Implementation Evaluation, Coursework Example

It takes so many resources to properly implement public health programs that it necessitates a continuous process of evaluation to make reduce the incidents of wasteful policies. Following the planning phase, the implementation process is scrutinized by similar criteria. Poor allocation of resources reduces confidence participants may have in a project, and without effective mass communication, not enough people might even know about it. Furthermore, the actual method of implementation plays a huge roll in the probability of success.

The CHOICES Program was implemented in 2009. In order to determine if the program should have been implemented, it was placed on the ballot in 2005 for voters. The steps taken to make sure the program was implemented correctly included group meetings with health care board members, citizens of Alachua County, citizen advisory board, advocacy groups, Alachua County Board of Commissioners, Managed Care of America Administration, and others. For each phase of the implementation, specific tasks have been identified.

Standardized steps of implementation have been compared to the process conducted by the CHOICES program directors (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackeray, 2009). Furthermore, tasks that been implemented the program are proffered along with the reasoning behind them. Once voters adopted the program, program leaders set about deciding how to positively impact healthcare among elderly patients in the community (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). They decided that a two pronged approach would be implemented (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). On the one prong, the program included a wellness program to increase positive self-care habits among participants (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). On the other prong, they decided to form working groups of professionals to streamline services for participants and reduce cost for practitioners, which would translate into savings for a demographic typically on fixed incomes (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). The actual implementation was a matter of forming working groups of professionals, gaining government support, and recruiting participants (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). The organizational structure of the project was defined at the outset (CHOICES Health Services, 2006). The program accounts for government subsidies such that it will be sustained in the long-term (CHOICES Health Services, 2006).

Possible ethical or legal ramifications include mainly those having to do with the appropriate use of government resources. If the project had been botched, there is an ethical consideration in terms of the use of taxpayer money or failed promises for the effected demographic, and if due diligence had not been sufficiently included to prevent it, there could legal allegations of fraud.

References

CHOICES Health Services (2006). CHOICES Provider manual. Retrieved from http://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/CSS/Documents/choices/Provider_Manual.pdf

McKenzie, J., Neiger, B., & Thackeray, R. (2009). Planning, Implementing, & Evaluating Health Promotion Programs. San Francisco, California: Pearson Education, Inc. (pgs. 317-324).