The integration of public health services and health care services ought to be put in place in order to achieve many gains in the industry of health reforms. There is no conceivable way that a concession can be reached in terms of compromising public health. Public health ought to be funded and offered political support from all sides since it is of paramount importance to the people of any region. Hardcastle, Record, Jacobson, and Gostin (2011) attested “despite evidence indicating that public health services are the most effective means of improving the population’s health status, health care services receive the bulk of funding and political support” (p. 320). Hardcastle et al. (2011) further stated that the “recent passage of the Affordable Care Act, which focused on improving access to health care services through insurance reform, reflects the primacy of health care over public health” (p. 320).
In studies that they carried out on the policies and the policymaker’s impressions on the health system, Hardcastle et al. (2011) denoted that although “policymakers typically conceptualize health care and public health as two distinct systems, gains in health status is most effectively and cost-efficiently achieved through their integration into a single health system” (p. 320). The research summed up by depicting the fact that the Act “does little to compel integration; however, there are numerous opportunities to encourage the coordination of public health and health care in the Act’s implementation” (p.320). The integration of these two services is essential to the enhancement of the health sector. It ought to be the first step in the trend of comprehensive reforms in the sector.
The piece on health policy and politics, pnpoints the ever-growing hurdles to the Affordable Care act. The piece proffers vital information that may act as guidelines, on various institutions such as the (IPAB) Independent Payment Advisory Board, as well as the (PCORI) Patient Outcomes Research Institute, which represent a significant role in the malfunction or accomplishment of the ACA in achieving its goals. The piece of writing also confers on the proposals by the expert in health economics Victor Fuchs, which revolved around the three main areas that would be affected in an attempt to achieve a more exclusive and focused health care structure. These are the infrastructure, information, and incentives. Gardner (2012), states that the “health economist Victor Fuchs’s proposal on the three areas to be changed for quality-focused health care system: information, infrastructure, and incentives” (p. 40).
Familiarizing themselves with the issues that the ACA is intended to address, ought to be the priority of the nurses. This is because the impediments that are in place may inhibit the system from taking off effectively. With an health care legislation in place that is regarded as being righteous in some quarters, it is assumed that it lays a foundation for the inhibition of structural expenditure in the future. The problem that is faced is that the political interests in the region will continue to interfere in a manner that polarizes the efforts that are being put into implementing reforms in the sector. The need to engage becomes critical in the effort to transcend the suppression of the reform notions. In order to get to achieve the targeted quoits, the first and most significant step towards initializing the engagement for improvement ought to be taken; engaging the political hurdles.
References
Gardner, D. B. (2011). Health policy and politics. The future of the affordable care act: Will we abandon health care reform? Nursing Economics, 30(1), 40-1, 49.
Hardcastle, L. E., Record, K. L., Jacobson, P. D. and Gostin, L. O. (2011), Improving the Population’s Health: The Affordable Care Act and the Importance of Integration. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 39(2), 317–327. Web.