The influence that law and policy formulated by governments have on the health and well-being of individuals in the United States and elsewhere cannot be underestimated (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2007, p. 3). Policy and law to a great extent shape the kind of allowable medical practice that corporates and natural persons can engage in. This form of regulatory system is mainly meant to improve the quality of public health, ensure safety of consumers of health services or products and tame sharp practice by medical practitioners. Health Policy and law may be conceptualized into the domains of health care policy and law, public health policy and law and bioethics (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2007, p. 5).The public health policy domain mainly focusses on the reasons for the regulation of corporations and private individuals by the government for the purposes of health, public welfare and safety protection while the healthcare policy law involves access to healthcare by individuals and the quality of that care. There are three main perspectives that have influenced public policy and law over time. These include the professional autonomy, free market and social contract paradigms. This paper intends to utilize the free market competition perspective of health policy and law to design a new ambulatory center in my city.
The Free Market Competition Model of Public Healthcare Policy and Law
This historical perspective of public health policy and law according to Teitelbaum and Wilensky (2007) is mainly based on the notion of market competition and marketplace freedom. It posits that an environmental that is deregulated provide the best market for health insurance and health care services to operate. Moreover, this model the most efficient health care system can only be achieved when consumers are empowered and commercial competition is allowed to thrive without unnecessary interference from the government or legislature. Its proponents regard the autonomy perspective as a falsity in as far as they purport to ground it on scientific expertise. An example of operation of this perspective is the Medicare Part D under the Medicare program that currently provides senior US citizens with the ability to choose between public and private healthcare insurance providers and also access prescription drugs at low costs (Dayaratna, 2013).
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Free Competition Paradigm
The main benefit normally associated with this perspective is that it not only leads to the provision of high quality health care products or services due to competition between medical practitioners, but also provides consumers or patients with a wide array of choice of health insurance products and services (Dayaratna, 2013). An example of this in US is the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) that provides American federal worker force with a variety of competitive plans for private insurance Additionally, this model ensures efficiency in rendering of public health services and also allows for collaboration or partnerships between public and private healthcare providers or sectors thus helping to cater for the ever increasing consumer need for quality healthcare at affordable costs. According to Cannon (2009) it can also help control healthcare costs by eliminating “wasteful healthcare spending” (p.3) hence assisting the needy Americans access healthcare with ease .On the other hand, the major limitation of this paradigm is that it can lead to the provision of crucial health services and products being left in the hands of a few private cartels which may disadvantage consumers. This may be the case particularly where the policing and regulatory system is too weak to rein in on such corporations or individuals. Moreover, the model may sometimes impede quality improvement and accreditation standards due to the dominance that some healthcare organizations may be enjoying in the market. For example, before the introduction of alternative public traditional insurance options for the poor and elderly US citizens, private health insurance companies would exploit them and deny them insurance cover at a time when they needed it most based on very flimsy grounds like failure to honestly fill a cover note health insurance form.
Analysis of the Key Components of Three Sources of Law
The autonomy model having been born out of the law of agency will impact on the new health initiative in that it will require some of the services at the ambulatory care center to be subcontracted top third parties. The social contract perspective on the other hand arose from the political notions of society and welfare hence this will impact on the new healthcare organization’s initiative by requiring it to emphasize on policies and laws that seek to enhance public safety and welfare. Lastly, the source of law that is related to the free competition historical perspective on healthcare policy and law is the antitrust and consumer protection laws that will regulate the business conduct of the new facility.
Conclusion
In summary, the free market public health policy and law perspective would be the best approach and model for to consider when establishing a new ambulatory care center. This is because, as a study by Jost, Dawson and Exter (2006) shows, such a perspective helps improve quality of health care delivery by healthcare insurers, manufacturers, professionals and providers by containing costs, minimizing excess demands and promote healthcare outcomes or performance standards among practitioners. However, it would be I important to take into consideration ways through which government laws and policies will impact on the new healthcare organization’s initiative.
References
Cannon, M. F. (2009, October 21). Yes,Mr. President a free market can fix health care. Policy Analysis Journal, 650, 1-15. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/yes-mr-president-free-market-can-fix-health-care
Dayaratna, K.D. (2013, August 19). Competitive markets in healthcare: The next revolution. The Heritage Foundation: New York. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/08/competitive-markets-in-health-care-the- next-revolution
Jost, T. S., Dawson, D., & Exter, A. d. (2006). The role of competition in health care: A western European perspective. Journal of Health Policy and Law, 31(1), 1-14.
Teitelbaum, J. B., & Wilensky, S. E. (2007). Essentials of health policy and law. Sadbury, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
