Health Insurance & Policy Project 2018

Health Insurance & Policy Project

Revised: 10/172018

Guidelines

For the project, the class has been divided into groups. Please see the project group listing on blackboard for more information. This project requires the completion of a power point presentation and a detailed executive brief.

The goal of the power point is to highlight findings of the information in the executive brief. The presentation should be approximately 20-25 slides in length. The executive brief should function as a comprehensive document that provides a detailed analysis of the findings and positions the health policy group. The brief should demonstrate scholarly writing and use of appropriate references.  You will need a MINIMUM 30 references from peer-reviewed/ empirical journals and/or well respected journals (e.g. New York Times, Gallup, Wall Street Journal). However, the more references you have the better. The format of the executive brief should conform to the specifications in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Logical flow, clarity of presentation, correct grammatical structure, and correct spelling should be evident throughout the document.  The document should be proofread and free of typographical errors. Points will be deducted if problems exist in any of these areas. The executive brief should be approximately 25 pages (with a maximum of 30 pages), single spaced and typed in “Times New Roman” with a 12-point font. Length refers to the text and does not include the title page or the reference pages. Use one-inch margins top, bottom, left, and right. Do not use quotes, unless for definitions or particular emphasis, paraphrase instead. Use third person, not first (the use of words such as I, we, are only acceptable in the policy development stage of the paper). Write objectively, not subjectively (no opinion, but fact).  Please use the information on pages two and three of this document as a reference on how to proceed. Use the headings from the Executive Brief Template as headings for your executive brief. Please pay attention to the percentage of the grade for each heading and use that as a guide for emphasis in each section. Please note that this is a brief and not a term paper. Bullet points and the use of graphs are encouraged when illustrating or discussing key points. Several sample briefs on general health policy issues have been provided in a packet titled Sample Brief Packet. Please use this information as an example of what is needed to complete this project.

I: Assessment:

Provide a detailed comprehensive overall analysis of the United States Healthcare System. This can be accomplished by viewing the subheading below.

IA: Assess the general public health/health care sentiment of the American People (subjective indices).

· Public Opinion Polls can be used to identify the sentiment of the people in the United States. (e.g. How do they feel about their jobs, taxes, income level, healthcare, direction of the country). Use this information to identify how people feel about health care in the United States. Please see below for examples of polls which should be used in your research.

· http://www.americanresearchgroup.com

· American Research Group

· The Gallup Poll

· Mason-Dixon

· Quinnipiac University Polling Institute

· Rasmussen Reports

· SurveyUSA

· Zogby

· CBS News Poll

· Pew Research

· New York Times; Wall Street Journal; etc

IB: Assess the health status of the population (relatively objective indices).

· The information listed below are a sample of health policy sites which provide health policy professionals specific information about the state of the American Health Care System.

· Gallup- Heathway's Healthy wellbeing index

· Health USA ****

· National Center for Health Statistics

· US Census

· Institute of Medicine: IOM

· Commonwealth fund

· Health Affairs

· Kaiser family foundation

· Urban Institute

· AARP

· etc

IC: Sites for Specific Assessments

· Specific assessments can be conducted by analyzing the following sources.

· American Heart Association

· American Diabetes Association

· American Cancer Society

· New England Journal of Medicine

· New York Times/ Washington Post: Health /Health Policy section/ Wall Street Journal:

ID: Previous Health Care Plans/Proposals

· Listed below are an example of previous health policy proposals. It is advised that you research some of these proposals and identify the positive and negative aspects of these plans. This information can be used as a basis in your plan development.

· Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

· Massachusetts Health Plan.

· President Clinton Health Care Plan.

· Health Plans of Presidential Candidates (past and current)

· Look in the health policy journals for additional health insurance plans/options.

· HSA/ Consumer Driven Plans.

·

II: Policy Development:

Based on all of the material you assessed, it is now time to develop your plan. Do not reinvent the wheel. The current programs in the health care system has been based on entities of the past. For example, The Patient Protection and Affordability Act (PPACA) was based on the Massachusetts Health Plan. The Baylor Hospital Plan provided the blueprint for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield. The Blue Cross/ Blue Shield concept then provided the blueprint for the Medicare Plan. Please explain in detail what your plan will cover and why. The proposals developed by the policy groups must be based off the information provided in the assessment stage. Please see the executive brief template for the rules on how to proceed. All groups must identify the aggregate cost of their plans. In addition, they must provide a detailed explanation on how they arrived at the plan’s cost and the implications associated with plan implementation.

III: Assurance:

· The assurance section is the section in which the goal is to evaluate the developed policy/program to confirm that it is performing as it is intended. This is usually accomplished by using process and outcomes measures.

· This section should address questions/issues such as:

· What potential outcomes do you plan to achieve? Why?

· What methods will you use to evaluate the outcome (or the progression towards the outcome)? Why were these methods chosen? Be very specific with your evaluation mechanism.

· How long do you anticipate it will take to achieve these outcomes? Why?

· What type of penalties, regulations will you put in place to make sure that the plan is followed as the way it was designed?

Citation and Grammar (APA form)

· Please see the citation and grammar guidelines on page 1 for more details.

Additional Advice:

· ***Do not become paralyzed by the amount of information available. Stick to a point/ theory and find information that may support/contradict your points.

· ***Focus on three overall targets: quality, access, and cost.

· If you have any additional questions, send me an email and depending on the essence of the question, I will email the entire class when responding to the question.

Good Luck.

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