Policy Paper:

What is a Health Policy Paper?

• The issue addressed should be a legitimate contemporary health policy issue within which the current policy is clearly discernible.
• There should be clear alternatives to the current policy.
• There must be sufficient data present to provide the target audience (i.e. the decision-maker) with information to make a decision on the policy proposal.

Format for the Policy Paper

Below are the guidelines for writing a policy paper. Some variation may occur depending on the topic of the paper and the research methods being used. Policy papers should be approximately 8 pages in length.

Executive Summary (.5-1page in length)

At the beginning of the paper explain who the target audience is (i.e., the decision-maker for your policy proposal) and the main points that the decision-maker should know. It may be best to write this section last because it will serve as a summary of the entire paper.

At a minimum, the summary should include the following:

1. A statement of current policy
2. Reasons for initiating changes
3. Policy options to be considered
4. Pros and cons of each option
5. Recommended course of action
6. Reasoning for selecting that course of action

Body of Paper

The main portion of the paper should be dedicated to establishing the background and discussing the reasoning behind the policy recommendation. Students should include all of the basics from the executive summary, but fully elaborate on each point that the paper is making. The following is an outline describing what the main body of the paper should include.

Overview / Background

• Statement of purpose - Why is the decision-maker being asked to consider a policy change at this time?

• Review the Current Policy - What are we currently doing, why are we doing it this way, what is the public's perception of the policy? Assess how well it is or is not working.

• Statement on the Necessity for Change - What circumstances (e.g., changes in government, leadership, stability, etc.) have changed that make a new approach advisable or necessary?

Discussion

• Discuss the alternatives to the current policy option by enumerating and explaining each policy option in turn.

• Pros and cons of each policy option should be discussed next. Identify the political, economic, and security implications for each option. Each policy option should be compared and contrasted to the other options as well as to the current policy. This is the most important part of the paper.

Recommendation

• Clearly identify which option will be recommended and which options will be discounted.

• Clearly lay out the argument for why that option is better than each of the others.

Implementation

• Write a detailed recommendation for specific steps on how and when to implement the recommended policy option.