UMUC HCAD620 FIRST PAPER ,RESEARCH PAPER AND FINAL EXAM

FIRST PAPER Instructions Copy and paste please. Please answer any three of the items below and prepare a one page response, more or less, for each item. 1. Based on the first chapter of Shi and Singh, what are three key differences between the US healthcare system and healthcare systems found in other nations? 2. Provide one example of how American values and beliefs affect the US healthcare system. 3. What are two key differences between the Medicare and Medicaid programs? 4. How is managed care designed to reduce the overall cost of care? 5. What are three key factors most likely to affe Instructions Guidelines for Research Paper Project University of Maryland-Health Care Administration By Professor Arthur Reynolds© The following guidance is directed towards the successful completion of your course research paper requirement. Please adhere to these directions closely. Note that the usual rules of academic integrity and written excellence apply vigorously. Please select either ONE (but only ONE) of the following items. For whichever item you select, prepare a well-crafted double-spaced typed paper of roughly 6-8 pages in length, exclusive of any tables, etc.I do not reward verbosity!! I. Locate the organizational chart of any state (or Canadian Province) health department. Select an agency with comprehensive jurisdiction over the health care quality and services of its citizens. (The Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene is a good example.) For the agency you have selected, briefly discuss the following: 1. How is the agency organized to accomplish its statutory objectives? (You will have to ascertain what they are!) Do you consider the organizational optimal, merely adequate or effective or neither? 2. What are the primary sources of this agency’s budget? 3. What are this agency’s principal budgetary outlays and expenditures? 4. How are services for the poor addressed, if at all? 5. How does this agency seek to balance the competing interests of health care providers and the public? Are elected officials prominent in the agency’s administration? II. Identify a pending piece of legislation (i.e. a bill) at either the Congressional or state legislative arena directly impacting health care policy and/or the delivery or management of health care services. (Thus, existing Federal or state legislation isexcluded!!)You may select any state within the USA or a Canadian Province. For the bill you have selected, briefly address the following: 1. Who are the bill’s principal sponsors in both the legislature/Congress and within the health care “community?” 2. What are the ostensible objectives of the legislation? 3. Are there any “hidden” agendas or objectives to the proposed law? (Hint: You will need to locate some debate on the merits of the bill to flush out the issues!) 4. Who primarily benefits from the proposed law? Are any interests adversely impacted, at least theoretically? 5. How would this bill reform, alter or modify the manner in which health care services are financed, organized or delivered? What impact do the bill’s proponents hope to achieve? Is this bill a “major change” in health care policy? Good luck with either project. Remember to avoid lengthy recitations of fact and DO get to the heart of the matter you are discussing. FINAL EXAM Instructions HCAD620 -Final Examination US HEALTH CARE By Professor Arthur Reynolds© Instructions:From the list of questions below, please select ANY THREE (but no more than THREE!) items and for each prepare a well-crafted, double-spaced typed reply of roughly one to one and one-half pages in length (approximately 250-300 words each). The usual rules of academic integrity and written excellence apply. This is an open-book, open-source exam but you may not confer with anyone, excluding myself, about it. Good luck! 1. Identify the principal mechanisms by which the Federal government impacts the financing, quality and/or delivery of personal health care services. What institutions and organizations are paramount? 2. Compare and contrast the principal organizational models of HMOs in the present time. How have they evolved, if at all, under managed care policies? 3. “With the advances in psychiatric medications and with the expansion of inpatient and ambulatory services and financing for mental health patients, America in the 21st Century is poised to ensure high quality and comprehensive services for its mental health clientele. Its one of the great unheralded successes of American medicine and pharmacology.” Accept or reject this statement while providing specific examples in support of your position. 4. Briefly discuss the variety and scope of ambulatory care services. How have these types of services transformed the delivery of medical care? Are certain types of care unsuitablefor such delivery modes? 5. “The aging of the American population has compelled major policy shifts to address the health care needs of this prosperous and large demographic. Entirely new markets are being served through innovative long-term care services. Pharmaceutical advances suggest that the elderly of the 21st Century can anticipate both longer life spans and a higher quality of life.” Accept or reject this statement, providing specific examples to buttress your point of view. 6. “While the hospital governing board is nominallyin charge of a facility’s policies and leadership, actualmanagement and ultimate legal accountability for the hospital rests squarely upon the CEO/administrator and his/her senior management staff.” Accept or reject this statement with specific examples in support. 7. What roles have state and local health departments played in the delivery of health care services? Are these roles, in your view, appropriate and suitable in ensuring the protection of the public’s welfare? Should they be changed? 8. “The fragmentation and segmenting of the health care workforce protects the patient and the public by ensuring that knowledgeable health care professionals “police” their own colleagues. Thus, for example, nurses regulate their fellow nurses and ensure physicians stay out of their occupation. Similarly, physician quality is regulated by their own licensing and regulatory entity, ensuring that those without specialized medical training are prevented from meddling in their internal matters.” Accept or reject this statement and provide specific example in support. 9. Briefly compare and contrast two or three proposals to significantly reform our healthcare delivery system(s). Please address specifically physician compensation, access to care/insurance, impact on employment and support for innovation, among other factors. Provide support for your favored option among the ones you selected. 10.“My so-called generous employer-sponsored health insurance plan still saddles me with significant financial costs as well as worry over the availability of services. I am fearful of changing jobs lest my coverage be impaired. From what I hear, I would be far better served in Canada or the United Kingdom/Great Britain; despite paying higher taxes, I would have less to worry about and comparably superior medical care.” Accept or reject this statement with specific examples. 11.“Thanks to greater restrictions on cross-border travel and increasing surveillance of those entering the USA since 9/11, the USA is far better protected today from global health threats and the spread of contagious diseases than was the case prior to 2001.” Accept or reject this statement with specific evidence to support your position.