Like all laws, health care laws start as a health care policy and make their way through the legislative process to become a law. It is important to understand that hundreds of policies and ideas work through this process each year; however, only a select few will become a law. The purpose of this assignment is for you to read about a current regulatory issue in health care and understand how laws support the regulation of the health care industry.
Research and identify one article or a current legal case within the last 3 to 5 years (e.g., an issue that went to court to have the court determine the outcome) that involves one of the following issues:
- A regulatory issue in health care, or
- A regulatory issue specific to institutional health care
Write a 350- to 700-word paper that includes the following:
- Summarize the case or article.
- Define a law involved with the chosen regulatory issue from a state level (choose one common state) and a federal level.
- Explain how and why the law was created.
- Consider what you have read in the article or legal case on the selected regulatory issue, and explain the impact the regulatory issues and trends have on the health care industry.
Cite 1 peer-reviewed, scholarly, or similar reference to support your paper.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
Health care laws play an important role in regulating the health care industry. These laws have to go through a legislative process before they become a law. The purpose of this assignment is to understand how laws support the regulatory issues in the health care industry. This paper will analyze an article or a legal case that deals with a regulatory issue in health care or a regulatory issue specific to institutional health care.
Answer:
The article chosen for this assignment is “California’s Nurse Staffing Law: Is It Working?” published in Medscape in January 2018. The article talks about California’s staffing ratio law that regulates the number of patients a nurse can take care of at any given time.
California’s staffing ratio law was enacted in 1999, with the aim of improving patient care and safety. It mandates that hospitals maintain a specific nurse-to-patient ratio based on the unit’s patient acuity level. For example, the ratio for a labor and delivery unit is one nurse to two patients, while for a postoperative unit, the ratio is one nurse to four patients.
The law was created because of concerns about patient safety and quality of care. Before the law was enacted, nurses in California were often responsible for too many patients, which led to burnout and compromised quality of care. The law was created to ensure that nurses had a manageable workload and could provide quality care to their patients.
The impact of the staffing ratio law has been significant in California. Studies have shown that the law has improved patient outcomes, reduced nurse burnout, and increased job satisfaction. However, some hospitals have struggled to comply with the law and have faced fines and penalties for non-compliance.
At the federal level, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several provisions that aim to improve patient care and safety. One of these provisions is the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which penalizes hospitals that have high readmission rates for certain medical conditions. The ACA also includes provisions that incentivize hospitals to implement electronic health records and use evidence-based practices to improve patient care.
In conclusion, health care laws play a crucial role in regulating the health care industry. California’s staffing ratio law and the federal Affordable Care Act are two examples of laws that aim to improve patient care and safety. These laws were created because of concerns about quality of care, and they have had a significant impact on the health care industry.
