Discussion: Healthcare Policy Stakeholders

stake▪holder (stâk’hô­l’dər), noun (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)

1. One who is entrusted with the stakes of bettors in a wager
2. One that has a share or an interest in a venture, business, or movement
3. One who is involved in or affected by a course of action

Health policy stakeholders can be defined in many ways. Depending on your individual perspective, one might use each of the definitions given above to describe the role of a stakeholder to healthcare policy.

As one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, as well as one of the single largest line items in federal and state budgets, healthcare is a huge financial concern for the public. The future of many of the nation’s most popular social programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, along with the health of millions, hangs in the balance as government agencies, private industry, political organizations, think tanks, coalitions, and individuals grapple with health policy issues. Each of these policy stakeholders comes to the “table” with their own interests and agenda, so understanding their roles and influences in healthcare policy is very important.

In this Discussion, you will analyze the role and interests of different healthcare policy stakeholders and then describe how they each might influence healthcare policy.

Reference
Stakeholder. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Retrieved November 10, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stakeho…

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Select a healthcare stakeholder from the Healthcare Policy Stakeholder Table located in the Learning Resources area.
• Find current, credible information about the stakeholder (e.g., from websites, journals, books etc.) to share with your colleagues.

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

• Briefly describe the healthcare policy stakeholder that you selected.
• Expand on the role of the stakeholder that you selected by explaining their specific interests.
• Describe how the stakeholder can influence healthcare policy. Be specific in terms of the focus of their policy efforts. Give an example.
• Explain your role and interests as a stakeholder in healthcare policy.
• Support your post with in-text citations and references from specific Learning Resources and at least one outside scholarly source.

Note: Initial postings must be 250–350 words (not including references).