Explain how public policy has shaped the development of the U.S. healthcare system.

Assignment 1: The Primary Care Clinic

Due Week 3 and worth 130 points

You are the manager of a new primary care clinic located about twenty five (25) miles outside of a small city (population of 50,000). With five (5) family physicians, two (2) nurse practitioners, two (2) physicians’ assistants (PAs), and twenty (20) clinical support staff consisting of RNs, LPNs, and CMAs, the clinic provides primary care services to a diverse community of people living and working outside the city limits. Originally a rural area, the community has been growing and now includes promising opportunities in employment, education, and comfortable living spaces for young families. However, there are still many residents who struggle to make ends meet with older farms that have belonged to families for generations.

The central city includes two (2) large acute care facilities, and one (1) tertiary care facility that is known for its excellent pulmonary care. Both acute care hospitals provide the usual services such as labor and delivery, outpatient surgery, chronic diseases care, etc. and have fully equipped ancillary departments, such as lab and radiology. Up until this point, the residents have used the facilities’ emergency departments for routine illnesses and conditions when their private physicians were not readily available.

Write a five to seven (5-7) page paper in which you:

1. Analyze some of the key social, political, and economic factors that have led to the proliferation of urgent care facilities and primary care practices over the last 20-30 years.
2. Create a comprehensive mission statement for the clinic, and discuss how it will facilitate the provision of quality services.
3. Analyze and discuss one (1) or more directions the clinic might take to grow its business. Determine what factors you would consider when deciding what services to provide in-house and which ones to affiliate with other institutions.
4. Decide how you will determine if the clinic is meeting its goals. Identify three (3) performance measurements you could use to evaluate the success of the clinic’s services. Begin by naming a goal, and then identify a quantifiable measurement you could use for each to determine if you are coming close or falling short of the goal.
5. Determine how you would then address whatever opportunities for improvement seem to exist and what processes you would put in place.
6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
7. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
   1. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
   2. Include a source list. Citations and sources must follow SWS format. The source list is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze the critical management issues, purpose, functions, and performance measures of different departments within healthcare organizations.
• Examine the political, economic, and social forces that have influenced the organizational foundations of the United States healthcare system.
• Explain how public policy has shaped the development of the U.S. healthcare system.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in health services organization management.
• Write clearly and concisely about health services organization management using proper writing mechanics.