Part I: Lobbyists have been part of the U.S. Government system since the early 1800s. Lobbyists play an important role in healthcare, as they are advocates for their interest group. In a 4-5 page paper, analyze two examples of how lobbyists affect healthcare legislation. Conclude your paper with your opinion about whether the actions of lobbyists have a positive or negative effect on healthcare legislation in the United States. Please keep in mind the position and facility you selected. Make sure to include the following:

1. Discuss the specific interest of the lobbyist in each example.
2. Discuss in detail some of the ethical issues and moral disputes for each example.
3. Discuss your position on whether the lobbyists’ actions are positive or negative on healthcare legislation in the United States and support your points with details.
4. This portion of your assignment will require you to research and examine information from various sources. Use a minimum of five credible sources for your paper, with three being an academic source from the Rasmussen College Online Library (don’t forget to include in-text citations throughout your paper with paraphrasing or quoting)
5. Make sure to include your APA formatted reference page.

Part II: An agenda can set the tone for a meeting. It’s an important tool to ensure meetings are staying on track and meeting all of the objectives. Create a detailed meeting agenda for a meeting you will hold with your supervisor and fellow department heads discussing your findings (Hint: Microsoft Word has many agenda templates). SkillSurfer in the online tutoring platform offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced tutorials on Microsoft Office products. Make sure to include the following in our agenda:

1. Explain each example
2. The majority of the agenda should be focused on whether the actions of lobbyists have a positive or negative effect on healthcare legislation in the United States.

Make sure to use audience specific language and tone in your agenda. Remember, your supervisor and other department heads will be in attendance. Also, make sure to follow proper agenda/business formatting guidelines and make sure document is professional in appearance.

Quality is multidimensional and involves the perspectives of various stakeholders, including patients and families. As noted in this week’s Learning Resources, defining quality is not a simple, straightforward task. Yet, it provides an essential foundation for being able to measure and assess quality, and, ultimately, to improve it.

In this Discussion, you consider definitions and measurements of quality. As you proceed, think about why it is important for organizations to be able to quantify quality and compare current performance to previous performance, to a set of standards, and/or to performance in other organizations. 

To prepare:

Review the information in the Learning Resources, especially the chapters in the Sadeghi, Brazi, Mikhail, and Shabot course text, focusing on how quality is or could be defined and measured.

Think about a health care organization with which you are familiar. It may be the same organization you are focusing on for your Course Project, or a different one. How do you think various stakeholders in this organization would define quality? How would you define quality as it relates to this organization?

Review the information on quality standards and / or aims in the Learning Resources, and consider the following:

Which outcomes related to quality are currently being monitored in the organization that you have selected?

How is related data collected and evaluated?

Does the organization use health information technology in this regard? If so, how?

How is quality-related information (e.g., data, needs for improvement) communicated throughout the organization?

What do you consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach to quality in this organization?

Post a definition of quality for your selected organization. Describe at least one quality-related measure that is currently being monitored within the organization. Summarize the data collection process for this measure, and explain how this information is communicated to or among the staff. Identify at least one strength and one weakness related to how quality is defined, measured, and/or monitored within the organization.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:

Compare the organizations’ definitions of quality.

Share an insight about how your colleague’s data and information could be used to formulate a quality initiative.

Suggest additional options for tracking data.

Provide an additional resource to assist a colleague with his or her plan for keeping staff informed and engaged.

Use the below link:

http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/ScienceofImprovementEstablishingMeasures.aspx

Required Readings

Hickey, J. V., & Brosnan, C. A. (2017). Evaluation  of health care quality in for DNPs (2nd  ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Chapter 6, “Evaluating of Health Care Information Systems and Patient Care Technology” (pp. 143-170)

This chapter examines federally mandated use of health information technology to improve health care and care delivery.

Sadeghi, S., Barzi, A., Mikhail, O., & Shabot, M. (2013). Integrating quality and strategy in health care organizations. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Review Chapter 3, “General Concepts in Quality” (pp. 45–82) (assigned in Week 4)

The authors discuss historical perspectives of quality in various industries, and explain the multifaceted nature of defining quality in health care settings.

Chapter 4, “Current State of Quality Measurement: External Dynamics” (pp. 83–98)

This chapter describes many of the government, nonprofit, and for-profit groups / organizations that contribute to the establishment quality standards and support research to improve the quality of health care.

Chapter 5, “Current State of Quality Measurement: Internal Dynamics” (pp. 99–110)

This chapter focuses on mandatory and voluntary quality measurement in organizations.

Chapter 6, “Measuring Quality of Inpatient Care” (pp. 111–132)

This chapter explains the terminology use in quality measurement (e.g., measures, indicators, metrics), and notes that measurement is a critical foundation for the ultimate aim of creating effective changes to improve quality.

Chapter 8, “Quantifying the Quality Performance Gaps” (pp. 161–177)

This chapter addresses how to quantify current performance and set targets.

Epstein, J. N., Langberg, J. M., Lichtenstein, P. K., Kolb, R. C., & Stark, L. J. (2010). Sustained improvement in pediatricians’ ADHD practice behaviors in the context of a community-based quality improvement initiative. Children’s Health Care, 39(4), 296–311.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Researchers evaluate a quality improvement project on pediatric care of ADHD patients and the sustainability of the improvement over a two-year period.

Gardner, K., Bailie, R., Si, D., O’Donoghue, L., Kennedy, C., Liddle, H., . . . Beaver, C. (2011). Reorienting primary health care for addressing chronic conditions in remote Australia and the South Pacific: Review of evidence and lessons from an innovative quality improvement process. The Australian Journal of Rural Health, 19(3), 111–117.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The authors review data from continuous quality improvement projects, and also discuss key features of continuous quality improvement projects and requirements for supporting an initiative on a larger scale.

Institute of Medicine. (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This report outlines the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) six aims to improve the quality of health care.

Knox, L. M., & Aspy, C. B. (2011). Quality improvement as a tool for translating evidence based interventions into practice: What the youth violence prevention community can learn from healthcare. American Journal of Community Psychology, 48(1-2), 56–64.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article discusses evidenced-based practice, how it can be used to not only improve healthcare, but also performance in other fields such as youth and family services.

 Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2011). Science of improvement: Establishing measures. Retrieved from http://www.ihi.org/knowledge/Pages/HowtoImprove/ScienceofImprovementEstablishingMeasures.aspx

This piece outlines central tenets of measurement for improvement purposes.

 Document: Evidence Matrix (Word document)

Depending on location, NPs have scopes of practice that are regulated by state laws, boards of nursing, boards of medicine and reimbursement. There are several sources of restrictions to NP practice such as state laws. Federal regulations include who may prescribe controlled substances and which substances NPs can prescribe as well as the various reimbursement agencies. It is essential that the NP be fully informed of what they are allowed to do by law (state and federal) or by other regulatory organizations. These regulations vary widely from state to state. Consequences of practicing outside your scope of practice may be anything from a fine, suspension or revocation of your license, civil lawsuit, or even criminal charges.Directions

Use the provided template to compare and contrast the three major regulatory practice models for NPs: Supervisory, Collaborative, and Independent. This Assignment requires credible and up to date resources for each category. Include in each model at least one state that represents the scope of practice you are discussing. For example, Florida requires a supervisory relationship with a physician along with a practice agreement, formulary, and protocols. Because Florida does not allow any controlled substances to be prescribed by NPs, the DEA will not issue a license to prescribe these medications. In order to apply and receive a DEA license to prescribe controlled substances, you must be approved by the state you are practicing in to prescribe these medications.

Assignment Template

To view the Grading Rubric for this Assignment, please visit the Grading Rubrics section of the Course Home.Assignment Requirements

Before finalizing your work, you should:

• be sure to read the Assignment description carefully (as displayed above)
• consult the Grading Rubric (under the Course Home) to make sure you have included everything necessary
• utilize spelling and grammar check to minimize errors

Your writing Assignment should:

• follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.)
• be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful
• display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics
• use APA 6th Edition format for organization, style, and crediting sources. Refer to the APA Progression Ladder.

USE THE ATTACHED RUBRIC AND TEMPLATE TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT. FOR ONE STATE YOU MUST INCLUDE ALABAMA. RESOURCES MUST BE NO OLDER THAN 3 YEARS!!!!!!!

For this assignment, use the information and knowledge you gathered in writing your nursing issues paper in Unit 2 and your policy boundaries paper in Unit 5. This helps to provide an analysis of the current policy, which directs care around your selected nursing or health care issue.

• Write a 3–5 page policy analysis paper. Remember that policy can be formed from legislation, executive orders, court decisions, and governmental or professional regulations.
• Apply the ethics of care analysis framework and consider:
  • How attentive is the policy to the needs of health care consumers? Is health care accessible, affordable, and appropriate?
  • Who is responsible for ensuring that care is delivered to those in need? In what ways do they meet this responsibility? In what ways do they fall short?
  • How competent is the system of care that is responsible for the delivery of care on all levels, from individual staff to administration?
  • How responsive is the system of care to those in need of care? Is the system more responsive to some than others? Who gets left out?
  • What are the consequences of this policy in terms of quality of care and access to care? Who suffers and in what ways?
  • How well does the policy reflect nursing’s values of caring, collaboration, collectivity, and high-touch care?
  • How well does the policy reflect the ethics of care philosophy and principles?
  • What are the power relations between those in need of care and those providing care (both the institutions and its individual members)? How empowering is the policy for patients, for nursing care providers, and for institutions in the health care system?
  • To what extent does the policy support the provision of comprehensive care? To what extent does it fragment care?
  • What challenges to care or gaps in care does this policy present?
  • What ethical issues does this policy raise in the delivery of care, and in the maintenance or creation of health disparities?
• Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources with the majority being peer-reviewed sources. Be sure to find and use policy evaluation studies in addition to other empirical research to support your analysis.
• Your reference list should be appropriate to the body of literature available on this topic that has been published in the past five years.
• Use APA style and formatting throughout your paper and when citing your sources.

Criteria	Non-performance	Basic	Proficient	Distinguished
Provide an analysis of the current policy directing care around the health care or nursing issue. 48%	Does not provide an analysis of the current policy directing care around the health care or nursing issue.	Superficially lists features of the current policy directing care around the health care or nursing issue.	Provides an analysis of the current policy directing care around the health care or nursing issue.	Provides a detailed analysis of the current policy directing care around the health care or nursing issue, and provides supporting examples.
Apply the ethics of care analysis framework. 47%	Does not apply the ethics of care analysis framework.	Analyzes, but does not apply, the ethics of care analysis framework.	Applies the ethics of care analysis framework.	Synthesizes the ethics of care analysis framework.
Effectively communicates by integrating research into written documents that follow APA format, as well as the consistent use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics expected of a nursing professional. 5%	Does not effectively communicate by integrating research into written documents that follow APA format, as well as the consistent use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics expected of a nursing professional.	Communicates by integrating research into written documents that lack consistency in APA format, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics expected of a nursing professional.	Effectively communicates by integrating research into written documents that follow APA format, as well as the consistent use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics expected of a nursing professional.	Effectively communicates by integrating research into written documents that follow APA format, as well as the consistent use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics expected of a nursing professional and leader.