Policy Analysis: Policy-Making Process
Introduction
This discussion looks into Healthcare Policy Bill H.R.3926- Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement discussing the scope of the problem, the policy alternatives and policy recommendations. Rep. Bilirakis Michael [R-FL-9] sponsored the H.R. 3826 Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act introduced on the 3rd of October 2004 cosponsored by eight other legislators. The purpose of this discussion is to reflect on the details of the policy reflecting on its background, the economic, legal and regulatory processes involved in policy formulation and elaborate on the direct and indirect stakeholders involved in the procedures. The later sections discuss the SWOT analysis of the select policy and reflect on the role of the master’s prepared nurse as a change agent.
Selected bill
The Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act is federal legislation that establishes Grant programs in assisting living donors to travel and cater for subsistence expenses and incidental nonmedical financial obligations that are incurred during the donation process (Salvatierra & Maldonado 2019). The bill is selected mainly because of its significance in improving the number of living donors who would not hesitate because of the financial burden incurred in the process. The law, therefore, provides an essential intervention in enhancing the number of living donors who would likely proceed with the donation because of the financial support from the Federal Government. A quick survey shows that such an Intervention is likely to redouble on the efforts towards increasing the number of living donors, awareness, and the number of volunteers
Related concerns
The Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act addresses concerns over three particular issues that were associated with the low number living organ donor turn out, resulting in a shortage of organs in care facilities.
First concern: Limited public awareness
The first problem was the lack of public awareness regarding organ donation. According to the legislators, the small number of people who could access information on organ donation limited the willingness to provide much-needed support. The Bill was therefore proposed to offer permanent solutions that could improve on the levels of public awareness. The lack of important debate on organ donation at a family level was also proposed as one of the problems that limited the number of living donors. The legislation was therefore targeted at increasing government involvement in improving community-level awareness as well as initiate avenues for the family to hold discussions on organ donation.
Second concern: Financial burden among living donors
The purpose of a bill was to amend the public health service act to authorize the secretary of health and human services to provide financial support for any persons seeking to donate an organ. The bill requires that healthcare officials monitor the trends in organ donation. The bill proposed to establish a public education program and increased awareness through outreach and coordination between federal and non-profit private entities to improve access to potential donors. H.R.3926 also tasks director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop scientific evidence on organ donation and improved recovery among organ transplant patients (Rao, Dhanani, MacLean, Payne, Paltser, Humar & Zaltzman 2017). The director is also supposed to organize research that would develop uniform clinical vocabulary and to apply information technology to improve on their clinical operations on organ procurement preservation and transportation.
The law provides an essential intervention in enhancing the number of living donors who would likely proceed with the donation because of the financial support from the Federal Government. A quick survey shows that such an Intervention is likely to redouble on the efforts towards increasing the number of living donors, awareness, and the number of volunteers. The Bill has a significant impact on improving the number of living donors who would not hesitate because of the financial burden incurred in the process. The Bill recommendations are directed towards improving the experience of living donors and that of the care providers.
Third concern: Technology in organ donation management
Equally, the Bill intends to address the limited use of technology in the access and management of organ. The Bill is crafted to emphasize the use of technology at the different levels of engagement between the professionals and potential donors. Technology is also recommended for transportation and storage of organs. Generally, the Bill intention was to optimize all technology in improving efficiencies in improving the processes of organ access, transportation, storage and use.
Background
This policy brief looks into Healthcare Policy Bill H.R.3926- Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement emerged from the experience of lack of sufficient and donations to sustain the health care needs and emergencies (Glazier & Mone 2019). It is believed that surgical routines show the elements of alarming rates of organization in reserves and the deleting interested in the public domain. These experiences increased the risks of low-quality care due to a relatively increased cost of an organ or in extreme cases, lack of organs required in the plan of care. It was also clear that there were complications in organ donation procedures which limited the interest of the public in participating in organ donation.
Economic, legal and regulatory processes
In terms of the costs, the Bill is assessed based on expenditures throughout the formulation and enactment. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the cost estimates for the HR 3926 bill was approximately $326,000 from the initial conception, lobbying, implementation, evaluation and processing at the legislative level (Massarweh & Kelz 2019). The cost-benefit analysis report after the evaluation of the Bill showed benefits which reflected on the impact of access to two newly acquired technologies and several volunteers. The policy-making process has different levels and requirements at different stages. The agenda building stage, the formulation processes and the adoption phase of the policy require congressional approval with the executive branch of the courts and independent groups involved.
In terms of the regulatory process, the implementation requires the mandate of the congress and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The evaluation and termination phase also requires the approval of the Congress and, the federal level for the case of H.R.3926 Bill on organ donation and recovery improvement. The regulatory process involves all stakeholders affected.
Direct and Indirect stakeholders
The direct stakeholders are Healthcare Policy Bill H.R.3926- Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act is the individual living donor, the legislators and the Healthcare providers. The patients in need of organ donation procedures are also important stakeholders who benefit directly from the policy bill implementation. The indirect stakeholders are the general community which should be involved in defining the details of the policy as well as the religious organizations that have to be consulted in developing interventions because they that affect the larger community population on concepts of life and death in organ donation.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
The bill targets a very critical area in Healthcare which is organ donation, storage and transplant procedures as a significant part of patient care needs. The bill also addresses long-existing concerns on living donor experience particularly in cost and efficiencies of accessing professional support services. The bill emphasizes public sensitization which is necessary for accessing live donor.
Weaknesses
However, the bill only emphasizes on a living donor while making little emphasis on incentives for the immediate family members, their emotional and psychological compensation and support.
Opportunities
The bill provides several opportunities for living donors, health care providers and patients in need of organ transplant procedures in accessing quality care and professional services. The opportunity for living donors is a cheaper process of accessing their desired intention of while for the Healthcare providers it provides avenues for public sensitization and access to opportunities for presenting holistic care to their patients. The patients, on the other hand, have the opportunity of accessing the much-needed organ transplant which is defined as part of the care procedures.
Threats
In spite of the opportunities presented by the Healthcare Policy Bill H.R.3926, presents avenues for unscrupulous dealers to infiltrate the financial sources in the Bill, especially under the 377A enactment that present compensation avenues. Professional care providers must offer leadership support as part of their role as change agents.
Master prepared nurse’s role as a change agent
The nursing care providers can also offer assistance to living organ donation under section 377 of the public health service act. The section is amended to allow grants to States as financial boosts to improve on the responses by transplant centres and recruitment of newly qualified organ procurement organizations. Masters prepared nurses to have the obligation of presenting professional support at the government and community level. Such roles involve responsibilities leadership and representation.
The second professional obligation is on public awareness. This recommendation is under the public health service act. It presents an Amendment of section 377 A, which requires that qualified nurses establish public education programs in cooperation with existing national public awareness campaign institutions. The other recommendation is a grant for hospital donor coordinators with the legislation offering amendments on the public health service Act section 377B which establishes that secretaries should register eligible hospitals that perform significant trauma care for financial support from the federal government.
Conclusion
The policy provides significant insight into interventions that can improve the levels of awareness on the importance of organ donation within the public domain. The Bill presents recommendations that would improve on the experience of living donors and increase the turnout.
References
Glazier, A., & Mone, T. (2019). The success of opt-in organ donation policy in the United States. Jama, 322(8), 719-720.
Massarweh, N. N., & Kelz, R. R. (2019). From Policy to Patient Care—The Cycle of Health Policy Research. Jama Surgery, 154(9), 793-794.
Rao, V., Dhanani, S., MacLean, J., Payne, C., Paltser, E., Humar, A., & Zaltzman, J. (2017). Effect of organ donation after circulatory determination of death on several organ transplants from donors with the neurologic determination of death. Cmaj, 189(38), E1206-E1211.
Salvatierra, O., & Maldonado, J. R. (2019). Overview of Solid Organ Transplantation and the United States National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). In Psychosocial Care of End-Stage Organ Disease and Transplant Patients (pp. 9-13). Springer, Cham.