Health Law, Regulation, and Policy

There are certain steps to developing a health care policy. The first is the action taken after a legal or judicial decision can often lead to the creation of a new health policy or program. This can stem from any legal action taken against a physician or insurance company by a patient or their family. The second step is to develop the regulation, guidelines, and implementation for the new program, as they have been described in the new law. Many believe that the new health polices should be form by policy experts, but the use of health care professional can serve as an asset in developing these polices.

It is very important that you become familiar with the regulatory agencies that control the healthcare industry. Here, you will receive a brief introduction to the agencies of major influence.

Medicare and Medicaid, created by the Social Security Amendment Act 1965, added Title XVIII and XIX to the Social Security Act. President Lyndon B Johnson was responsible for bringing about this change. Social Security Program started during the Great Depression of 1930s because of the stock market crash and bank failure, which wiped away the retirement savings of the Americans. Poverty rate among senior citizen exceeded 50% during this time. Social Security Act was created in an attempt to limit the five dangers of modern American Society. The Social Security Act was

There are numerous rules and regulations that have been a huge impact to healthcare organizations. The one major rule that has affected the healthcare industry in so many ways is The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA. This report will examine how HIPAA relates to healthcare organizations by explaining how HIPAA is implemented, Identifying which agency or regulatory body is responsible for overseeing HIPAA and Explain how Healthcare Organizations or Healthcare Industries are impacted by HIPAA.

Health policies, health determinants and health are all categories that are intertwined with one another. As technology becomes more advanced within the health industry, society’s perception on healthcare may change for the better or for the worst. And with the new technology, new policies arise.

Healthcare policy is dynamic and ever changing, especially in our society today with the many changes in government control, insurance company influence, and actual delivery of healthcare services. In order to corral our healthcare system and ensure that there is quality control amongst all populations, health policies must be put in place. Health policy is defined as many things due to its dynamic nature but the assigned text expresses a definition that encompasses all aspects of what health policy is for us today, “Authoritative decisions made in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government that are intended to direct or influence that actions, behaviors, or decisions of others”(Longest, p. 5, (2010)). Among the many reasons why health policy is pertinent to our society an aspect of health policy that I feel is most important is in regards to public health practices. Health policy is the reason why populations that whom otherwise would not receive the absolute needed healthcare, actually get to receive healthcare. The financial aspect of healthcare is quite steep and more often than not healthcare services are not sought out by populations because they cannot afford to do so. With health policy the policymakers allow for the proper and equal disbursement of goods and services to ensure that everyone is remaining healthy no matter what

In understanding regulatory agencies the differences between regulation and legislation needs defining. Legislation is the law that has been passed by a voting process and regulation is the responsibility of the regulatory board appointed to enforce laws once the law is passed; it sets forth rules on how the laws are to be implemented and to what degree. In health care the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the predominant responsibility to enforce legislation that impacts the health and well-being of Americans. Under the umbrella of HHS there are 13 regulatory agencies tasked with setting rules on the enforcement of the legislation passed by lawmakers.

Hammaker, Donna K., and Sarah J. Tomlinson. Health care management and the law: principles and applications. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

An interesting perspective in regards to regulation is offered by; Academy for Health Services Research and Policy. The observations were presented for review on August 2001. The informative article is appropriately titled: The Challenge of Managed Care Regulation: Making Markets Work?

There are many private and public sectors of the health care system that go through an action or a process and these policies impact federal,

Health care regulations have developed in a lagging fashion throughout the history of the United States health care system. The regulations governing health care are a set of prescriptive rules that have cause the health care system to adjust and improve the quality of care provided to patients. Brennan and Berwick state, “functions for regulation aims at increasing equality in society. In health care, this sort of regulation typically involves efforts to increase access to health care.”2 These regulations have a had far-reaching effect on the safety, efficacy, cost, information, availability of medications. If a society does not have access to unadulterated medications, correctly labeled medications, and truthful information then there

As a healthcare system which includes 8 acute care hospitals (one being an academic medical center,) 6 urgent care centers and 2 surgery centers, it is crucial that we stay abreast of current policy and changes to policy as they occur, in an effort to stay competitive in the marketplace. This is the most current research as it relates to the development of ACOs in New Jersey and an overview of how this activity may impact our health system. I am providing this to the board of trustees for review.

The government influences the delivery of healthcare by setting forth several different requirements. As with any state or federal agency, licensure of both the facility and providers are required (Gartee, 2011). In addition, there are certain standards that must be met by the facility in order to participate in government funded programs. The most widely known programs within the healthcare industry are Medicare and Medicaid.

The health care system that was geared towards what patients needed has now shifted to an organization care system. The health care structure has not only undergone extreme modifications between two periods but also endures to develop. According to Dranove (2000), greater portion of the past customary U. S. health care structure had these defining character: patients had to rely on physicians to act as their negotiators, they got healthy from independent nonprofit facilities and patient did not have to mediate in medicinal pronouncement creating and refunded medical doctors, health care facilities, and other workers on a payment-for-service grounds. All these have changed.

Implementing all of these standards and policies within a company is certainly not an easy thing to do, and therefore it is imperative to understand whether or not your company will need it or not. In fact, it is easy to say that any company working within the federal healthcare system, whether it be insurance, practice, healthcare education, or many others, will need this sort of regulation used efficiency internally in order to prevent federal violations, which will be entirely detrimental to your reputation and ability to produce a