NR524: Health Policy, Advocacy and Economics in Healthcare

1. Discussion: Cost-control Strategies
Question: (300 Words with references)
In your initial post, give one example of a cost-control strategy and describe how that strategy may affect access or quality in healthcare service. 

  
2. Assignment – FACT Sheet
This week, you will submit your completed Fact sheet assignment.
Remember the different Fact Sheet Examples that you read about last week.
Fact sheets usually fall into one of two categories: 

General information dissemination  
Information for advocacy  

The primary audiences for fact sheets relating to health policy issues include congressional staffers, policy makers, reporters, and the public. The main function of a fact sheet is to break down complicated information into accessible and easily understandable parts. To facilitate comprehension and ease of reading, individual sections of the fact sheet are frequently captioned.  
Directions
For this assignment, you will find an active or proposed piece of state or federal legislation affecting some aspect of health care. You will then become an active participant and advocate for or against the legislation and develop an advocacy tool (sometimes referred to as a fact sheet). This means you must understand the intent and implication of the bill to effectively communicate your position to legislators and other stakeholders. This document is only one page (typically front and back) that explains an association’s position on the legislation. As you prepare this assignment, consider the following information:

This MUST be original work. You will likely find one-pager on the legislation you discover. Do not copy and paste ideas or structure.
The FACT sheet should be two pages of content, front and back.
Make your FACT sheet easy to read and eye catching–make it interesting and inviting to look at!

When writing your fact sheet, consider these questions:

What is the background for the proposed policy change? What problem is the bill trying to solve? 
How does the legislation address the problem?
What is the legislative history? Who is supporting or opposing the legislation, and why?
How does the legislation improve access, quality, or lower costs?
What are relevant data and evidence? Include tables or graphs, if appropriate.
What is your call to action? What action do you want from readers? For example, do you want them to call their representatives? If the FACT sheet targets a legislator, do you want readers to support a bill?  

To help, consider these links:
To find active federal legislation, see :

Congress.gov website 
Govtrack.us  website

To find examples of FACT sheets:

American Association of Colleges of Nursing – FACT sheet examples 
RNAction Center 
Estimated Impact of Sequestration on the Health Resources and Services Administration      (HRSA)’s Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Education Programs 
Federal Issue Briefs