Question

Discuss the impact of Federal and State legal trends on our healthcare system. What is the impact of these same legal trends for you as a consumer of healthcare?

Answer 1

IMPACT OF FEDERAL AND STATE LEGAL TRENDS ON HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

The Department of Health and Human Services is the federal government’s principal agency involved with health care services.

The responsibilities of federal government regarding health care include:

• paying for the Medicare program

• Setting  basic requirements for the Medicaid program

• funding health insurance for federal employees

• Regulating pharmaceutical products and medical devices

Several trends in the nation’s health insurance are dictated by actions at the federal level.

Medicare’s pilot payment program aims at coordinated care by bundling payments for all services from 3 days before a patient’s hospital admission to 30 days after discharge.

The implementation of the policy “never events” will have a negative financial impact on institutions that mismanage patient care.

The legal trends also have spillover effect on the pharmaceutical industry and on the cost and accessibility of drug products in many ways.

Moreover, the health care insurance as an  “individual mandate” ensures greater contributions to the health care system and thereby creates a vast insurance pool to support the changes involved in health care reform.

ROLE OF STATE LEGAL TRENDS

State looks into traditional public health, including health monitoring, sanitation, and disease control delivery of personal health services including Medicaid, mental health, environmental protection, and occupational hazards.

In addition, federal and state-funded Medicaid programs are exapande to insure a larger population of at-risk citizens.

To sum up the federal and state legal trends aim to to reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety .The ultimate goal of achieving high quality of care will require strong partnerships among federal, state, and local governments .They frame actions to

• purchase health care
• provide health care
• regulate health care markets
• support new knowledge
• develop and evaluate health technologies and practices
• monitor health care quality

IMPACT OF LEGAL TRENDS ON CONSUMER OF HEALTH CARE

It ensures access to quality care and more emphasis is on vulnerable populations.The interests of the consumers are preserved with a promise of high quality care.