Policy Priority Issue
Chamberlain College of Nursing 506
Policy Priority Issue
Lisa Borbon
Chamberlain
Healthcare Policy
NR506
Professor Frazier
July 27, 2013
Policy Priority Issue
Those who utilize the Medicaid system range from low income families to the over 65 age group. Within this population is also those who are disabled due to physical or mental problems. This is among the sickliest of our American population. A paper based on a study in Oregon stated that “Medicaid significantly increased the probability of being diagnosed with diabetes, and being on diabetes medication as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”(Baicker et al., 2013, p. 1715). Much of this is due to the struggle that the Medicaid beneficiary has to accessing all of the benefits of the program. This mostly consists of medical appointments, especially those related to a specialist physician. This paper will identify the importance to make available proper healthcare to those who receive Medicaid. Not only with specialty doctors but also with their own primary physicians. The need to transfer the ownership from the government to the patient is necessary for better healthcare outcomes. This is directly correlated to the care received and expected by the patient. This will result in a better outcome both medically for the patient and fiscally for the government.
The specific problem
Medicaid is a government sponsored and run program, it provides care to over 53 million low income Americans yearly and has an average operating budget of $349 billion dollars (O’Shea, 2007). This increasingly high expenditure has caused much strained to the budgets of not only the federal government but also the state budgets as well. With the changes to the way we view healthcare and the use of evidence based practice in the care delivered it is evident that the quality of care given to those with Medicaid is missing. Evidence has shown that patient’s with Medicaid receive inferior
Policy Priority Issue
Lisa Borbon
Chamberlain
Healthcare Policy
NR506
Professor Frazier
July 27, 2013
Policy Priority Issue
Those who utilize the Medicaid system range from low income families to the over 65 age group. Within this population is also those who are disabled due to physical or mental problems. This is among the sickliest of our American population. A paper based on a study in Oregon stated that “Medicaid significantly increased the probability of being diagnosed with diabetes, and being on diabetes medication as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”(Baicker et al., 2013, p. 1715). Much of this is due to the struggle that the Medicaid beneficiary has to accessing all of the benefits of the program. This mostly consists of medical appointments, especially those related to a specialist physician. This paper will identify the importance to make available proper healthcare to those who receive Medicaid. Not only with specialty doctors but also with their own primary physicians. The need to transfer the ownership from the government to the patient is necessary for better healthcare outcomes. This is directly correlated to the care received and expected by the patient. This will result in a better outcome both medically for the patient and fiscally for the government.
The specific problem
Medicaid is a government sponsored and run program, it provides care to over 53 million low income Americans yearly and has an average operating budget of $349 billion dollars (O’Shea, 2007). This increasingly high expenditure has caused much strained to the budgets of not only the federal government but also the state budgets as well. With the changes to the way we view healthcare and the use of evidence based practice in the care delivered it is evident that the quality of care given to those with Medicaid is missing. Evidence has shown that patient’s with Medicaid receive inferior
References: Baicker, K., Taubman, S., Allen, H., Bernstein, M., Gruber, J., Newhouse, J., ... Zaslavsky, A. (2013, May 2, 2013). The Oregon Experiment — Effects of Medicaid on clinical outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368, 1713-1722. Bush, H. (2012, November 2012). Caring for the costliest. Hospital and Health Networks, 156-162. Felland, L., Lechner, A., & Sommers, A. (2013, June 6, 2013). Improving access to specialty care for Medicaid patients: policy issues and options. The Common Wealth Fund. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2013/Jun/Improving-Access-to-Speciality-Care.aspx O’Shea, J. (2007). More Medicaid means less quality health care. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/more-medicaid-means-less-quality-health-care Seaberg, D. (2012). Medicaid patients go to emergency room more often. Retrieved from http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21732 Sellers, A. (2013, July 23, 2013). Nurse practitioners aim to fill care gap. Athens-Banner-Herald. Retrieved from http://onlineathens.com/health/2013-07-23/abhhealth-nurse-practicioners-aim-fill-care-gap Ungar, L. (2013, July 26,2013). Telemedicine may help cure Kentucky’s overburdened healthcare system. Courier-Journal. Retrieved from http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130725/PRIME01/307250106/Telemedicine-may-help-cure-Kentucky-s-overburdened-healthcare-system