Building Policy Competence

Healthcare disparities are the unique differences in health status that we see from individual to individual and from group to group. Different groups have different rates of disease and death depending on a number of characteristics—race, sexual orientation, geography, etc. Explore healthcare disparities in the U.S. and determine one group of people likely to experience discrimination in healthcare services.

• *****Identify one policy that encourages healthcare disparities. Explain how it encourages disparities.
• ******Recommend at least one policy that could help to reduce or eliminate healthcare disparities in that population. Please justify your answer with data and examples.

From the Internet, review the following:

• Kaiser Family Foundation. (2016 August 12). Disparities in health and health care. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/
• Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2017, October 20). Disparities. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Disparities

Cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Building Policy Competence

Health policy competence is defined as an understanding of the process through which health policy is formulated, implemented, and modified that enables professionals to improve population health. As healthcare administrators, you must have an understanding of the process if you wish to guide, participate, and improve that process. Only through competency are you able to ethically influence policy making processes at the local, state, or national levels. And, this ethical behavior can and should be driven by the principles of medical ethics: autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Administrators of healthcare programs uphold policies that respect the rights of individuals while promoting their best interest through fair and equal treatment that does not bring harm. Influencing policy making mandates that we encourage policies that show respect for persons, their choices, and their privacy.