Federal, state, and local health care policies are continually instituted or amended to address emerging issues and trends and to rectify problems in health care delivery. For instance, reform may be required to address cost containment challenges or disparities in access to health care services.

Identify an issue currently in the news that relates to federal, state, or local reform.

Research the issue in a variety of news sources, such as government sites (e.g., the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health) and online newspapers. Do not use blogs or other informal sources.

Select one article or news item on which to focus for this Discussion.

Reflect on the information in the article/news item and consider how it relates to your understanding of the U.S. health care delivery system. Review the information in the Learning Resources and conduct additional research using credible websites to assess this issue and associated reform efforts.

Analyze the social, economic, and political circumstances surrounding this instance of health care reform, and evaluate what this development might mean for your work in health care administration.

Use the following resources to examine health care issues/trends for the Discussions this week:

• American College of Healthcare Executives. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.ache.org
• American Hospital Association. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.aha.org
• California Healthcare Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.chcf.org
• The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.kff.org
• Medical Group Management Association. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.mgma.com
• National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). Health information. Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://health.nih.gov/
• National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml

Post a cohesive response to the following:

• Summarize the article/news item you selected, noting key areas for discussion.
• Analyze how the issue and associated reform addressed in the article/news item you selected relates to at least one trend presented in the Learning Resources and/or other credible sources.
• Evaluate what this development may mean for your work in health care administration.