The Affordable Care Act and Beyond

Introduction

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) have been instrumental in forming the future of America. Medical services ecosystem, giving access to low-cost medical care and improving the healthcare quality. This essay will discuss the effects of the ACA and HQI on the U.S. medical services ecosystem, including their current and future impacts on medical care access, expenses, and results.

Sources Addressing the Affordable Care Act

‌Armour, S. (2021, June 17). The Affordable Care Act: A Brief History. WSJ; The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-affordable-care-act-a-brief-history-11623961600

In this article, Armour (2021) presents a brief history of the ACA and how it has impacted the lives of the American citizen. This article is useful to my research as it will help me solidify the Act’s history, purpose and effects, as presented by Davalon (2018).

Crandall, K. M., Sten, M.-B., Almuhanna, A., Fahey, L., & Shah, R. K. (2017). Improving Apparent Cause Analysis Reliability: A Quality Improvement Initiative. Pediatric Quality & Safety, 2(3), e025. https://doi.org/10.1097/pq9.0000000000000025

This article discusses how the ACA was formed, what the Act purposed to achieve and the modifications the Act has endured. According to the author, the Act aimed at improving access to quality and affordable healthcare in America by broadening health insurance for more individuals and safeguarding the existing health coverage policyholders. I will use this article in my research to explain the Act’s aims and how it operated to achieve its goals.

Davalon. (2018, March 5). History of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) | eHealth. Ehealthinsurance.com; eHealth Insurance. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/history-timeline-affordable-care-act-aca

This article discusses the history and purpose of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It states that President Obama signed the Act into law in 2010. According to Davalon (2018), the Act purposed to improve access to affordable and quality healthcare. I will use this article to analyze the history, purpose and effects of ACA in my research.

Sources Addressing Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI)

About HQI – HQI. (2022, August 14). HQI. https://hqinstitute.org/about-hqi/

This source is the official website of the ACA. The site offers information on the Act’s history and its operations. I will use this article to explain services provided by the Act to U.S. citizens.

Brett, E. (2023). Pay for performance and the hospital quality initiative. Delaware Medical Journal, 77(8). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16184783/

This source explains the history of HQI and provides plans that Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have for this information set. I will use this article to compare the HQI and the ACA and how the two Acts relate.

Haisten, A. (2022, February). The Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) and the National Quality Strategy» Fancy Turtle Media. Fancy Turtle Media. https://www.fancyturtle.media/2022/02/01/the-hospital-quality-initiative-hqi-and-the-national-quality-strategy/

This article talks about the purpose of the HQI. The author mentions that the Act aims to improve medical care quality. I will use this article to analyze why the Act was formed and the impacts it brought.

Impacts of the ACA and Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) on the U.S. Health Care Ecosystem

Affordable Care Act Overview

The Affordable Care Act (ACA)was endorsed into regulation in 2010 by President Barack Obama (Armour, 2021). It was planned to change the medical care framework by giving everyone reasonable medical care choices. The ACA has several components, including an individual mandate, increased access to Medicaid, subsidies for private health insurance, and reforms to the Medicare and Medicaid programs (Davalon, 2018). The individual mandate requires everyone to buy health care coverage or suffer a penalty. Subsidies are accessible to individuals who make up to 400% of the government poverty line. Medicaid was extended to cover more individuals and give better inclusion. The ACA likewise incorporates changes to Government medical care and Medicaid, for example, wiping out copayments for specific preventive administrations and reducing doctor-prescribed drug costs. The main purpose of the ACA is to make medical care more available and affordable for all Americans.

Overview of Initiative of My Choice- Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI)

The Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) was introduced in 2012 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as an approach to boost clinics to work on their quality of care (Crandall et al., 2017). The HQI comprises many quality measures and reporting requirements that medical clinics should meet to get monetary prizes. The HQI aims to diminish medical services costs, advance evidence-based practices, and work on the security and quality of care for patients.

Impact on the U.S. Health Care Ecosystem

The ACA established the groundwork for the HQI by engaging the CMS to boost clinics to work on quality of care and patient outcomes (Haisten, 2022). HQI utilizes measures set by the CMS to compensate for quality-based care and penalize suppliers that do not fulfil quality guidelines (About HQI – HQI, 2022). The current effects of the ACA and HQI have further developed admittance to medical services, diminished costs and worked on the nature of care. Conversely, the expected future impacts are improved understanding, further developed well-being results, and decreased medical care costs (Brett, 2023). Moreover, these drives are supposed to expand medical care administrations’ productivity, adequacy and moderateness. It is also important to note that HQI makes a structure for estimating and further developing medical clinic quality. It gives evidence-based measurements, best practices, and data-driven experiences that could be utilized to illuminate and direct future drives.

Conclusion

Based on the sources and research did to compile this essay, it is clear that the future of American health care is promised, however, the improvements seem to come gradually. The ACA has made significant changes as attempts of increasing medical care access, and the country is taking strides to address prevalent public health issues, such as medical costs and opioid outbreaks. However, the government has a huge task to address disparities in health care access and the elevating health care costs. If such issues are dealt with effectively, the health care of America should indeed improve.

References

‌ Armour, S. (2021, June 17). The Affordable Care Act: A Brief History. WSJ; The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-affordable-care-act-a-brief-history-11623961600

About HQI – HQI. (2022, August 14). HQI. https://hqinstitute.org/about-hqi/

Brett, E. (2023). Pay for performance and the hospital quality initiative. Delaware Medical Journal, 77(8). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16184783/

Crandall, K. M., Sten, M.-B., Almuhanna, A., Fahey, L., & Shah, R. K. (2017). Improving Apparent Cause Analysis Reliability: A Quality Improvement Initiative. Pediatric Quality & Safety, 2(3), e025. https://doi.org/10.1097/pq9.0000000000000025

Davalon. (2018, March 5). History of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) | eHealth. Ehealthinsurance.com; eHealth Insurance. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/history-timeline-affordable-care-act-aca

Haisten, A. (2022, February). The Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) and the National Quality Strategy» Fancy Turtle Media. Fancy Turtle Media. https://www.fancyturtle.media/2022/02/01/the-hospital-quality-initiative-hqi-and-the-national-quality-strategy/