Draft a written proposal and implementation guidelines for an organizational policy that you believe would help lead to an improvement in quality and performance associated with the benchmark metric for which you advocated action in Assessment 1.

Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds on the work you completed in the previous assessment. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

In advocating for institutional policy changes related to local, state, or federal health care laws or policies, health leaders must be able to develop and present clear and well-written policy and practice guidelines change proposals that will enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to resolve relevant performance issues and bring about improvements in the quality and safety of health care.

As a master’s-level health care practitioner you have a valuable viewpoint and voice to bring to discussions about policy development, both inside and outside your care setting. Developing policy for internal purposes can be a valuable process toward quality and safety improvement, as well as ensuring compliance with various health care regulatory pressures. This assessment offers you an opportunity to take the lead in proposing such changes.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 2: Analyze relevant health care laws and regulations and their applications and effects on processes within a health care team or organization.
  • Propose a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law.
• Competency 3: Lead the development and implementation of ethical and culturally sensitive policies that improve health outcomes for individuals, organizations, and populations.
  • Recommend ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve a performance issue related to health care policy or law.
• Competency 4: Evaluate relevant indicators of performance, such as benchmarks, research, and best practices, for health care policies and law for patients, organizations, and populations.
  • Explain the need for creating an organizational policy or practice to address a shortfall in meeting a prescribed metric benchmark. 
• Competency 5: Develop strategies to work collaboratively with policy makers, stakeholders, and colleagues to address environmental (governmental and regulatory) forces.
  • Analyze the potential effects of environmental factors on recommended strategies.
  • Propose stakeholders and groups that would need to be involved in further development and implementation of the recommended strategies, policy, and guidelines.
• Competency 6: Apply various methods of communicating with policy makers, stakeholders, colleagues, and patients to ensure that communication in a given situation is professional, clear, efficient, and effective.
  • Communicate a proposed policy and guidelines and recommended strategies in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  • Effectively support arguments with relevant sources, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

Preparation

After reviewing your benchmark evaluation, senior leaders in the organization have asked you to draft a policy change proposal and practice guidelines addressing the benchmark metric for which you advocated action.

In their request, senior leaders have asked for a proposal of not more than 2–4 pages that includes a concise policy description (about one paragraph), practice guidelines, and 3–5 credible references to relevant research, case studies, or best practices that support your analysis and recommendations. You are also expected to be precise, professional, and persuasive in justifying the merit of your proposed actions.

When creating your policy and guidelines it may be helpful to utilize the template that your current care setting or organization uses. Your setting’s risk management or quality department could be a good resource for finding an appropriate template or format. If you are not currently in practice, or your care setting does not have these resources, there are numerous appropriate templates freely available on the Web.

You may also find it useful to have worked through the Problem Identification and Policy Development | Transcript media piece. This activity could be useful in refining your understanding about aligning policy development to address specific problems.

Instructions

The senior leadership has stressed that they hope you are precise and professional in your proposal, as well as persuasive in demonstrating the merit of your proposed actions. They have stressed that the following must be addressed in your proposal.

Note: The tasks outlined below correspond to grading criteria in the scoring guide.

In your proposal, senior leaders have asked that you:

• Explain why a change in organizational policy or practice guidelines is needed to address a shortfall in meeting a performance benchmark prescribed by applicable local, state, or federal health care laws or policies.
  • What is the current benchmark for the organization? What is the numeric score for the underperformance?
  • How might the benchmark underperformance be affecting the quality of care being provided or the operations of the organization?
  • What are the potential repercussions of not making any changes?
• Recommend ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve the performance issue.
  • What does the evidence-based literature suggest are potential strategies to improve performance for your targeted benchmark?
  • How would these strategies ensure improved performance or compliance with applicable local, state, or federal health care laws or policies?
  • How would you propose to apply these strategies in the context of your chosen professional practice setting?
  • How would you ensure that the application of these strategies is ethical and culturally inclusive?
  • Does your policy encompass the key components of your recommendations?
• Analyze the potential effects of environmental factors on your recommended strategies.
  • What regulatory considerations could affect your recommended strategies?
  • What organizational resources could affect your recommended strategies (for example, staffing, finances, logistics, and support services)?
  • Are your policy and guidelines realistic in light of existing environmental factors?
• Propose a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law.
• Identify colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups who should be involved in further development and implementation of your proposed policy, guidelines, and recommended strategies.
  • Why is it important to engage these colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups?
  • Do your proposed guidelines help colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups understand how to implement your proposed policy?
  • How might engaging these colleagues, individual stakeholders, or stakeholder groups result in a better organizational policy and smoother implementation?
  • Are your proposal and recommended strategies realistic, given the care team, unit, or organization you are considering?
• Communicate your proposed policy, guidelines, and recommended strategies in a professional and persuasive manner.
  • Write clearly and logically, using correct grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
• Integrate relevant sources to support your arguments, correctly formatting source citations and references using current APA style.
  • Did you cite an additional 3–5 credible sources to support your analysis and recommendations?

Additional Requirements

• Structure: Include a title page and reference page.
• Length: 2–4 pages should be sufficient for presenting a thorough and concise evaluation, not including your  titles and reference pages.
• References: Cite 3–5 current scholarly or professional resources.
• Format: Use APA style for references and citations.
  • You may wish to refer to the following APA resources to help with your structure, formatting, and style:
    • APA Style and Format.
    • APA Paper Tutorial.
    • APA Paper Template.
• Font: Times New Roman font, 12 point, double-spaced for narrative portions only.

Grading Rubric:

1.  Explain the need for creating an organizational policy or practice to address a shortfall in meeting a prescribed metric benchmark. 

Passing Grade:  Explains the need for creating an organizational policy or practice to address a shortfall in meeting a prescribed metric benchmark, acknowledging costs and benefits both of changing and of not changing the policy or practice. 

2.  Recommend ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve a performance issue related to health care policy or law. 

Passing Grade:  Recommends ethical, evidence-based strategies to resolve a performance issue related to health care policy or law, and identifies areas of uncertainty or knowledge gaps. 

3.  Analyze the potential effects of environmental factors on recommended strategies. 

Passing Grade:  Analyzes the potential effects of environmental factors on recommended strategies, and proposes mitigation or potential responses to those factors. 

4.  Propose a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law. 

Passing Grade:  Proposes a succinct policy and guidelines to enable a team, unit, or the organization as a whole to implement recommended strategies to resolve the performance issue related to the relevant local, state, or federal health care policy or law; makes explicit links to evidence that supports the soundness of the proposal. 

5.  Propose stakeholders and groups that would need to be involved in further development and implementation of the recommended strategies, policy, and guidelines. 

Passing Grade:  Proposes stakeholders and groups that would need to be involved in further development and implementation of the recommended strategies, policy, and guidelines, and suggests collaboration strategies. 

6.  Communicate proposal in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 

Passing Grade:   Proposal is professional, effective, and insightful; content is clear, logical, and persuasive; grammar, punctuation, and spelling are without errors. 

7.   Effectively support arguments with relevant sources, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style. 

Passing Grade:  Effectively supports arguments with relevant sources, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style. Citations are free from errors.