Assignment 1: Healthcare Policy Bill Selection ( 1 page)
1. Research and choose a state or federal bill related to a health care policy issue.
o This will be used for all course assignments.
o No duplicate bills
2. Place the title of the bill in the subject line of the discussion post.
3. Post a brief description of the bill on the discussion board.
o Identify if it is a state or federal bill
o Include the bill’s number (H.R.# or S#), title, purpose, intended group/population, and outcome (if already determined)
o Reason for selection
4. Identify the bill’s legislative sponsors.
o Include the full name, party affiliations, and districts
Assignment 2: Policy Brief (2pages)
For this assignment, students will write a policy brief related to health care and its effect on nursing practice. Students will utilize the bill selected in Assignment 1.
Assignment Criteria
Utilizing the selected bill from Assignment 1, complete the following:
1. Summarize the issue or problem that captures its essence.
o The issue can be a bill that was passed in the student’s state’s recent legislative session, or an issue presented in the state’s legislative session but ‘died’ in committee
o Choose a regulation or judicial decision
o Make sure the bill has a financial impact on healthcare
2. Discuss the bill’s background and include the following elements in concise bulleted format:
o Name and party affiliation of the sponsor of the bill
o Background information on the issue
o Identify the bill’s stakeholders
o Key regulatory and legislative history
o Provide data such as statistics, demographics, recent trends, etc. Include current references for all data provided
3. Describe policy options or alternatives.
o Present the pros and cons of three options or alternatives
o Present a political perspective associated with each of the options or alternatives
o Provide a timetable for action
4. Recommended action and impact on the nursing profession.
5. Include a minimum of three (3) references from professional scholarly peer-reviewed journals to support the policy brief (review in Ulrich Periodical Directory) and be less than five (5) years old. Additionally, include a reference for the selected bill.
6. The Policy Brief should be a one or two pages excluding the title and reference page. See example in Chapter 10 Table 10-15 Policy Brief Guidelines in the Porche textbook.
7. Include a title and reference page. The brief can be single-spaced. Follow APA format for all other areas of the paper.
Assignment 3: Policy Analysis Scholarly Paper (6 pages)
Assignment 3 builds upon Assignment 2. Expand the brief and write an in-depth analysis of the bill/issue. In this assignment, select the point of view you will represent in the written analysis (e.g. chronic illness in the elderly; reduce hospital readmission related to rural areas lack of providership for example). Policy analysis and recommendations are particularly reliant on the perspective of the individual or an organization.
Assignment Criteria:
For this assignment, build upon Assignment 2 brief and write an in-depth analysis on the selected bill:
1. Select a point of view the master’s prepared nurse will represent in the written analysis (e.g. chronic illness in elderly; reduce hospital readmissions related to rural areas lack of providership; etc.)
2. Make a case for or against the policy change.
3. Select the organization the master’s prepared nurse will represent for this assignment (i.e. legislative staff, hospital Chief Nursing Office, president of a professional nursing organization, state board of nursing, or a government official, etc.)
4. Follow the topic outline bullets below. Use each bullet as a level heading for the paper.
5. Search the literature for four (4) evidence-based interventions on the bill or policy of interest. The literature can be individual studies or systematic reviews. A systematic review counts as one (1) intervention. If using a systematic review, report on the review, not on the studies identified in the review. All the studies MUST be intervention studies. Review what constitutes an intervention study.
o Identify the databases (e.g., CINAHL, Medline) and key terms used in initiating the collective search for all the studies (not each study)
o Describe the bill or policy found in the literature as it relates to the master’s prepared nurse’s state and other states where the bill/policy has been implemented.
6. The scholarly paper should 5-6 pages excluding the title and reference pages.
7. Include level 1 and 2 headings to organize the brief, an introductory paragraph, bullet topics below and a conclusion.
8. Write the paper in third person, not first person (meaning do not use ‘we’ or ‘I’).
9. Include a minimum of four (4) references from professional scholarly peer-reviewed journals to support the paper (review in Ulrich Periodical Directory) and be less than five (5) years old.
10. APA 6th edition format is required (attention to spelling/grammar, a title page, a reference page, and in-text citations).
Follow the bullet outlines (i.e. use them as headings for the paper)
• Introduction (APA does not recommend using the heading introduction. Use the title of the selected bill.
o Identify the organization represented
o Clearly identify the issue or problem presented in the policy brief. Expand on its history.
• Provide any evidence-based guidelines published on the issue
• Key Policy Events (regulatory and legislative). Does any previous legislation or regulation precede this particular issue? Focus on those aspects of the legislation or regulation that relate to financial and or reimbursement effects. Lists are often helpful in this section of the paper
• Financial Data. Provide financial data (either gathered from your facility or obtained in the literature), and apply the information to the issue as a means of supporting the selection
• Key/Major Stakeholders. Identify and explain the implication of their views. Include the bill/issue sponsor(s)
• Social, Economic, Ethical, Legal, and Political Factors. Identify the factors that may impact the various stakeholders or the decisions related to the issue. You are providing a context of the issue in this section, giving key demographic, financial and/or statistical information or noticeable trends of current studies that impact your issue. This is a substantial part of the analysis. Each topic of this section should be addressed separately. Relate each section to the population of interest selected for the bill or policy assignment
• Policy Intervention Options. Which options are available/relevant to this issue? Include whether there are any current legislative/regulation activities or proposals under consideration and how they relate or differ from what you are proposing/advocating. Offer alternative solutions and make sound reasons that support the alternatives you offer
• Proposed Recommendation. From the research and analysis, what is the recommendation you propose (e.g. your scholarly perspective supported by scholarly citations)? You are making the recommendation based on the sound points and information provided in the preceding sections of your paper
• Nursing Implications. Identify the implications for nursing as it relates to patient safety and quality. You may want to conduct a literature review to identify other states or areas where the issue has been addressed. Review their nursing implications for your state consideration
• Conclusion
Assignment 4: Policy Issue/Action PowerPoint Presentation (7 slides)
Students will build upon the previous assignments and develop a PowerPoint (PPT) Assignment Criteria
For this assignment:
1. Using the previous assignments, develop a PPT presentation to address to the legislative committee in the form of a testimony.
a. Use the PPT as a method to get the message across to those who make the decisions.
2. Include the following information in the slides:
a. Slide 1: Title-This should include the title of the presentation, student name, and the university name.
b. Slide 2: Introduction-Briefly discuss your name and the organization you represent (include a very brief description
about the organization). Use bulleted points.
c. Slide 3: Purpose Statement
d. Slide 4: Problem statement: Provide specific details about the policy you are there to address. Why is this a concern?
e. Slide 5: Recommendations: What is your solution to the problem/policy? What is the impact in terms
Of cost, savings, lives, etc.
f. Slide 6: Conclusion-Summarize key points and thank the committee.
g. Slide 7: References in APA format (please include in-text citations on slides).
***Do not cut and paste content verbatim from Assignments 2 and 3 into the PPT***
3. Include a minimum of three (3) references. References should be from scholarly peer-reviewed journals (check Ulrich’s Periodical Directory) and be less than five (5) years old.
4. The PPT presentation is limited to eight (8) slides
5. Information within the PPT should be in bulleted format, not narrative paragraphs.
6. Use APA format for PPT.
