Final Project

The major written assignment, a Health Policy Analysis, is due in Week Six. Completion of this paper will involve research utilizing selected websites and the Ashford Online Library.

You are employed as an analyst in a state governor’s office and have been asked to write a 15 to 20 page health policy analysis. Your analysis will include the following;

1. Problem Statement: A one to three sentence question in which you succinctly identify a health-related problem. Do not include any recommendations in your problem statement, but rather phrase your problem statement so that it lends itself to an analysis that considers several options.
2. Background: Explain why the problem has been selected for analysis. Provide statistics and background data to document the scope and nature of the problem.
3. Landscape Identification: Identify the key stakeholders and the factors that must be considered e.g. political, social, economic, practical, and legal factors when analyzing the problem. For each factor, your analysis should discuss relevant views of the identified stakeholders. You may organize this section by stakeholder or by factor. Some stakeholders may not have relevant views for all of the factors, but each stakeholder must be addressed as often as necessary to convey their policy position. The tone of the landscape section should be neutral and objective.
4. Alternatives Section: Provide three to five options to consider. This section is not just a statement of choices, but an analysis of each alternative by stating the positive/negative and pro/con aspects of pursuing each option. Analyze all your options equally, and avoid providing more detail for the option you plan to recommend. This section should be completely objective. In completing your alternatives section, you may wish to utilize any of the following criteria in your analysis: cost, cost-benefit, political feasibility, legality, administrative ease, fairness, timeliness, targeted impact. Identify and evaluate the impacts of these processes e.g. persons served, lives saved, hospital days avoided, people screened.
5. Side-by-side Tables of the Alternatives: Create descriptive or analytic tables of your alternatives in which you summarize key information. A descriptive table would provide a description of each option but not provide any analysis. An analytic table would assess the option based on the criteria chosen. Make sure to clearly label your tables.
6. Recommendations: Select one of your alternatives, and clearly differentiate it as the best option, making sure to provide a detailed explanation as to why it is preferred over the other options. Weigh the data/evidence and analyze it in terms of technical feasibility, political feasibility, or economic and financial viability. In addition, also identify what, if any, actions may be taken to mitigate or overcome the negative aspects of your selected recommendation. (You presented these in your Alternatives Section) Do not make a hybrid recommendation of multiple options, as you must select only one option. Therefore, your explanation/justification of your selected option needs to be fairly detailed and include data to support it.)
7. Implementation Strategy: Identify steps to manage the policy process to gain public, professional, and/or consumer support for change and backing of the most appropriate alternative. How will you assure that key implementers and/or consumers buy into the process? How will conflicting interests be mediated?
8. Implementation Planning: Identify, analyze, evaluate, and justify steps to assure successful implementation of your recommended alternative. How will you determine if the recommended alternative was an improvement?
9. Reference page: Utilize a minimum of 10 to 15 scholarly and/or peer-reviewed sources that were published within the last five years. All sources must be documented in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.