Health Reform in the United States

Who should make the decision about whether to provide coverage and reimbursement for a particular good or service? Use the Discussion / Writing Rubric.  
The organization evaluated is a non-profit hospital system in Northern Nevada serving both a rural and urban demographic. The author has experience in both a clinical supervisory role within this organization and as a community partner continuing to work with the organizations top managers on initiatives to serve the health care needs of the community. This organization is locally governed with no out of state owners or shareholders and has greater than 150 community members serving on the boards or in advisory capacities. The organization has three key initiatives. One of these key initiatives for this organization is to integrate care in an effort to better manage the health of the community. The goals of this initiative are to help the population served achieve better health through improved outcomes, manage or reduce their healthcare costs, and improve the patient experience. The second initiative is to build key relationships through community partnerships. The goal of this initiative is to increase partnerships with physicians, employees, and community organizations. An example of this is the creation of a shared governance model to make recommendations to the leadership team. The shared governance committee is made up of designated staff from each department. This creates a partnership between the employees and the leadership and gives staff an outlet for their concerns to be heard. The hospital has also partnered with the community to offer health education classes at some of the larger churches in the area and has sponsored community gardens at some of the city parks encouraging members of the community to grow their own vegetables and encourage healthier lifestyle choices. The third key initiative of this organization is to grow the scale and scope of the hospital system. The goal of growing in scale and scope is to develop new kinds of local, rural, and national partnerships in order to expand services for patients. These partnerships would allow for innovation in seeking new solutions and would provide opportunity to invest in and develop major service lines to meet community ne

Sample Solution

  The decision about whether to provide coverage and reimbursement for a particular good or service should ultimately be made by a combination of people, including healthcare providers, insurance companies, government agencies and regulators, as well as consumers. Healthcare providers can use their expertise to evaluate the medical efficacy of different treatments. Insurance companies can weigh the cost-effectiveness of certain drugs and services from an economic perspective.