Reference no: EM133046962

"Organization" is a broad term that encompasses multiple professional entities, which in the case of healthcare includes, but is not limited to, hospitals, IDN's, insurance companies, medical suppliers, technology companies, home health and hospice companies, nursing homes, corporations, and more. The spectrum of entities that can be classified as an organization is endless; Franklin University is an organization.

When it comes to influencing healthcare policy, organizations have an advantage over individuals due to their size, stature, and availability of resources. Such resources can be financial or an organization ability to gather policy related information, and then dedicate time and personnel hours to achieving a desired policy change. (Longest, 2016).

Organizations do not directly create policies; in fact, the primary intent of an organization is seldom to influence policy (unless that organization is an interest group). If it is in an organizations interest to influence healthcare policy, then it may choose to set out to do so. For example, Juniper Communities LLC, a senior-living corporation based out of New Jersey, is seeking to expand the benefits of Medicare to cover some of the services that are provided in an Assisted Living community. Such a policy change would be beneficial to Juniper Communities because it would allow more senior citizens to be able to afford Assisted Living communities, as more of the cost would be covered by insurance.

I have chosen to track H.R. 4387: Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act of 2021, a Bill sponsored by Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL). The bill seeks to improve maternal health care by providing grants to eligible organizations that commit to a set of certain initiatives that are concurrent with the overall objective of improving maternal health and the modernization of rural OBGYN services. The grant money is to be used on innovation, provider training, maternal vaccination awareness, improved rural data collection, improved rural telehealth capacities, and more. (Kelly, 2021).

I chose this legislation because I believe it will easily progress with bipartisan support. Improvement in maternal health and the lowering of maternal mortality rates is a noble endeavor; there also do not appear to be any earmarks in this Bill, which indicates the purity of its intentions. I suspect I will be able to follow this Bill through to its ratification. Should the Bill is stopped, it would provide valuable educational insight into the intricacies of passing a Bill, as one should expect a Bill of this nature to be passed without hesitation. Alas, we can always be surprised by the government.

The Bill was introduced in July of 2021 and reviewed by the Health Committee, who, in that same month, recommended that the Bill be reviewed by the entire House of Representatives and be considered for passage. This progress is substantive, as only about one in four Bills are recommended for further consideration beyond the Health Committee. (Kelly, 2021).

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