Overview In this episode, you will be in a health care policy internship program in a Senators office in Washington, D

Overview

In this episode, you will be in a health care policy internship program in a Senators office in Washington, D.C.  The Senator wants to develop policy that requires all health care organizations that receive federal funds to implement the recommendations presented in the Institute of Medicine reports on quality care. You will develop a policy, so that it can become proposed legislation. You must collect data, describe the problem, solutions and related ethical issues, examine the cost-benefit analysis, identify stakeholders (such as lobbyists from American Hospital Association, health care providers, health care corporations, pharmaceuticals, insurers, etc.), and impact.  Based on this information, you will create a policy description that will be the foundation for a bill. You will describe critical issues that would be in the bill such as requirements of hospitals to:

• Monitor and report medical errors to the Department of Health and Human Services
• Use root cause analysis on a certain percentage of errors
• Track and report patient outcomes focused on the clinical problems identified in the National Health Care Quality Report
• Integrate the 5 health care profession core competencies into staff education and track outcomes
• Establish a no-blame culture

*I suggest for you to do some research on your own, and if you use outside sources to help your compile your policy description, be sure to reference them (following an APA format) at the end of your post.

Assignment

You will post a policy description to this discussion board forum. Make sure to identify a plan that addresses legal and ethical issues in a health care policy. 

Below are the characters from this LearnScapes scenario (LearnScapes for Health Policy 1):

The Student (which is you), Health Care Policy Intern for Congress

The student used to work within the Bright Road Health Care System, and had a special interest in policy. The student is thinking about moving into politics, hoping to make a difference at that level. The student has just been accepted into the internship; this is the students first big project.

Peter Shackley, Senior Policy Staff Member

The students mentor, Peter, is a young and feisty staff member. In his late 20s, Pete has been interested in politics since he was President of his high school student body. Hes especially passionate about policy-making and how the process works. Pete will help guide the student through the policy-making process.

Gretchen Wilde, Senator Chief of Staff

Gretchen is in her 30s and has been the Senators Chief of Staff for about 2 years now. Shes very professional, and holds high expectations for everyone in the Senators office, including interns. Gretchen is responsible for reviewing policy ideas and descriptions before giving the approval to create a bill.

Marian Powers, Senator

Senator Powers is a Senator in her late 40s. Shes extremely busy with legislative issues, and trusts her staff members implicitly so does not spend a lot of time working directly with the team on this policy.

However, the student and other staff members sometimes contact her for information about state issues, reaction of stakeholders, etc.