DeVry University, ChicagoHSM 410Healthcare policy

Q. What exactly is healthcare policy? Who does it affect? Answer: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), healthcare policy “refers to decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society” (Health Policy, 2015). A healthcare policy aims to setup both short term and long term goals for society to achieve best possible access to quality care by defining roles and duties of various groups such as physicians, care providing institutions, and insurers. It also provides required information to the people to decide which health policy is most suitable to them. In a complex healthcare structure, as in the US, the role of a healthcare policy becomes more crucial due to presence of several modes of care payments and unique problems associated with each one of these, which affects the whole nation.