Healthcare Policy and Politics
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Healthcare Policy
Healthcare policy refers to the acts of congress or legislation passed to address a specific need in the healthcare sector. Throughout the years, healthcare policy has been informed by evidence-based studies to inform decision making. Policies such as the ACA, HIPAA, and CARA acts, among others, have been supported by evidence supporting the proposed interventions to improve healthcare access, regulate drug use, or safeguarding the patients or workers. One recent policy is the comprehensive addiction and recovery Act, CARA signed into law by retired president Barack Obama in 2016. Research studies showed that the country was heading into an opioid use epidemic due to the increased and unregulated use of opioids by the citizens (D’Rozario, 2020). It’s one of those policies that has been informed by research and enacted to solve a surging healthcare crisis. Below is an overview of the policy, its brief history, provisions, and a reflection of the evidence base to support its enactment.
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, CARA
The comprehensive addiction and recovery act was signed into law by retired president Obama in July 2016. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jim Sensenbrenner sponsored the law as one of the premier addiction act to address the increased opioid abuse. It is aimed at improving the prevention and treatment programs available for opioid treatment. Moreover, it created a task force to empower the affected communities to combat opioid abuse (Davis, 2019). The act provides that these communities will be taught on substance abuse perils and empowered through the formulated educational materials. Over the past four years, the act has served to address the opioid misuse menace and significantly reduced deaths and complications arising from opioid abuse.
Reflection on Evidence-Base to Support The Policy
The comprehensive addiction and recovery act has sufficient evidence over the years supporting its enactment. Over the years, there has been increased use of opioids, such as heroin, by people to address several challenges such as pain and stress management (Moore, 2019). The increased use of the OTC buying of medicines has served to grow this trend. This is because most clients do not get a prescription for the drugs but instead buy them for quick and unchecked treatment. Abuse of opioids has served to bring an even more significant challenge of addiction among the citizens, with numbers showing that a substantial portion of the population uses them (Davis, 2019). This culminates in creating other challenges such as mental health issues or aggravating the conditions the opioids are intended to cure. I believe there is sufficient evidence-base as support for the CARA policy. As reported, throughout the year 1999-2018, there have been almost a million deaths resulting from overdose or abuse of opioids. Notably, in 2018, approximately seventy thousand people died from the opioid abuse of drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. Also, I think more regulation is required at the state level to address the challenge and create prevention and treatment programs for opioid use and regulate the OTC sale of these drugs. (El-Sabawi, 2019).
Conclusion
Healthcare policies have served to provide interventions and guidelines about several healthcare challenges or issues. Through scientific research, legislators have drafted some of the most significant bills, such as the ACA and CARA. With sufficient and reliable evidence, the legislator has been competent to curb the abuse of opioids and address one of America’s most biting healthcare issues.
References
Davis, C. S. (2019). The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act—What will it mean for the opioid-overdose crisis?. New England Journal of Medicine, 380(1), 3-5.
D’Rozario, S. (2020). The Opioid Epidemic in Public Policy (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Northridge).
El-Sabawi, T. (2019). Causal Stories and the Opioid Crisis: How Federal Agencies and Interest Groups Defined the Opioid Problem and Shaped Legislative Alternatives (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).
Moore, D. J. (2019). Nurse practitioners’ pivotal role in ending the opioid epidemic. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 15(5), 323-327.
Rosenberg, J. M., Bilka, B. M., Wilson, S. M., & Spevak, C. (2018). Opioid therapy for chronic pain: an overview of the 2017 US Department of Veterans Affairs and US Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline. Pain Medicine, 19(5), 928-941.
Healthcare Policy and Politics
Question
When politics and medical science intersect, there can be much debate. Sometimes anecdotes or hearsay are misused as evidence to support a particular point. Despite these and other challenges, however, evidence-based approaches are increasingly used to inform health policy decision-making regarding causes of disease, intervention strategies, and issues impacting society. One example is the introduction of childhood vaccinations and the use of evidence-based arguments surrounding their safety.
In this Discussion, you will identify a recently proposed health policy and share your analysis of the evidence in support of this policy.
To Prepare:
Review the Congress website provided in the Resources and identify one recent (within the past 5 years) proposed health policy.
Review the health policy you identified and reflect on the background and development of this health policy.
By Day 3 of Week 7
Post a description of the health policy you selected and a brief background for the problem or issue being addressed. Explain whether you believe there is an evidence base to support the proposed policy and explain why. Be specific and provide examples.
Healthcare Policy and Politics