09 Jul memos/letter-The Trump administration Price Transparency policy initiative was implemented in October 2020.

Memo II: The Trump administration Price Transparency policy initiative was implemented in October 2020. This policy requires private health insurers to make available information about negotiated prices and cost-sharing with the patient/beneficiary. Hospitals are also required to make available on their webpages, their negotiated (with insurers) rates for services and technologies.  The aim of the policy is to enhance competition in the healthcare market which will drive down costs and help patients make better, more informed decisions.

As a health administrator, write a memo to the CEO/Director of your health organization explaining the policy and its likely impact on the health care system in general and your health organization in particular. Provide policy advice to your CEO/Director on whether the American Hospital Association (AHA) should lobby the Biden Administration to keep or scrap the policy.

You should assume that this individual has little, if any, background on the policy initiative. This memo should provide ample evidence from peer reviewed literature and other credible resources to support the policy advice you are providing. Your position on this issue and should be supported with ample evidence from the literature.

The idea behind this assignment is to develop critical thinking and writing skills – being concise and straight to the point. Memos are not reflection papers; your memo should be supported with evidence from peer reviewed research articles, text books or from the CDC website etc. Please DO NOT include direct quotes in your memo. Paraphrase the relevant information from the resources you are citing. Citations and references SHOULD be provided for all resources you use. Each memo will be a Two-page, single spaced response.

Use memo format provided below.

To:  CEO/Director ———–

From: Matenin Kamara

Regarding: (What is the topic/what is the vote about)

1. Introduction

On the health issue ……the new policy initiative is the right/wrong approach to addressing it; I recommend … (Introduce the health issue, whether the policy is the best option to address it and your recommendation on whether the recipient of the memo should support or challenge the AHA’s efforts against or for the health policy. The issue here is the high costs of care in the US and its implications, and whether the Price Transparency Initiative is the best policy to address this issue based on any of the different policy criteria)

1. Background

Keep it brief and explain the issue /why this is an issue – Here is where you provide evidence from the literature showing why this is a problem.      

III. Pros and Cons: Your Key Finding(s) one the policy option

Arguments for or against the policy options to address the issue. These arguments should be based on the evidence you obtained from the literature, not what you think.

1. Recommendation

Based on these factors, I recommend … You should reiterate important points here and explain the reason for your recommendations.