The Process of Policy Development (Essay Sample)

The Process of Policy Development
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The Process of Policy Development
Silence from healthcare CEOS on AHCA politics is deafening policy. This policy aims to change healthcare performance (Prosser, 2018). The healthcare executives are not providing any concerns regarding the Affordable Healthcare Act implemented to help enhance healthcare services. The policy environment for this policy entails significant reforms that the Act is facing. The lawmakers seem to review the Act to ensure that the policy is helpful to the Americans. The key stakeholders involved in this policy include the government, public, and healthcare CEO. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the public policy development process. In addition, the report will analyze the critical stakeholder and evidence-based management for each stage. Also, the paper will provide a basic overview of how each step is chosen through a detailed justification and recommendations
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The development of a public policy follows sequential steps. They include; statement of the problem, setting an agenda, considering policy alternatives, making a final decision, implementation, and lastly, the evaluation phase. During the information of the problem phase, the key stakeholders are mainly involved. The public is engaged in providing a list of problems they face and needs to be addressed. At this phase, idea generation occurs (Birkland, 2019). The views provided by the stakeholders regarding the problems they are facing form the basis for coming up with the most effective plan that addresses the issue. The problem at hand is that the healthcare providers are providing much fewer concerns regarding the progress of the affordable healthcare act. Here, the public is the main key stakeholder. The public provides the problems that they face to receive better and affordable healthcare services. In this case, the people are majorly the patients. The problem statement phase is considered ideal when there is evidence regarding the provided problem. On a scale of 0-4, the phase-only proceeds to the next step if it is ranked 3 or 4. Being ranked above three implies that the stage is an ideal one.
Setting an Agenda
During the second stage, a plan is set. Mainly the major problem that impacts the public is officially identified. In addition, interested parties such as the government and any other vital stakeholders solve the problem. Setting an agenda requires addressing all issues to make every party involved feel worthwhile (Birkland, 201;29). In this stage, stakeholders such as the providers, public, and policymakers come together to solve the problem. Since healthcare providers seem to be less concerned over the affordable healthcare act, the stakeholders can provide multiple solutions to the problem. Some of the reasons for their silence include a small insurance market, and insurers are highly dependent on government-funded taxpayers.
Evidence-based management at this stage involves providing multiple solutions to the problem from the various stakeholders involved. This phase only proceeds to the next step when ranked above 3. Ranking phase 3 implies that the stage is ideal and that all the problems are well stated and viable. If the policy is rated below 3, it means that the plan was not set right and thus need for rechecking the multiple solutions provided for the problem.
Consideration of Policy Alternatives
The third stage of developing a policy is the consideration of policy alternatives. Multiple options are set within the government (Hill & Varone, 2021). at this phase, the stakeholders and officials narrow down the suggested options by excluding infeasible choices. The stakeholders, such as the public service providers and the government, also try to rank the most favored option high among the remaining choices. Generally, this stage involves an intense debate that may take a while before proceeding to the next phase (Weible, 2018). Evidence-based management at this stage presentation of policy alternatives from each stakeholder. Assessment of this phase is based on ranking. This phase only proceeds to the next stage if it is ranked 4. Failure to be rated 4, the alternatives provided thus needs to be considered again.
Decision Making
The fourth stage of developing a policy is the decision-making stage. During this phase, the stakeholders decide on one most effective course of action. The chosen course of action fully addresses the public's problems more efficiently(Birkland, 2019). The critical stakeholder involved during this stage is the government. The government approves the most efficient course of action to solve the problem. In this stage, evidence-based management involves standard agreement on the best course of action with supporting arguments. This phase is usually assessed and only proceeds to the next step if it is ranked 4 (Hill & Varone, 2021). A rank of 4 implies that decision-making is vital to the policy. If the phase is rated below 4, the decision has not been set well and can not proceed to the next stage.
Implementation Stage
The fifth stage is the implementation phase. The chosen public policy is thus put into effect. Officials may decide to use the public administration tools that impact the distribution of goods and services(Hill & Varone, 2021). During this stage, the government and the; e-service providers are the only involved stakeholders. They actively participate in the actual implementation of the policy. Evidence-based management for this phase into; lives statement o