Essay Questions
Topics/Questions:• Provide brief but cogent answers to the questions in essay format.
1. Describe Medicare. Discuss its four parts. Identify who is eligible, what is covered, and what are the coverage gaps.
2. Describe Medicaid. Discuss the difference between Medicaid and Medicare when it comes to our society’s elderly and disabled population.
3. The Affordable Care Act is the current driver for healthcare reform in the US. Explore the website http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/index.html to review key features of the ACA by year. Describe the key features of the ACA for 2014.
4. ACOs and PCMHs are two innovative practice models whose growths have been accelerated by the passage of the ACA.
a. Describe each model.
b. Discuss nursing’s role in ACOs.
5. Discuss the purpose of the Affordable Care Act Nurse Managed Health Clinics (ACA NMHC) funding opportunity and the goals of NMHCs.
6. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed the HCAHPS.
a. What does the acronym HCAHPS mean?
b. Describe the HCAHPS and list its three broad survey goals.
7. Certain members of our society live in a state of vulnerability. Strategies have been developed to improve the health of such vulnerable populations through political advocacy and legislation.
a. Although it is difficult to list all populations that can be considered vulnerable, list at least four.
b. Discuss the determinants of health that may be considered as potential facilitators of vulnerability as described by Nickitas et al. (2016).
8. Discuss the five (5) segments of population health status as described by Nash et al. and provide an example for each.
9. Tobacco Use (TU) is one of the Topics & Objectives of Healthy People 2020. Describe Objective TU 4-1 in terms of baseline data, target, target-setting method, and data sources. www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/default
10. This item relates to the Millennial Development Goals (MDGs).
a. List the eight (8) 2015 Millennial Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations
b. Select two and discuss their progress and future directions.
11. Clear communication to the public is an important component of healthcare delivery.
a. Discuss the Plain Writing Act of 2010 http://www.plainlanguage.gov/
b. Provide two (2) examples of how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses plain language in public documents.
12. The IOM, in its report on Health Professions Education (HPE), has provided compelling evidence that our current approach to educating health professionals falls woefully short of preparing individuals to address the central needs of a health care workforce in a transformed delivery system (Nash et al., 2nd ed., 2016, p. 61). The IOM proposes a set of five (5) core competencies for all clinicians (ie, including Nurse Practitioners) so that they can be prepared to meet the needs of the 21st century healthcare system.
a. List these core competencies.
b. Describe two (2) of these in terms of their definitions and examples of deficiencies.
13. Use the letter from CMS found in https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/Downloads/MedicareProviderICD-10.pdf
to answer this scenario:
Assume that you are now a newly credentialed NP and working with your protocol doctor whose knowledge about ICD-10 is minimal. You receive the letter from Medicare (retrieve it from the link provided here) and in your desire to educate him/her, you SUMMARIZE the contents of the letter in easy-to-read, bulleted format that he/she read in 60-seconds. Write your bulleted summary here.
14. Reflect upon your personal thoughts about your role as a healthcare advocate. Think back about how you defined and perceived healthcare advocacy when you were a novice nurse; then think about the present. How has it changed? Then think about the future. Reflect upon how your advanced education/practice is re-shaping your role as a healthcare advocate.
Please use these References
Nash, D.B, Reifsnyder, J., Fabius, R.J & Pracilio, V.P. (2015). Population health: Creating a culture of wellness. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Nickitas, D.M., Middaugh, D.J & Aries, N. (2014). Policy and politics for nurses and other health professionals: Advocacy and action. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Porche, D.J. (2012). Health policy: Application for nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett