Assessment 1

Identifying a Local Health Care Economic Issue

Assignmemt 1

Write a brief 2-3 page report about a health care economic issue that you have identified. Address the reasons why you selected the issue you did; identify how this issue impacts the work of you, your colleagues, and your organization; and describe the gap that you see contributing to this issue.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

Health care economics has the potential to affect each of us either personally or professionally. This impact can be viewed from a health economics point-of-view (where we discuss the value of health care and its efficiency), or it can examine how health care is financed (focus on how health care is funded). Health economics and health care funding have the potential to influence health care outcomes in a variety of ways. As you move through this course, you will work toward developing a potential solution for a health care issue within your current or desired health care system. The goal of this assessment is to identify an economic health care issue that you will address throughout the course.

Context and Background

Health care economics has the potential to affect each of us either personally or professionally. This impact can be viewed from a health economics point-of-view (where we discuss the value of health care and its efficiency) or it can examine how health care is financed (focus on how health care is funded). Health economics and health care funding have the potential to influence health care outcomes in a variety of ways. The bulleted list below outlines topics and health care issues that many institutions encounter. Organizations often have to implement strategies or initiatives to resolve or improve these issues and create positive patient and institution outcomes.

Examples of health care economic issues:

The influence of health care economics on community health—for example, social determinants of health (such as access to care and health care finance).

Supply and demand: How do we in the health care environment exist when there are more needs from communities and patients than we have the resources to supply? An example of this would be a high number of patients and low resource levels such as staff, supplies, and equipment.

The public’s attitude toward health, disease, and the health care system—for example, how money is distributed has the potential to impact the health care outcomes of certain populations. An example of this would be the lack of access and funding for underserved and rural communities.

Other issues might include access to care, social determinants of health, senior health, food insecurity or food desserts, inadequate staffing, homelessness, rehospitalization environmental issues leading to chronic disease, et cetera.

As you move through this course, you will work toward developing a potential solution for a health care issue within your current or desired health care system. The goal of this assessment is to identify an economic health care issue that you will address throughout the course.

Later in the course, you will (a) conduct a needs analysis to justify your focus on this topic area using the literature of the field, (b) present an argument for change in your organization bolstered by a cost-benefit analysis, and (c) advocate for this change at the state level. Keep these future assessments in mind as you select your topic.

Instructions

For this assessment, you will write a brief 2–3 page report about the health care economic issue that you have identified. In addition, you will also be asked to:

Address the reasons you selected the issue.

Identify how the issue impacts the work of you, your colleagues, and your organization.

Describe the gap that you see contributing to this issue.

Be sure to address each main point. Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide, including performance-level descriptions for each criterion, to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed. In addition, note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

Overall, you will be assessed on the following criteria:

Describe a health care economic issue and how it impacts a specific community or population.

Note the data, information, or observations used to support your description.

Explain the rationale for choosing your health care economic issue.

Explain how the health care economic issue has affected your work, your organization, your colleagues, and your community.

Identify the gap that is contributing to the need to address the economic issue.

Cite at least one piece of evidence to support your identification of the gap. This could be public health data, a peer-reviewed journal article, or another scholarly source.

Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.

Additional Requirements

Length of Submission: 2–3 double-spaced pages.

Number of References: Cite at least one piece of evidence to support your identification of the gap. This could be public health data, a peer-reviewed journal article, or another scholarly source.

APA formatting: Titles, headings, resources, and citations are formatted according to the APA style.

Assignment 2

Complete a systematic evaluation of a unit, facility, or organization with which you are familiar, in an attempt to identify the need to address the economic health care issue.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

As a master's-level health care practitioner, you may sometimes be tasked with the need to complete a systematic evaluation as a way of improving your organization’s outcomes. In this assessment, you will have a chance to practice these skills by completing a systematic evaluation of a unit, facility, or organization that you are familiar with in an attempt to identify the need to address the economic health care issue that you presented in the previous assessment. This systematic evaluation is often referred to as a needs analysis. Understanding how to do a needs analysis will be key as you advance through your career in the health care environment.

Background and Context

As a master's-level health care practitioner, you may sometimes be tasked with the need to complete a systematic evaluation as a way of improving your organization’s outcomes. In this assessment, you will have a chance to practice these skills by completing a systematic evaluation of a unit, facility, or organization that you are familiar with in an attempt to identify the need to address the economic health care issue that you presented in the previous assessment. This systematic evaluation is often referred to as a needs analysis. Understanding how to do a needs analysis will be key as you advance through your career in the health care environment.

Instructions

Be sure to address each main point. Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide, including performance-level descriptions for each criterion, to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed. In addition, note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

Overall, you will be assessed on the following criteria:

Summarize your chosen economic issue and its impact on your work, organization, colleagues, and community.

Reiterate your rationale for pursuing this issue, as well as the gap contributing to it that you identified in your previous assessment.

Identify any socioeconomic or diversity disparities that exist with how your chosen economic issue impacts any particular groups or populations.

Use at least one piece of evidence to support this disparity (public health data, aggregated data from an organization, or other scholarly resources).

Explain the findings of evidence-based or scholarly sources regarding the need to address your chosen issue and pursue potential change or implementation plans.

For example, if your implementation plan includes the need for increased staffing, you might want to research errors or patient falls that occurred as a result of high patient and low staff ratio in the literature.

Use at least four evidence-based or scholarly sources that are relevant to your chosen topic to support your explanation.

Explain the predicted outcomes and opportunities for growth as the result of the proposed change or implementation plan.

Outcomes and opportunities for growth should focus on economic considerations.

Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.

Additional Requirements

Length of Submission: 3–5 double-spaced pages.

Number of References: Cite at least four sources of evidence to support your identification of the gap. This could be public health data, a peer-reviewed journal article, or another scholarly source.

APA formatting: Titles, headings, resources, and citations are formatted according to the current APA style.

Note: As you revise your writing, check out the resources listed on the Writing Center's Writing Support page.

Assignmemt 3

Develop a 10-slide business PowerPoint for the economic issue you have been working with as your topic in the previous assessment. You will then present this PowerPoint using Kaltura and submit the video.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

As a master's-level health care practitioner, you are expected to consider a number of factors when supporting change by analyzing the feasibility of a new initiative or identifying an issue within your organization. For example, you must take into consideration the various types of risk (such as patient safety, physical plant, financial, or reputation), as well as the present and future value of the service line or economic opportunity you are invested in. Additionally, you must also balance your ethical and moral responsibility to provide quality care to patients and populations while protecting your organization's assets and economic viability in the near and long terms.

Background and Context

As a master's-level health care practitioner, you are expected to consider a number of factors when supporting change by analyzing the feasibility of a new initiative or identifying an issue within your organization. For example, you must take into consideration the various types of risk (such as patient safety, physical plant, financial, or reputation), as well as the present and future value of the service line or economic opportunity you are invested in. Additionally, you must also balance your ethical and moral responsibility to provide quality care to patients and populations while protecting your organization's assets and economic viability in the near and long terms.

Instructions

For this assessment, you will develop a 10-slide business PowerPoint for the economic issue you have been working with as your topic in the previous assessment. You will then present this PowerPoint using Kaltura and submit the video.

This presentation asks you to examine the feasibility and cost-benefit considerations of implementing a proposed solution for your chosen issue, as well as analyze ways to mitigate risks.

Be sure to address each main point. Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide, including performance-level descriptions for each criterion, to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed. In addition, note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

You may also wish to consult the Guidelines for Effective PowerPoint Presentations [PPTX] if you need additional guidance as you are assembling your presentation.

Overall, your assessment submission will be assessed on the following criteria:

Summarize the problem and the potential impact the health care economic issue has on you, your colleagues, your organization, and the community at large.

This is an opportunity to tell your story and what the initiative means to you as a health care practitioner. Remember, this is a presentation. So, you want to be engaging and persuasive in order to build support for what you will be proposing to do later in the presentation.

Explain the feasibility and cost-benefit considerations of your health care economic issue, as well as three ways to mitigate risks to the financial security of your organization or health care setting.

Make sure to present at least an overview of the data and numbers you are basing your cost-benefit analysis on.

Touch upon the ways in which potential risks could pose a threat to the financial security of your organization or care setting while you are addressing the ways to mitigate risk.

Support your explanation with evidence-based research or scholarly sources.

Describe the changes or solution that you propose be implemented in order to address the economic issue.

Include the potential benefits of implementation to your organization, your colleagues, or the community at large.

Support your initiative with evidence-based research or scholarly sources.

Explain how your proposed solution is culturally sensitive, ethical, and equitable within the context of the community and health care setting it will be implemented.

Make sure that your changes or solution are not unfairly burdening or disadvantaging any specific groups.

Double check that your changes or solution do not pose any ethical issues and are not culturally insensitive.

Ensure that both access and cost are equitable across all groups in the community that the proposed solution will be affecting.

Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly communication standards.

If you need more guidance on recording a video with Kaltura, refer to the audio and video information in Using Kaltura.

Additional Requirements

Length of Presentation: The PowerPoint presentation should be 10 slides in length and presented orally using Kaltura to record and share the video. The video itself should not exceed 10 minutes.

Number of Resources: Include at least five scholarly sources to support your work and meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence. Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references in the PowerPoint.

Technology Used: Record yourself presenting your PowerPoint using Kaltura, and submit it for review. You must also submit the PowerPoint file for review.

Assignment 4

Write a letter to an official in your state or local government. (Choose the individual in the level of government that will best address your issue). The purpose of this letter is to advocate for action with regards to your chosen health care environment issue.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.

As health care leaders, it is important to understand strategies for advocating and lobbying elected officials. This can lead to the development of policies or laws that can help drive improved equity and outcomes for all participants in the health care environment as well as a more sustainable financial future.

Background and Context

As a master's-level health care practitioner, you may be expected to implement plans to ensure that initiatives designed to take advantage of economic opportunities for the organization are rolled out successfully and can be sustained over multiple years. Additionally, it is important to be able to envision how an initiative could be implemented in different contexts and for different purposes to ensure the investment remains a viable and positive asset to your organization or care setting.

As a master's-level practitioner, you will often be challenged to influence the health care environment in a variety of ways. This influence can occur on a micro-level (implementing change on your unit, institution, community, or local organizations) or at a macro level (implementing change via state or federal regulations and policy). One way you can influence the health care environment is by lobbying an elected official at the local, state, or national level to adopt policies or legislation that would support positive economic and health outcomes for patients, practitioners, and organizations within the health care environment.

Instructions

For this assessment, you will develop a letter to an official in your state or local government (choose the individual in the level of government that will best address your issue). The purpose of this letter is to advocate for action with regards to your chosen health care environment issue. Remember, when writing the letter, you must use your personal address and telephone number unless you are exclusively representing a group or your organization.

Be sure to address each main point. Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide, including performance-level descriptions for each criterion, to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed. In addition, note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.

Overall, your assessment submission will be assessed on the following criteria:

Summarize the health care economic issue that you are addressing.

Keep this brief but try to include details about how the issue is currently impacting the elected officials’ constituents.

Explain the positive outcomes that will occur if the issue is addressed and the negative outcomes that will occur if the issue is not addressed.

Tailor this messaging to focus on the impacts in the communities and organizations that are relevant to the elected official you are writing to.

Summarize key information from scholarly sources to support the importance of addressing the issue; the issue’s overall impact on health care at the institutional, local, state, or national level; and proposed changes or actions to address the issue.

Cite at least five current, scholarly sources that support your argument and help provide the elected official (who may not have a detailed knowledge of the health care environment) with an understanding of the issues, changes, or actions that you are proposing to drive improved outcomes.

Identify the impact your issue has on health care institutions and health care providers at the local community, state, or national level.

Make sure to include information from both a health care and an economic perspective. An elected official may be more responsive to one perspective than another.

Incorporate social justice, structural racism, and inequity principles when picking resources and making recommendations for change in your assessment.

Explain how personal, professional, and organizational experiences have informed the resource planning and risk analysis for working toward addressing the economic issue.

Think about how your experiences (the experiences can be personal, professional, or from your team’s perspective or experience) affect how you have planned for the resources needed to implement your desired changes or actions. How did this impact your approach to conducting a risk analysis on the project?

Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly communication standards.

Remember to conclude your letter with a summary of your position on the issue and a compelling reason that the elected official should act in your favor and support your issue or initiative.

Additional Requirements

Audience: Make sure you are addressing your letter to an actual local or state official.

For most states, you can use the following resource:

Assessment 4: Lobbying for Change.

For local officials, search your city’s government website for officials and their positions.

Length of Submission: 1–2 double spaced pages. Your letter needs to be succinct and persuasive.

Number of References: Cite at least five sources of evidence to support your identification of the gap. This could be public health data, a peer-reviewed journal article, or another scholarly source.

APA formatting: Resou