Identify regulatory agencies that regulate health and the health care system within the US, create a table listing your 5 regulatory agencies and address the following:
Describe the agency, level of regulatory authority (local, state, federal), scope of regulatory authority, and role within the US healthcare system.
Address relevance of the organization or the organization’s authority to the APRN/DNP graduate.
Describe relevance to specialty area, area of practice, or setting of practice. For an example, mental health.
Submission Requirements:
In the table, write the 3 criteria above and respond to them.
The table is to be clear and concise and students will lose points for improper grammar, punctuation and misspelling.
The table is to be complete and thorough. It should include all items indicated in the assignment.
Incorporate at least 3 current (published within last five years) scholarly journal articles or primary legal sources (statutes, court opinions) within your work.
Regulatory Agencies That Regulate Health and The Health Care System Within the U.S.
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Regulatory Agencies That Regulate Health and The Health Care System Within the U.S.
Introduction
The American health care system is one of the most complex healthcare systems in the world. The U.S. healthcare system can be regulated by private or public entities at the federal, state, local county, or city levels (Shalowitz, 2019). To some, it might be overwhelming to understand all the regulations that apply to American healthcare as well as every agency and its purpose. However, such kind of knowledge is very important to all healthcare professionals because regulation plays a major role in the healthcare industry (Shalowitz, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to discuss regulatory agencies in the American health care system.
| Regulatory Urgency | Level of regulation | Scope and role in healthcare | Relevance to the APRN/DNP | Relevance to specialty/setting of practice |
| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | Federal | Protects the health and safety of the nation by applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and promotion and education activities (ANA, 2021). | CDC provides guidelines to the APRN and DNP professionals to improve health. It warns them of possible health threats from infectious diseases (Shalowitz, 2019). | Relevant to public health. It promotes public health through disease prevention and control (ANA, 2021). |
| The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) | Federal | It is the government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans. It provides essential human services through more than 300 programs (Shalowitz, 2019). | HHS provides essential human services through several programs that directly and indirectly affect APRN and DNP professionals. For instance, HHS may offer regulations and educational programs to professionals (WHO, 2017). | Relevant to all specialties. For instance, it provides grants to provide free immunizations to children (Shalowitz, 2019). |
| Food and Drug Administration (FDA) | Federal | It is the federal agency responsible for ensuring safe and effective foods, human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices (WHO, 2017). | FDA regulates medications that should and should not be prescribed by APRNs to treat certain illnesses (ANA, 2021). | Relevant to all specialties. For example, it approves drugs for the treatment of mental illnesses (WHO, 2017). |
| The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) | Federal | It is responsible for improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services to reduce problems and deaths related to substance abuse and mental health (Shalowitz, 2019). | SAMHSA makes the work of APRNs easy by improving the quality and availability of the services. It also finances APRN/DNP education to improve mental health (Shalowitz, 2019). | Relevant to mental health. It ensures the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services to reduce mental illness and substance abuse (Shalowitz, 2019). |
| Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) | Federal | Sponsors and conducts research that provides evidence-based information to stakeholders in the healthcare system (Shalowitz, 2019). | It sponsors DNPs to conduct research to improve health. The sponsored research provides APRNs with evidence based information to improve their practice (ANA, 2021). | Relevant to the specialty of research and education. It sponsors and conducts research to generate evidence based information (ANA, 2021). |
Conclusion
Healthcare regulation in America is complex. However, nurses as well as other healthcare professionals should have an understanding of the regulations and the regulatory agencies. Some of the regulatory agencies include the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). All these agencies have been described in the body of this paper.
References
ANA. (2021). Agencies and Regulations
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/advocacy/regulatory/
WHO. (2017). United States of America: Regulation. https://www.who.int/health-laws/countries/usa-en.pdf?ua=1#:~:text=As%20introduced%20in%20section%202.1,licensing%20boards%20and%20insurance%20commissioners.
Shalowitz, J. (2019). The U.S. healthcare system: Origins, organization and opportunities. Jossey-Bass.