Governmental Policies Related to the Health and Safety of a Community
In the US, there are different government-level policy frameworks assisting people for economical healthcare insurance options and facilities. These policy frameworks are for people’s well-being and betterment which provide equal safe and high-quality healthcare services to all community members without any discrepancy. Though there are many notable policies in the United States for provision of affordable healthcare services, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is highly reputed (Ercia, 2021). To guarantee high-quality and safe health services in nursing homes, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act is important as the targeted community is nursing homes (Harrington et al., 2019). For protecting patient’s healthcare information, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is important (Chinmoy et al., 2020).
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Clear Instances of Particular Policies Affecting Care Coordination
Most extensive healthcare policy framework is the ACA which has three key objectives. The first objective is to guarantee economical healthcare insurance options, the second is to increase accessibility of people from lower income class to health services and the third is to encourage such patient care services which decrease the healthcare expenditure (Sturmberg & Bircher, 2019). ACA impacts the healthcare standard at different levels i.e., improving quality of healthcare services by provision of economical healthcare insurance options to people from lower income class. It also works for the community’s health and well-being by different illness prevention plans.
People in nursing homes are suffering from chronic illnesses i.e., high blood pressure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), pneumonia and cardiovascular problems. People suffering from chronic and pre-existing diseases can have elite-quality healthcare facilities under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). People in nursing homes can get intervention assistance from expert and able healthcare providers working there. ACA has an impact on care coordination as healthcare facilities are expensive for people and there are unaffordable insurance choices, resultantly people decide to ignore their health state. ACA is also assisting to manage the disease rate. Effective healthcare screening ensures timely medical interventions for patients in nursing homes which reduce the death and disease rate.
ACA has also introduced Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) to discipline healthcare organizations such as nursing homes for increased hospitalization rates (Pugh et al., 2021). HRRP motivates healthcare institutes to strengthen their communication and care coordination. This has improved patient and healthcare providers involvement in hospital discharge which is eventually controlling the hospitalization rates (Ayabakan et al., 2021). HRRP enhanced the American Healthcare System as it encouraged healthcare organizations to enhance care coordination activities by involving patients in post-discharge design (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2022).
Provision of elite-quality healthcare facilities to all and strong communication with healthcare workers is a major challenge at nursing homes. Changes in the transparency of patient healthcare information is brought about by the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act which directly impacts the care coordination (National Academies of Sciences et al., 2022). This policy framework guarantees the healthcare providers’ accountability for patient care and healthcare facilities in nursing homes. Patients can inquire about the healthcare services standard offered in nursing homes. Ethical frameworks are also implemented under this policy framework to assess civil, administrative violations, performance and quality enhancement designs in nursing homes (Yew, 2020).
HIPAA regulations were formulated and passed by the US federal government in 1996 to ensure confidentiality and privacy for patient’s healthcare information (Moore & Frye, 2019). It forbids any act of sharing a patient’s information without consent (Cramer, 2023). HIPAA policy framework has been introduced for avoiding mishandling and breach of medical data. Under HIPAA, all the patient’s health information is kept secured and transferred safely among healthcare workers during care coordination. There are huge fines and penalties for breaching a patient’s data confidentiality (Anderson, 2019).
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