Running head: U.S.

HEALTH CARE POLICY 1

U.S. Health Care Policy

Students Name

University/College
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I would propose a policy that entails healthcare costing to ensure universal accessibility

to healthcare. In this context, the policy will involve the use of new ways to measure the rising

costs and compare it with the outcomes. It means that the focus of attention would be patients

and their ailments, and not an analysis of departmental procedures, units, and services

(Chapman, Kern, & Laguecir, 2014).

The weak measurement of outcomes and costs means that efficient and effective

providers gain, while the ineffective ones have an incentive to make improvements. The policy

would prove useful in strengthening the current healthcare coverage policies. The current policy

does not consider the impact of high costs in medical care. It meant that particular groups of

individual in the society, especially the low-income earners, did not have access to appropriate

healthcare services. Despite the Medicaid healthcare coverage, the costs are often too high

(Chapman, Kern, & Laguecir, 2014). The primary goal of any health care policy is to ensure that

value is felt among patients. The value is measured based on the patient outcomes among

patients that are based on the spending. It does not rely on the volume of healthcare services or

different services providers. In this case, care that is more expensive is not effective in achieving

better care.

An effective way of managing value is by looking at the cost and incomes based on the

patient level. It relies on the entire cycle of healthcare services to deal with a particular medical

condition. It will depend on a team of healthcare practitioners who have different specialties and

are seeking to achieve varying interventions from diagnosis to finagling treating the patient and

ongoing management activities. In healthcare, a major component of improved outcomes arises

with lower costs from the complete care strategies (Chapman, Kern, & Laguecir, 2014).

Improved diagnosis of diseases and early detection of ailments, for instance, can lead to better
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outcomes and prevents expensive and complicated treatment options later. It also ensures that the

patients will not suffer.

Challenges

A major problem for the implementation of the new policy is the bureaucratic process.

Indeed healthcare is a major issue that affects the entire society, and it relies on the entire society

so that it can be implemented. The political system is expected to discuss the essence of the new

policy. It is a significant barrier, as time will be spent in ensuring that the new policy is

applicable (Chapman, Kern, & Laguecir, 2014). Additionally, the politicization of health policies

means that it takes a lot of time before it is fully implemented.

An issue also arises due to difficulty in coming up with accurate measurements of

healthcare costs. It stems from the complexity of delivery of healthcare. The treatment of patients

relies on various resources such as supplies, space, equipment, personnel. These variables have

different costs and capabilities. The resources arise when the patient first begins their medical

interventions. It results from the consultations, administrative processes, treatments and other

activities until the patients care is completed. The process relies on the medical condition of the

patient. The process is also made complicated due to the fragmented nature of healthcare

services (Chapman, Kern, & Laguecir, 2014). Many independent and distinct health care

providers are involved in dealing with the patient condition. Mainly, the lack of standardization

leads to more issues. It can be described as a highly customized shop, making it very difficult to

integrate the policy.

Healthcare costing is an effective strategy to deal with the current issues facing the

healthcare services and policies. It arises from minimizing costs while maximizing outcomes.

However, many challenges arise from its application. It is due to the fragmented nature of
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healthcare, and the lengthy bureaucratic processes that are a barrier to implementation of new

policies.
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References

Chapman, C., Kern, A., & Laguecir, A. (2014). Costing Practices in Healthcare. Accounting

Horizons, 28(2), 353-364.