HSM 541 Week 4 Midterm Discussion

1. Differentiate between urban and rural healthcare in America. Briefly discuss how rural healthcare is different in terms of access, costs, and quality. Use an example to support your point(s).

2. Differentiate between Medicare and Medicaid roles in the healthcare system, and detail how each agency impacts costs, quality, and access in the delivery of medical care in America. Which program is doing a better job balancing these issues, and why?

3. Describe the characteristics and demographics of uninsured populations. Discuss the reasons why Americans are uninsured. List at least one option to curb the growing number of uninsured people.

4. Discuss whether you see marketplace competition as a positive or negative influence on the development of hospitals and health services in the U.S. Defend your position; offer example(s) to support your points.

5. Discuss whether government plays a role to ensure an adequate healthcare workforce. Identify three ways that local, state, or federal governments can positively impact workforce shortages.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.