Kaiser Health News

This is a two part project.

1. Assignment 800-1000 words
2. Discussion (just 2-3 paragraphs; no cover pages needed).

Assignment:

Subscribe to the Kaiser Health News at http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/

You work for an organization that just underwent a change in leadership. There is a new chair of the board of directors who has no prior healthcare experience. The board has also hired a new CEO. The board and the CEO are focused on ensuring the long term security and viability of the organization. The CEO has announced that the organization will be reviewing its strategic plan, current operations, and external factors that may influence the institution’s future. You have been designated as your department’s representative on a workgroup that will be examining these issues.

For your first project, identify one important, current issue in American healthcare or concerning global health, and then follow the instructions below. This paper provides you with an opportunity to explore how current events are affecting the role of the healthcare administrator.

• Prepare an 800-1,000 word research brief that (1) summarizes a news story found on Kaiser Health News and then (2) discusses the implications of this news event on your future as a leader in health care.
• Incorporate at least three (3) scholarly journal articles published in the last five years into your paper and cited accordingly. In addition, you must use UMUC’s library to locate the articles and include at least one scholarly journal that provides a DOI = digital object identifier on the reference page (example: doi: 10.1108/03090560710821161). http://sites.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm#ejournals
• Follow APA style guidelines for cover page, citations, and the reference page. An abstract is not required for this paper.
• Prepare your essay in MS Word with 1-inch margins on all sides, double-spaced and 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Please note that the 1000 word limit pertains to the body of the paper.

Discussion:

We have spent the last two weeks or so looking at the big picture so we can start to see how large macro issues and trends may be affecting our future in healthcare.

This week, as a companion to your first assignment, we want to increase our focus and think about how a selected development in the world of healthcare (as reported on by Kaiser Kaiser Health News) is likely to have positive and negative consequences on your future opportunities as a healthcare professional.

Overall, this week’s discussion is a chance to share the thinking you are doing for your paper on current healthcare developments and your own professional future with other students in the course. You will then have the equal opportunity to share your thinking about each other’s news analysis and thoughts about their future healthcare career. The mutual discussion should help strengthen everyone’s own work.

Start with posting a summary of the main points you make in your paper and then take it from there by providing comments to the posts of other students.