Healthcare Policy Advocacy Presentation, Research Paper Example

Writing a memo on the topic: “Addressing Shortage of Health Care Professionals” is a great idea.  Such a topic would be interesting in that many issues that affect the manner in which health care is provided to the citizens would be addressed and solutions recommended. Although many aspects of public health policy need to be changed, without sufficient professional workforce in the health sector, it is not possible for the policy changes to be jumpstarted. This is the main reason for selection of this topic for the presentation. The presentation focuses on different policies relating to recruitment of additional health professionals, which would form the focal point in the study.

A good policy is one that leads to the betterment of lives of as many people as possible in the society. In this case, healthcare is one of the areas of policy where everyone has an interest. Support from all stakeholders in the health sector is needed in order for this policy to see the light of day and reach the legislative level where the public will have a chance to scrutinize its contents. Handling this topic might be a little challenging but very interesting especially in matters relating to legislation.

Why would this topic area be a great one to write a policy memo on?

Moreover, students would find this topic area interesting to focus on since it affects the public in a very significant way. Everyone needs healthcare services. It is a topical issue that the federal government has to focus on all the time. Students will therefore find it easy finding specific topical issues to discuss at any given time.  Healthcare issues require a lot of specialized information before the right policies are planned and recommended. Once students embark on research work in matters of healthcare, the rest will be a very rewarding experience.

Would it be easy to write a memo on this area?

Inadequacy of healthcare professionals is a rather tricky issue and one that requires a multifaceted approach in order to be properly implemented well. However, with the right theoretical framework being put in place, advocating for policy changes that lead to increase in the number of professionals in the health sector promises to be an easy thing to do. In this case, an incrementalist decision making process would be the easiest approach to take.

Incrementalism involves carrying out an exhaustive analysis of all the costs as well as benefits that come with all conceivable options that can be used to deal with a problem. This process, though expensive and time-consuming, is the best bet at arriving at an amicable, interesting policy solution in the health sector. It is ideal for use by federal policymakers who have the expertise to seriously examine all the variables that make up the existing problem before corrective measures are proposed.

When corrective measures are finally proposed, they have to involve minimal changes to the existing procedures and policies instead of constituting radical innovations. In other words, changes are made at the margin only. This approach is necessary in a sector such as health, which is very sensitive in that radical public policy changes might endanger the lives of many people. Students will find this approach very practical and pragmatic.

Is it interesting? Is it particularly topical right now?

Today, healthcare matters often generate emotional reactions both at the national and at the local level. It is therefore a very interesting topic. Right now, this is a topical issue as it touches on the lives of all Americans. The imbalance between medical practitioners and the general population should be addressed with immediate effect. Health matters are more important than education, foreign policy or even nuclear research. The sooner health care policy changes are made, the better for New Jersey and America at large.

 Are there many sources available?

There are many available sources of information on health policy. Government websites can be helpful. Scholarly journals can be easily accessed online. Some online journals, such as Heinonline require subscription while others like Google Books are free of charge. At the federal level, logistical information that policymakers often use can be of use. As Howlett observes, this means that the researchers would have to pay a visit to the local federal offices so as to request for this information, something that will be very easy to do (106).

Dye proposes many analytical models accessing and analyzing public policy sources (24). Dye believes that the incrementalist approach can be used either in isolation or in combination with other analytical models in order to generate specific public policies that target different key domestic issues in a unified manner. This approach would be ideal for information accessed on websites where there is need for authenticity.

In matters of specialized information, university libraries and catalogues are good sources of documents containing public health researches that have been done as well as the findings arrived at.

An analysis of why and how this topic area is particularly relevant today both nationally but also to the state of New Jersey

The cost of buying health insurance for New Jersey residents is very high. Not everyone can afford these high healthcare costs. New cheap health insurance programs need to be introduced so that everyone is on the safe side in matters of health. Some New Jersey families are unable to access health care for lack of relevant health care programs that cater for their specific needs. Employer-based insurance programs would benefit very many families that are currently unable to afford medical care on account of lack of programs that fit in with their special needs.  Today, notes Birkland, 15 per cent of all Americans have not health insurance cover. This is a very serious problem that should be addressed through policy changes

Many people argue that Americans do not get quality for the money they pay for medical services. The sentiments, if put in another way, give the indication that the present health care programs are high on cost but low on efficiency, fairness, access, and cost. Poor health care services lead to reduction in productivity among workers. Where health care policies of different states are not compatible, mobility of manpower becomes a big challenge. For this reason, legal changes need to be put in place.

An example of good laws that have been put in place in order to safeguard the rights of citizens to healthcare is New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act of 2006. According to this act, all places that are open to the public and all indoor workplaces are smoke-free zones. Variances in prices of drugs within New Jersey have reached worrying proportions, in which case price disparities of up to 20 percent have been recorded. To address these disparities in prices, the Prescription Drug Retail Price Registry law was recently passed, making it easy for drug buyers to compare prices of drugs from different sellers before making purchase decisions.

In conclusion, the topic: “Addressing Shortage of Health Care Professionals” promises to be worth voting for since it would address issues of interest to New Jersey and the American society at large.

Works Cited

Birkland, Thomas. An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, And Models, Massachussets:  M.E. Sharpe, 2005.

Dye, Thomas. Understanding Public Policy (12th Edition) New York: Prentice Hall, 2007.

Howlett, Michael and Ramesh Mohil. Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Goodin, Robert.  Political Theory and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.