Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers
Healthcare institutions function under laws, policies, and regulations. These policies and regulations are dynamic and keep changing with changing demands to meet the consumer and provider needs. They also ensure that all individuals receive care with maximum benefit. Advanced practice nurses should be aware of these regulations to implement them in their practice. When these policies arise, they affect consumers and care providers differently. Legislations are statutory laws put in place by the governing body or bodies. This essay discusses recent local/state healthcare legislation and its implications. Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers
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Policy Identification & Summary
Falls are unplanned events that can be prevented because the major causes of falls are environmental factors such as poor lighting, lack of handrails, slippery floors, present obstacles, and high staircases; thus, individuals are unable to climb safely (Kiel et al., 2019). Falls, especially among elderly individuals, have increased lately, provoking the state governments to develop legislation and policies to manage patient falls. One elaborate legislation is the California SB 280 in 2019, which requires the state’s housing and community development department to investigate and implement changes to building standards to accommodate aging in place designs such as grab bars installation (State Net, 2022)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers.
The legislation provides a list of recommendations that could be incorporated into the California Residential Code in new and existing buildings. These include appropriate locations of switches, doorbells, heating ventilation, and air- conditioning controls that are easily reachable. Additional investigation recommendations are grab bars installation in bathrooms and a 32-inch clearance width on an opening for a bathroom and bedroom door (State Net, 2022)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers. The APRNs role in this legislation is vital. They will assess the hospital environments and determine the recommendations that can be implemented in new and existing healthcare institutions to prevent these falls.
These recommendations, once approved, are subject to all residential and home buildings. The state department will evaluate and consider costs for various building plans before recommending them as laws. The current health and safety legislation requires all institutions dealing with such individuals (elderly), such as nursing homes, residential areas, and other hospitals, to submit their building plans to the State Department of housing and community development for development and adoption (State Net, 2022)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers. The legislation aims to reduce falls in the state which are the leading causes of injuries (fatal and nonfatal) among elderly individuals.
The legislation’s weakness is that it gives the state department of building and community department the mandate to investigate and implement new building standards. The legislation lacks measures to determine its success or failure because there are no specific objectives for the mandates (State Net, 2022). One strength of the legislation is that the department’s new building designs and instructions will be enacted under the law, forcing all institutions to comply with the law. In addition, the department can incorporate recommendations by institutions such as hospitals under the mandate to improve safety (State Net, 2022)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers. The policy is also not limited to healthcare institutions, and it will decrease falls in homes, thus reducing the fall burden in inpatient and outpatient departments.
Policy Impact on Consumer Stakeholders
The provider stakeholders of this legislation are healthcare institutions, the state department of housing and community development, and social institutions. The state department will have an added load of coordinating research to improve safety in buildings. The researched building for aging designs will be enacted as laws, and every social institution and other institutions must adhere to them. The institutions will require adjusting their building plans and ensuring new buildings comply with the set regulations (State Net, 2022)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers. The legislation will increase costs of accreditation and approval of building plans and high costs of renovations to meet the new standards. Failure to meet state laws attracts fines, and thus institutions will be forced to comply with the standards. However, implementing the legislation will increase safety in these buildings, preventing the high healthcare costs and lawsuit costs associated with patient falls. In addition, it will increase hospital reputations and promote good public relationships.
Policy Impact on Provider Stakeholders
Older adults are the primary consumers of the legislation. However, all other members of the public will benefit from the legislation. Older adult falls are a leading cause of death from unintentional injury (Florence et al., 2018). Falls are counted as nosocomial injuries, and thus major healthcare insurance policies such as Medicare and Medicaid due to pay hospitals for such injuries (Stevens & Lee, 2018). The mandate is left to the hospitals and patients, and thus patients suffer high healthcare costs. With the legislation in place, institutions will improve their safety and reduce falls and associated costs. Falls also lead to morbidities and mortalities, which negatively affect patients and their families, hence the need for community-based interventions (Ganz & Latham, 2020)Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers. Morbidities such as fractures and loss of function affect their quality of life. Deaths from falls affect family structures and psychological health. These morbidities and mortalities will reduce with the implementation and success of SB 280 2019 (State Net, 2022). In addition, the homes will be safer for older adults hence decongesting nursing homes and allowing older adults to receive care in familiar environments (around their families) hence better outcomes.
Conclusion
Legislations and policies improve the health and the safety of individuals. California’s SB 280 2019 legislation aims to prevent patient falls by providing safe environments both in institutions and at home. The legislation offers recommendations such as grab bars, accessibility of light switches and air conditioners, and others. The legislation will impose costs on hospitals and residential facilities to enhance safety as can be accommodated. It will thus decrease the falls burden on the state and associated lawsuits and healthcare costs
References
Florence, C. S., Bergen, G., Atherly, A., Burns, E., Stevens, J., & Drake, C. (2018). Medical costs of fatal and nonfatal falls in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(4), 693-698. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15304
Ganz, D. A., & Latham, N. K. (2020). Prevention of falls in community-dwelling older adults. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(8), 734-743. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMcp1903252
Kiel, D. P., Schmader, K., & Lin, F. (2018). Falls in older persons: Risk factors and patient evaluation. UpToDate. Waltham: UpToDate Inc. https://www.medilib.ir/uptodate/show/3012
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State Net, (2022). An Act to Add Section 17922.15 to the Health and Safety Code, Relating to Building Standards. Legislative Counsel’s Digest. http://custom.statenet.com/public/resources.cgi?id=ID:bill:CA2019000S280&ciq=ncsl9&client_md=c7025dc4372b5ea799aa626d0219fa05&mode=current_text
Stevens, J. A., & Lee, R. (2018). The potential to reduce falls and avert costs by clinically managing fall risk. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 55(3), 290-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2018.04.035 Effects Of Contemporary Health Policy On Providers And Consumers
