There are so many questions about the ins and outs of healthcare. These questions cause confusion and frustration, even for professionals working in the healthcare field.
Healthcare is a divisive topic in the US. The policies passed and implemented impact how our communities can stay healthy and how the care that keeps us healthy is paid for. When executed well, healthcare policies can prevent disease; catch illnesses earlier; and promote health for individuals, communities, and our healthcare workers on the front line.
Hopefully, by the end of the article, you will have a general understanding of what healthcare policies are, how they impact you personally, and the health fields you interact with.
What is healthcare policy?
Healthcare policy is the collection of decisions, goals and actions that determine how healthcare is administered and accessed by the general public. This could include, for example, the laws and safety regulations that are in place to regulate how healthcare and medication are delivered to patients.
Decisions such as these could be an active conversation at the hospital, state, or national level. At the national level, healthcare policy primarily concerns the big-picture elements such as access to healthcare, coverage, and the cost for patients to receive the care they need.
Healthcare policy can be further divided into subcategories, narrowing down the policymaking process to certain disciplines of medicine. These disciplines include public health, health insurance, global health, healthcare services, pharmaceuticals and mental health studies. Many of these specific healthcare departments have their own organizations that help healthcare workers have the voice they deserve in terms of policy modification.
Why does healthcare policy matter?
Although not a common topic for day-to-day small talk, healthcare policy and regulation are very important in our daily lives and our quality of treatment. These policies set the guidelines and protocols that impact individual patients, healthcare organizations and our national healthcare system as a whole.
Beyond the big-picture policymaking, the methods and protocols set by healthcare policies give direct administration instructions to the nurses and health administrators who we interact with in our doctor’s offices, pharmacies and hospitals. These regulations impact our patient care.
Many patients base their understanding of the medical system on what they watch on television, but the writers of these shows are not necessarily well-versed in medical law and regulations. A basic understanding of what the regulations specified by healthcare policies communicate gives us more helpful knowledge about our rights as patients.
How do healthcare policies impact us?
To better understand the relationship between healthcare policies and our day-to-day life, let’s break them up into four general sectors: patient care policies, drug policies, security and privacy policies, and employee health policies. These do not fully encapsulate the breadth and depth that healthcare policies manage and touch but provide a good start.
Policies for patient care
Patient care policies include the regulations for patient care and treatment procedures. This specifically gives information to healthcare workers about how they should respond when certain medical situations or circumstances arise. Often, these protocols are set at the hospital level and are thoroughly detailed for clear-cut expectations.
Policies regarding drug handling and administration
Drug policies encapsulate the procedures that must be established regarding the internal handling and administration of pharmaceutical drugs. These policies cover all types of medication, whether controlled, non-controlled or over the counter. These policies also touch upon what procedures need to be set in place for any errors to arise. This could include a protocol for when pharmaceutical inventory is off or if a medication was improperly distributed or prescribed to a patient.
Security and privacy policies
These policies are put in place to protect both the physical security of individuals who come in and out of medical facilities and data security and privacy procedures. These security aspects are important for patients and healthcare workers and should not be neglected.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule is one example of a healthcare policy that considers patient privacy. This regulation is put in place to prevent the abuse or misuse of an individual’s private medical data and protects this information from being released to the public. Many of us are familiar with HIPAA and may have even interacted with it through school paperwork or workplace documentation.
Policies to protect employee health
Healthy nurses and doctors make for healthy patients, which is what the employee health policies intend to moderate. If the healthcare staff at a hospital or medical clinic are well enough to safely care for patients and themselves, then employee health policies have done their job.
Health and wellness policies in the workplace (specifically for medical personnel in this case) could include:
- Wearing gloves and a mask to minimize illness exposure from sick patients.
- Prohibiting alcohol or tobacco products in the workplace.
- Encouraging time off.
- Counseling on healthy eating habits for employees.
Keeping our healthcare professionals healthy today creates a better environment for the up-and-coming medical practitioners of tomorrow. Protecting healthcare policies is crucial for those looking to grow in their medical career, such as those growing from an RN to MSN Family Nurse Practitioner, such as that offered by
Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) serve our families with excellence, providing care within both primary and specialized care facilities for patients of all ages – from infants to seniors. With higher education studies than registered nurses (RNs) or clinical nurse specialists, FNPs are leaders to other nurses and are able to provide more direct primary care. If you graduated as an RN earlier in your career, it’s not too late to make a new career move. FNPs are able to be more involved with the primary care aspects of their patients and have a more autonomous career.
Major issues facing health policy and the healthcare industry
Many things shape the US healthcare system. Two of the issues that have shaped the trajectory of our healthcare system in the past and set the path for future policymaking include healthcare coverage and healthcare costs.
Let’s look at both of these and see how they impact the healthcare industry and patient care in general.
Healthcare coverage
Healthcare coverage can be attributed to various sources, including employer-provided plans, private health insurance, and some form of Medicare/Medicaid. Over the past decade, the amount of people who do not have health insurance has decreased. This is something to celebrate!
Politicians have diverging stances on this reality. Some push for more employers to provide an employer-provided coverage plan, while others believe in Medicare as an alternative insurance coverage option. Either way, the fewer people without health insurance, the better.
Healthcare costs
In the US, the unfortunate reality is that even people who have health insurance can face extremely high out-of-pocket bills from the doctor’s office or hospital. This is an important piece of information for healthcare policymakers to consider.
However, there is definitely a delicate balance between cutting the costs of medical care and compromising the level of care that healthcare professionals provide. This has also become a polarizing political decision that seems to have no solution yet.
Sadly, it looks as though the past is set to repeat itself, at least for the foreseeable future, and many citizens and residents will have to go without until a solution is found.
Health policy and our healthcare workers
If you want to make a difference from within the US healthcare system, there is a place for you to do so. Everyone knows someone who could have been treated better within the healthcare setting. Healthcare professionals work directly with patients and healthcare policies as the bridge between rules and regulations and bedside manner. Nurses have great insight into the internal workings of healthcare policy and the external repercussions of them on communities. They offer unique experiences and perspectives that are an important voice when considering healthcare policy.
Another way that individuals could make an impact in the healthcare field is by shaping the future of our healthcare system through healthcare policy. Healthcare policy analysts are responsible for examining current healthcare policies and providing suggestions to improve healthcare function, worker satisfaction and patient care.
Conclusion
Positive patient outcomes and proper patient care are not just impacted by the level of care they receive from their doctor. For individuals working in the healthcare field, understanding that an inside-out approach is the best way to improve the quality of healthcare in hospitals, clinics, and private practices.
The policies passed in court greatly impact service delivery and understanding them allows every healthcare professional to work confidently within the confines of the law, ensuring the safety of their patients, their workplace and themselves.
