Developing Health Policies Essay -- Health Care

Health policies are developed and changed in order to improve access to care, control costs and expand quality. Each country will have its own challenges in accomplishing these goals dependent on the diversities of the population, including wealth, sanitation, education, location, and lifestyles. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) changed the payment methodology for Medicare Advantage plans to a model that provides resources based on the chronic conditions being cared for in the senior population. CMS had the three goals in mind with the creation of the Risk Adjustment Model. This policy change took ten years to implement fully. The difficulties and trials of developing health policies have no easy answers or fixes, but are meant to improve the health of the citizens of the country creating the policies. Challenges in Policy Development Level of care provided In an article by Jamison and Mosley (1991), they write the policy debate in international health has often been polarized around conflicting viewpoints on such issues as preventive versus curative services, selective versus comprehensive primary health care, or integrated versus vertical programs. As we approach the 21st century, it is becoming clear that framing the issues in these terms will not enlighten the policy process, primarily because it limits the options largely to actions that can be carried out directly by ministries of health. Profound social and economic transformations are projected to impact on health in the developing countries in the 1990s and beyond; implications for the epidemiological profiles of these countries will be dramatic. A more comprehensive analytical approach is required to formulate health policies that will not only respond t... ...easibly be provided, and what can be afforded is extremely important. No health policy will be perfect, but hopefully one can be established that will promote health care, education and healthy environments for a majority of a countries population. Works Cited Jamison, Dean T. and Mosley, W. Henry (1991). Developing Countries: Health policy responses to epidemiological change. American Journal of Public Health, 81(1), 15-17. Mercurio, B. (2007). Resolving the public health crisis in the developing world: problems and barriers of access to essential medicines. Northwest University Journal of International Human Rights, 5(1). Tantivess, S., Teerawattananon, Y., & Mills, A. (2009). Strengthening Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Thailand through the Establishment of the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program. Pharmacoeconomics, 27(11), 931-945.