Policy Process

The Policy Process: Part I 2

In today’s society health care policies are very important. Health care policies are plans,

actions, and decisions that are taken to achieve health care goals within a society or organization.

Having health care policies can achieve health many things such as an outline for priorities and a

vision for the future. Health care policies focus of what our people need and not what they want.

Before these topics are considered policies, they go through three stages. The stages are

formulation, legislative, and implementation stage. Policies are decision intended to improve the

quality of life and solve problems. Making policies are never an easy task, no matter if it is a

business or health care policy. Policymakers go through different stages when making it into a

policy. Each stage is followed in order to make sure it is done correctly. When making a policy

the different stages are very important because it allows policymakers to properly define an

answer to the problem at hand. Any policymaker that does not go through the different stages

may be doomed for failure.

One of the stages in making a policy is the formulation stage. After identifying the

problem, than the new policy is developed or formulated. In the formulation stage there is

a meeting held between the interest groups, citizens, and government officials to discuss

potential obstacles and set clear goals. Sometimes this part of the process can be difficult

because compromise will be required before the policy is written. Once it is written and

developed, the proper people must agree to the policy. Weaker health care policies are more

likely to pass before a stronger one will not have enough support for approval. The next stage of

making a policy is the legislative stage. Legislative stage is when