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ACA goal is to rovide affordable health insurance for all citizens of the United States of American and to reduce the growth in health care spending. The information acquired has enabled me to answer questions when asked about what ACA is all about. Part of the class assignments was to read and discuss one of the effective changes in policy in Minnesota which is to improve the quality of life. As a group, we looked a number of strategies and elements within Roadmap to a healthier Minnesota. Our group expressed enthusiasm over the needs Minnesota identified and the suggested solutions.
More importantly, it was nteresting to learn that one of the goals of the road map is to attract and maintain the long-term care workforce by doing targeted career advancement; increasing wages of direct care workers employed in nursing homes and in-home care (Health Reform Minnesota, 2014). This is a key need in Minnesota due to the rapidly aging population, high demand for caregivers in these settings, high vacancy rates, and high turnover. Collaboration with the community can fill the gap in health promotion and lead to improved health of the community.
Analyzing Health Policy learned the steps in making legislative policy change. Only members of Congress can introduce legislation however the ideas of the bill can come from anyone. The bill is introduced then referred to a full committee first, then to special subcommittees for hearings, debate revisions and approval. Only the house has a Rules Committee to set the “rule” for floor action and conditions for debate and amendments. In the senate, the leadership schedules actions. The bill is debated, amended and passed or defeated. If passed, it goes to other chamber and follows the same path.
If each chamber passes similar bill, both versions go to conference. After the conference eport has been approved by both the House and Senate, the final bill is sent to the President. If the President approves of the legislation, he signs it and it becomes law. If the President does not take action for ten days while Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law. If the President opposes the bill he can veto it; or, if he takes no action after the Congress has adjourned its second session, it is a pocket veto and the legislation dies.
If the President vetoes a bill, Congress may decide to attempt to override the veto. This requires a two-thirds majority vote (Mason, Leavitte, & Chaffee, 2012). I elt this was necessary for us APRNs to learn the process. Advocacy in health care policy From the assigned reading I was able to understand what LACE stand for. It is proposed as a communication network to include organizations that represent the Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education components of APRN regulation.
Its goal is intended to be a transparent process for communicating about APRN regulatory issues, facilitating implementation of the APRN Consensus Model, and involving all stakeholders in advancing APRN regulation. It is our jobs as nurses and future APRNs to advocate for vulnerable adult population. Patient advocacy is an integral part of nursing practice (Mason, Leavitte, & Chaffee, 2012). It is clear that there is challenging bundle of legislative stipulations when implementing change, thus, tools will be needed to move the process along.
As Senator Nelson stated to our class it will be important to have researchers working on finding literature about the gravity of any problem. Advocacy within the Nursing Profession also learned that APRNs can do much more to create policy leverage. Nursing associations around the world advocate, in one way or another, advancing the nursing profession and excellence in nursing practice and pecialty settings, and they share a common cause of promoting health and well-being of the populations being served. Being part of the committed professional associations is imperative.
Association involvement will offer health professionals many opportunities to learn to practice and polish leadership skills that will maximize their influence in associations, work, community, and other policy development settings and to support the next generations of nurse leaders who will continue the vital work of the nursing profession. Nurse activists can be important force for change within health are system, as evidenced by recent efforts to implement policy and practice in areas of patient safety, workplace injury prevention, and health care reform (Mason, Leavitte, & Chaffee, 2012).
This information empowered me to continue being part of nursing associations. Acquired skills for Health care delivery As future APRN’s, we play a key role in the health of Minnesota, and we can greatly contribute to the implementation of strategy elements through writing to our legislators. have learned and acquired skills from this class on how to research for a policy change and implement it. I now understand the steps of aking a policy into an agenda. feel confident that can do this in the future as an APRN.