to serve these health committees must be ready to deal withy any considerable data amounts. Successful management should have a culturally diverse perspective of integral final committee recommendations. Health policy utilization Health sector carries with it greater impact on the total cost spends and a great influence on the ageing generation’s welfare. The health trends among the elderly people are a complex matter in most of the countries. This is because of a constant increase in numbers people with common disorders, cognitive decline, and an accumulation of burden of diseases (Helms 2003:174). Thus, the ability of the older people to remain healthy is very dependent on the supportive environment and their ability to access economic resources as well as quality medical care. The health systems thus need to conform in order to deliver relevant health systems that are in line with the need of the ageing population. Various measures can however be taken to reduce the inappropriate usage of hospital services and implement health interventions that particularly promote health and disease prevention. Health policy utilization has increased substantially over the pats few decades with widespread reports of its growing demand by patients who are crowding in the health centers (Somerville and Saul 2002:81). The continued crowding is due to delays in the care of patients presumably because of inadequate capacity to handle the large influx of patients. The health centers play a very important role in the lives of people. Different people visit health centers at different times to address urgent or non –urgent problems. The issue of constant visit to health centers has however raised controversies and now is subject to debate. Many people attribute the daily visits to health centers with no definite reason as the major cause of crowding in the health centers. Apart from that, people visit health centers for medical check-ups and clinic purposes. There is an emerging trend in the health department where most hospitals have been having emergency cases that require fast medical check ups (Helms 2003:198). The funniest bit of this is that many patients have preferred hospital emergency services even if they believe that their health problem is not that urgent. This has been the case because the urgency department is fast and effective in service delivery compared to the primary care given by the physicians outside the urgency department. Conclusion The health policy department is and continues to be the integral part of human living. People solely cannot do without hospitals just as the hospitals cannot do without patients. There the two interlink and are very dependent. The expenditures over the health are enormous and are on the verge of increasing if at all, no changes approved. Health coverage is universal and its assessment of effectiveness has difficulties due to comparison in the primary conditions of performance (McLaughlin 2004:284). Some few changes however need to be implemented to improve the quality of medical care and diversify its services to reach a greater audience. The governments of the various states should generate additional cost towards the hospital department that would expand the centers and reducing redundant utilization if at all it exists. Bibliography Hann, A. 2008. Health Policy and Politics. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Helms, R. 2003. American Health Policy. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute. Johnson, J. and Stoskopf, C. 2005. Comparative Health Systems. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Kirch, W. 2008. Encyclopedia of Public Health. New York: Springer. Lee, K. and Mills, A. 2004. Policy-Making and Planning in the Health Sector. Beijing: Taylor & Francis. McLaughlin, C. 2004. Health Policy and the Uninsured. Washington, DC: The Urban Insitute. McLaughlin, C. and McLaughlin, P. 2008. Health Policy Analysis. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Milstead, A. 2008. Health Policy and Politics. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Somerville, M. and Saul, J. 2002. Do We Care? Montreal: McGill-Queens. Whiteford, L. and Manderson. L. 2000. Global Health Policy, Local Realities. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Wilensky, E. and Teitelbaum, J. 2007. Essentials of Health Policy and Law. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Zalmanovitch, Y. 2002. Policy Making at the Margins of Government. New York: SUNY Press. Read More