Introduction
Primary care systems are often discussed as the way to improve the quality of patient care and protection. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is associated with the recent reformation of the U.S. health care and insurance systems in order to reduce income and health disparities. In this case, the Affordable Care Act is designed to serve the needs of all Americans in spite of their income and status (Chang & Davis, 2013, p. 407). Previous research does not focus on the potential patient health outcomes while discussing only the general advantages and possible improvements. To discuss the role of the Affordable Care Act in improving patient health outcomes, it is necessary to conduct additional research in the field, selecting the appropriate research question, literature, and methodology, and predicting possible implications.
Importance / Relevance of Problem
The ideas and principles of the Affordable Care Act can affect the U.S. population significantly because this reformation process changes the overall approach to providing health care in the country. It is important to discuss the problem of the Affordable Care Act’s contributions to patient outcomes and protection because it is possible to improve the reform at the current stage and to create the conditions for providing more Americans with high-quality care (Hofer, Abraham, & Moscovice, 2011, p. 69). The opinions of the potential patients, physicians, insurers, and employers are different, and it is necessary to focus on the possible advantages and disadvantages of the Affordable Care Act in order to complete the reform’s goals without affecting the population negatively.
Problem Statement
The Affordable Care Act was signed in 2010 in order to reform the healthcare and insurance systems of the United States. The problem is in the fact that the Affordable Care Act is designed to reform the U.S. health insurance system significantly, and today not all the stages of the reformation process are completed. The principles of the Affordable Care Act provoked many debates and discussions, and they are described as ineffective today because physicians, hospitals, and employers do not follow the plans and policies to address the principles of the Affordable Care Act. The insurance plans associated with the Affordable Care Act do not work because the healthcare system of the United States is not reformed. From this point, Americans as patients and physicians have no opportunity to evaluate the potential health outcomes for patients under the Affordable Care Act.
Summary of Literature Review
The Affordable Care Act was designed and implemented in 2010 as the response to the weaknesses of the U.S. health care system, and today it is necessary to focus on the policy in order to answer the question about the potential contribution to the patient health outcomes. According to the results of Chang and Davis’s cross-sectional study, significant changes in demographic and health characteristics of the ACA users are expected in the future. As a result, there are more opportunities to predict the development of chronic diseases and influence the disease prevalence rates (Chang & Davis, 2013, p. 407).
In their research article, Hofer, Abraham, and Moscovice state that the Affordable Care Act can be discussed as the step to improve patient health outcomes because focusing on the available subsidies, more Americans receive access to primary care (Hofer, Abraham, & Moscovice, 2011, p. 69). To add to the discussion of the potential improvements for patients, Furrow notes that the Affordable Care Act will contribute to patient outcomes because of improving the quality of medicine, reducing medical errors, and changing practice patterns (Furrow, 2011, p. 1774).
While focusing on the Affordable Care Act as the potential for choice and improvement, Johnson and the group of researchers conducted several experiments and concluded that at the current stage of the policy implementation, the aspects of the implementation strategies, financial issues, and the general reformation of the insurance system prevent patients from receiving positive health outcomes (Johnson, Hassin, Baker, Bajger, & Treuer, 2013, p. e81521).
In their turn, Sommers, Long, and Baicker concentrated on analyzing the outcomes of the Massachusetts 2006 health care reform in order to predict the patient outcomes associated with the Affordable Care Act. The researchers found that the Massachusetts reform as the model for the Affordable Care Act contributed significantly to decreasing mortality rates, thus, improving patients’ health outcomes (Sommers, Long, & Baicker, 2014, p. 585). These conclusions are important to predict potential health outcomes associated with the Affordable Care Act.
Research Questions
To draw inferences about the role and effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act, it is necessary to focus on such a research question as to the possibilities for improving patient health outcomes. Thus, the main research question which should be asked in this context is the following one: Will the Affordable Care Act contribute to improving the patient health outcomes in the United States? The sub-questions related to the problem are the following ones: What changes in the patient health outcomes are possible with references to the reform? What improvements are expected as a result of reforming the health care and insurance system in the United States? In order to answer these questions in detail, it is necessary to focus on analyzing the research and studies conducted in the field and on the primary data presented in the form of opinions provided by the Americans.
Methodology
To conduct the research, it is necessary to use qualitative research methods which are presented as the combination of the elements of primary and tertiary studies in order to answer all the stated research questions referring to the appropriate evidence.
The tertiary analysis is the basis of the research, and it is used in the form of a systematic literature review to draw conclusions about the Affordable Care Act’s usefulness while referring to the existing research (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 37-38). The data collection method for the review is the examination of the full-text articles and research (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010, p. 24).
The primary analysis is based on conducting the qualitative study and collecting the individual data to support the tertiary analysis and focus on the qualitative information regarding the Americans’ opinion on the act’s outcomes. Questionnaires and the method of the interview are used to collect the primary data.
Target Population
The sample population is selected from healthcare practitioners and potential or current patients as users of the ACA plan. The appropriate sample size is 15 persons who can be easily accessed and interviewed. The focus is on convenience sampling.
Data Analysis Methods
The proposed research is based on collecting and analyzing the qualitative data, and the use of descriptive statistics is necessary for drawing inferences. It is important to discuss the percentage in relation to the improvement of the health outcomes for the patients while focusing on aspects of the Affordable Care Act. It is possible to use numerical summaries about the tendencies to present the results and graphs of the descriptive statistics in order to reflect the conclusions (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 189).
Screening and analysis of the articles and the examination of the studies’ data is the most appropriate method to work with the research literature referring to the tertiary analysis.
Implications of the Expected Findings
The Affordable Care Act can be discussed as affecting the health state of Americans significantly while promoting additional opportunities for improving health and using primary care.
The expected findings can be actively referred to in practice because of being associated with the physician’s and insurers’ activities. If the positive patient health outcomes associated with the Affordable Care Act are observed, the authorities should pay more attention to completing the reform in order to support positive results.
If the situation of the personal responsibility for medical insurance contributes to improving patient health outcomes, the reform should be supported by insurance companies.
If there are obvious positive changes in the chronic disease and mortality rates, more attention should be paid to involving employers in the reform.
Conclusion
The Affordable Care Act can be discussed as producing a great effect on Americans’ life because of affecting the population’s health directly. The ACA plans developed to respond to the idea of equal opportunity can contribute to improving patient health outcomes in the future. The hybrid research based on combining the literature review and data collection methods is effective to answer the questions about future patient outcomes. The expected findings can be used to stimulate the completion of the reform in order to address the American population’s needs.
References
Chang, T., & Davis, M. (2013). Potential adult Medicaid beneficiaries under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act compared with current adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Annals of Family Medicine, 11(5), 407-411.
Furrow, B. (2011). Regulating patient safety: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 159(1), 1727-1775.
Hofer, A., Abraham, J., & Moscovice, I. (2011). Expansion of coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and primary care utilization. The Milbank Quarterly, 89(1), 69–89.
Jacobsen, K. (2012). Introduction to health research methods: A practical guide. USA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Johnson, E., Hassin, R., Baker, T., Bajger, A., & Treuer, G. (2013). Can consumers make Affordable Care Affordable? The value of choice architecture. Plos One, 8(12), e81521- e81527.
Neutens, J., & Rubinson, L. (2010). Research techniques for the health sciences. USA: Pearson Education.
Sommers, B., Long, S., & Baicker, K. (2014). Changes in mortality after Massachusetts Health Care Reform: A quasi-experimental study. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(1), 585-593.