How Major Rules and Regulations Influence Organizational Accountability, Research Paper Example

Accountability in any organization means having the obligation to provide answers to questions regarding decisions and actions taken, but such questions can only be formulated on the basis of information that was provided and the justification for the actions taken, according to Brinkerhoff (2003).

Organizational leaders however, cannot be accountable unless they have been provided with major laws and regulations to guide and standardize their daily operations. These major laws and regulations will also allow the leaders to become cognizant of the consequences of their actions or non-actions, especially where the lives if patients, the future of employees, and the financial success of stakeholders are concerned.

Sanctions according to Brinkerhoff (2003), is a defining feature of accountability, but it can only be applied on the basis of operable laws and regulations. Organizations for example that institute laws that governs professional code of conduct and incentives for market mechanisms, can use the accountability function when deciding whether service users will be able to switch from low quality facility to high quality providers within any locale, during any given operating period.

The accountability function would direct them to who are responsible and whether such actions are compliant with the laws and regulations of the organization in question, and at the end of the day, should questions arise, the actions taken can be justified using the contents of legal mandate given.

Rules and regulations enable organizations like health institution systems to function with varying degrees of success, according to Brinkerhoff (2003), as they serve to connect several of their agencies relationally, when the question of accountability with respect to the major laws and regulations introduced by the government.

According to Brinkerhoff (2003), health ministries, insurance agencies, public and private providers, finance ministries, regulatory agencies and service facility brands, can all be connected in networks of control, oversight, cooperation and reporting, and in cases where there are failures and discrepancies, accountability may become center stage in the process of ensuring the health system improves in the long run.

According to Park (2011), since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, a great deal of attention are being given to physicians, hospitals, clinics, and outpatient diagnostic testing and treatment centers that are pursuing acute care provisions, by the media, think tanks and other professional services firms, but no meaningful and sustainable cost savings from such integrated health models can be achieved, unless both acute and long term care are combined.

Accountability can be impacted differently in short term care facility as opposed to long term care, as the rules and regulations which prevail the former may change substantially and prevent organizational leaders from operating in similar environments.

The changes may be as a result of capital constraints, tight operating margins, market ambiguity, and regulatory uncertainty, according to Park (2011).

Service providers and other stakeholders may in the short term, which is less risky and high in certainty, maximize their services while paying little attention to patients who may require long term care, so that in the final analysis great disconnect will develop in the health systems, and as such reduce the organizational competence of leaders in terms of being accountable.

The conclusion then can be drawn that in short term care facilities, higher quality services will prevail are as a result of consistent and enforceable laws and regulations and environmental conditions, while for long term care facilities, deterioration and drastic variation in services should be expected, as a result of uncertainties in the laws and regulations as well as the capital and market conditions.

Reference

Brinkerhoff, D., (2003). Accountability and Health Systems: Overview, Framework, and Strategies Partners for Health Reformplus Bethesda, MD Retrieved from http://www.who.int/management/partnerships/accountability/AccountabilityHealthSystemsOverview.pdf, on 06/12/12

Park, Scott, A. (2011). Post-acute/Long term Care Planning for Accountable Care Organizations SCORE Retrieved from: http://www.leadingage.org/uploadedFiles/Content/About/CAST/Resources/Dixon_Hughes_Whitepaer.pdf on 06/12/12