Effect of Health Care Policy on Health Care Organizations

Healthcare policy refers to regulations, guidelines, and rules that influence care delivery
in a healthcare facility. It forms a blueprint that ensures that patients achieve the highest
quality of care, hence critical in decision-making (Ginter, Duncan & Swayne, 2018). An
organization’s healthcare policy aims to develop consistency in daily clinical operations and
procedures. The policy also documents the organization’s future goals, which are realized
through the medium and long-term objectives of the healthcare facility. Notably, the health
policy also delineates the duties and responsibilities of various groups of professionals and
their collective role in optimizing patient outcomes.
The healthcare industry is a multibillion-dollar entity since every individual desires to
experience a long productive, healthy life. People’s health can quickly deteriorate when
healthcare policies do not favor a more significant percentage of the population. This is
because people desire to access affordable healthcare, which may be harder to acquire. The
healthcare policies directly impact resource allocation that supports healthcare delivery. In the
recent past, the increased cost of medical care has led to policy disputes with stakeholders
arguing that hospital budget cuts may compromise the quality of care delivered. On the other
hand, a significant focus on improving the quality of care provided to the patients may also
result in increased healthcare budgetary requirements.

Healthcare policy is essential because it influences care delivery in a healthcare facility.
The increased costs of healthcare have made patients seek out costlier services. This may cause
a financial strain on people within the middle class and those of low-income status (Stout,
Simpso & Singh, 2019). They may not fully meet their medical bills and stay for more
extended periods in the health facility even after recuperating. This directly affects the
financial flow of the hospital because they cannot discharge such patients with a waiver as it
would not be able to meet their liabilities. Similarly, other patients within the facility may not
get quality care due to poor employee satisfaction that directly affects service delivery.
In terms of advocacy, the nurse leader assumes a focal point of mediating between the
health care personnel and their clients who may be complaining of poor services. Therefore,
the nurse leader will call for negotiation so that the two conflicting parties may agree on the
way forward. Again the nurse leader can also involve representatives from the employer and
ministry of health to give sound advice (World Health Organization, 2018). In addition, the
nurse can also advocate for patient care by involving the patients and their relatives to make
care plans that are accurate and well understood by all the patients (Aelbrecht et al., 2019). It is
equally paramount for the nurses to provide the patient with all the information needed for
them to choose the type of care desired.
The nurse leader will ensure that the patients get the services required for their
condition in terms of cost. This will reduce medical-care costs attributed to other procedures
that the patient may not need. This implies that the nurse leader will train the personnel
involved in inspecting patient data which come to the facility for care services. As such,
decisions will be made in strict adherence to the patient’s medical history and clinical
diagnosis. Similarly, nurse leaders can advocate for affordable care by working within the

allocated budget. This can be done by adopting proper scheduling that discourages overtime
and provides benefits to employees that are less costly to the institution.

References

Aelbrecht, K., Hanssens, L., Detollenaere, J., Willems, S., Deveugele, M., & Pype, P. (2019).
Determinants of physician-patient communication: The role of language, education, and
ethnicity. Patient education and counseling, 102(4), 776-781.

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Stout, S. S., Simpson, L. A., & Singh, P. (2019). Trust between health care and community
organizations. Jama, 322(2), 109-110.

World Health Organization. (2018). WHO recommendations on intrapartum care for a positive
childbirth experience. World Health Organization.