Local Policy Analysis: Discrimination in Denver Healthcare and the PHIDHI Initiative

This assignment is intended to help you learn to critically analyze a policy challenge in your local (city) government, understand its origins, assess the implemented policy actions, and evaluate the impact on the community. In this series of assignments, you will be tasked with choosing a topic (or an issue) you would like to research as it progressed locally, statewide, and nationwide. In Module 2, you will focus on a local issue. In Module 3, you will discuss it as it moved to the state level. In Module 4, you will discuss it as it progressed to the federal level. In Module 5, you will describe the impact of the issue you chose on the policy formation process. In Module 6, you will provide a summary of the policy you chose and its development as the issue progressed locally, statewide, and nationwide. Even though the United States does not have a centrally controlled system of health care delivery, it does have a history of federal, state, and local government involvement in health care and health policy. The formation and implementation of health policy occurs in a policy cycle comprising five components: issue raising, policy design, public support building, legislative decision making and policy support building, and legislative decision making and policy implementation. These activities are likely to be shared with Congress and interest groups in varying degrees. Examples of current issues in health policy include Prescription Drug Costs, High Costs of Healthcare, Availability of Skilled Workforce, Fee-for-Service Healthcare, and Health Equity.