Healthcare Law, Policy, and Advocacy,
5390
LaToya C. Hicks
01/26/2010
Module 1
Health Policymaking in the U.S. by Longest
Chapter 1
Discussion Questions

1. Define health. What are the determinants of health in humans?
Health is defined as the “state of complete mental, physical, and social well-being that is necessary to live a meaniful and productive life. Health determinants are the physical, behavior along with biological, social factors that affects a person’s health.

2. Define public policies and health policies.
Public policies is defined as the “authoritative decisions made in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government that are intended to direct or influence the actions, behaviors or decisions of
By providing care and enacted policies for underprivileged the government have hopes of stopping the affects of lack of care.

4. Discuss the impact of health policies on health services in terms of the money, human resources, and technology used to produce these services. The impact of health policies on money is the fact that we expect the cost to grow. We as the United States have failed to set restrictions on certain health services. The increase in cost of services has caused some employers to drop healthcare insurance altogether. In terms of human resources, we have a huge shortage of registered nurses. The shortage of registered nurses is due in part to excessive workloads, mandatory overtime, and poor work conditions. Health policies are established in certain states to aid in the decrease of such shortage. For example, many states have set patient-nurse ratios, as well as a law banning mandatory overtime. Technology plays an important role in health policies also. Technology allows the Federal Government the opportunity to find out what works and what resources will be available to decrease hospitalization stays. For example, the ICDs are used to find out information about whether ICDs are of benefit to the patient. In all money, human resources as well as technology have a huge impact on health policies. All of the above will aid in what policies are established to decrease budget, increase