Advanced Studies in Healthcare America Research Paper 2022

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Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Advanced Studies in Healthcare
Introduction
Interest groups are essential in enhancing healthcare in the U.S. However, they have also
demonstrated that they can be a significant stumbling block when it comes to the implementation
of certain policies. Interest groups are made up of people who have a common goal by
influencing political processes. Other names used to describe interest groups are factions,
pressure groups, organized interests, or special interests. Traditionally, interest groups were
defined by their passion and fight for the rights of the citizens. Apparently, these groups have
vested political interests they want to serve as they execute their mandates. This paper surveys
the missions and goals of two interest groups in the U.S. and analyzes their critical concerns
concerning their interests. It also recommends possible strategies to address their needs as well
as transition their concerns into healthcare systems in a manner that reduces medical costs and
improves medical access to the citizens of the United States of America.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is an example of an interest group in the
category of hospital owners and administrators. The mission of the American Hospital
Association is “To advance the health of individuals and communities. The AHA leads,
represents and serves hospitals, health systems, and other related organizations that are

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accountable to the community and committed to health improvement “(Vieira et al. 1). Their
primary goal is to have a healthy community with its entire people attaining their health
potentials. To fulfill their mandate and achieve the objective, AHA's strategic plan comprises of
four main deliverables. The first one is advancing Health in America through Access: access to
affordable, equitable health, behavioral, and social services (Bourret et al. 2). They are also
interested in advancing Health through Health with their focus on holistic well-being as they
partner with community resources. AHA also seeks to achieve its objectives through innovation.
In this objective, they look into the possibility of enhancing care systems driven by technology,
teams, data, and innovation. Lastly, AHA desires to increase the affordability of healthcare
through different initiatives that provide the best care that enhances the value of life.
On the other hand, health insurance companies have the same vested interests in
healthcare. One of the health insurance companies is the National Committee to Preserve Social
Security and Medicare (NCPSSM). Primarily, this body advocate for the federal programs of
Social Security and Medicare as well as all Americans seeking productive and healthy retirement
schemes (Padula et al. 399; Pokorski, Robert and Berg 2). The mission of NCPSSM is “to
protect, preserve, promote, and ensure the financial security, health, and well-being of current
and future generation of maturing Americans. To achieve its primary objective, NCPSSM is
involved in advocacy programs and campaigns aimed at creating awareness to the public about
their rights when it comes to retirement schemes and Medicare. According to Marmor and
Theodore (3), NCPSSM focuses on four areas namely: social security where it collects opinions
and analyses the facts on social security; Medicare, in which they collect papers and opinions on
topics relating to Health Care Reform, means testing and Trustee Reports; Medicaid dealing with
the collection of opinions and thoughts on vital headlines like debt limits and dual-eligible; and

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Older Americans program that supports various community-based initiatives aimed at improving
the welfare of older Americans (Dumanovsky and Tamara 13)
Functions of Interest Groups
Interest groups deploy different mechanisms to remain relevant in our complicated
healthcare system. They use methods such as mobilization, lobbying, litigation, shaping public
opinion, influencing the election, and direct action to get their motives accomplished.
Lobbying
Lobbying is the direct influence one can have on officials holding public offices to
influence their decisions and legislations ultimately. According to Dziadzko and Mikhail,
lobbying is “the political management of information” since it educates, shapes opinions, and
avails studies, data, and analysis (5). Lobbyists give a helping hand in the drafting and revision
of bills. In the end, they end up getting hired by the state, thus strengthening their position of
influence. Health insurance and hospital owners and administrators have proved that they can
lobby enough, according to Dziadzko and Mikhail (4).
Grassroots Mobilization
This approach involves creating direct influence to the officials through constituency
contact. Grassroots mobilization is a simplified approach used by interest groups as they find it
easy to convince them of their well-coated antics. For instance, the American Hospital
Association (AHA) can quickly popularize their manifesto of enhancing care systems driven by
technology, teams, data, and innovation in the grassroots where people desperately need
technology to be applied in the provision of faster and better healthcare services (Angel and

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Ronald 115). The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) can
also easily find acceptance in the grassroots through its programs that involve the provision of
care and facilities to the older Americans (Park et al. 15).
Lobbying in the grassroots is possible for several reasons. It demonstrates to the officials
that an issue is so vital that it can spark mass action by the citizens. It also shows the ease with
which citizens can be mobilized to support an issue. Lastly, it strengthens accountability and
communication that exists between the citizens and their legislators when both find out that the
other follows their lead (Gillick and Muriel 540). Therefore, these influence groups use
grassroots mobilization to stump their signature with the policies they bring on board for their
political advantage in the long run.
Electoral Influence
Electoral influence is the most commonly used mechanism to influence policymaking
processes. This mechanism is the primary prevention of policymaking since its activities come
before the process of policymaking. Whoever sits in the policymaking table is determined by
electoral influence. Interestingly, any successful electoral campaign requires at least three
resources: people, money, and time (Harrington et al. 2). Interest groups can provide both people
and money. Raising and donating money for the election of individuals who match the interest of
the interest group is primarily done by PACs. While interest groups have the voice, PACs bring
their financial muscles to help the situation. In 1974, the American Nurses Association (ANA)
collaborated to form the ANA-PAC which supported a candidate running for the federal office
(Kieft et al. 158). The candidate matched their values and agenda of improving the healthcare
system. However, PACs influence has currently been reduced owing to the 2002 election

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reforms that only restrict it to contributing up to $5000 in every election and $15000 to a
political party on an annual basis (Hrebenar, Ronald and Scott 150). It is safe to say that
influence teams determine the person that is elected in any elective position to front their agenda
nationally.
Shaping Public Opinion
This is the most commonly used mechanism to sell the ideologies of the interest group to
the public. In public opinion, sharing, advocacy, and the persuasion of the public are at the heart
of its success. It employs a similar method to campaigning for a particular issue. It uses
technology to sell policies and programs to the public (Dziadzko et al. 6). In turn, policymakers
are convinced by the advertisements and campaigns to vote in favor of the policies. Although
these initiatives cost much money, interest groups get free media coverage through media
coverage to explain their policies to the public (Berry and Jeffrey 5).
Besides, interest groups can engage in direct action to ensure their goals are
accomplished. For instance, the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the National
Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) get involved in riots, boycotts,
peaceful demonstrations and social action campaigns aimed at creating awareness to the public
about their concerns (Gillick and Muriel 543). They run advocacy measures and therefore, have
to find measures that attract the attention of the public. It is clear that interest groups use social
action and shaping public opinion to get their ideas across.
Litigation
Interest groups look to shape governance by aligning it to the interests of the group.
Another way they achieve this is through litigation through the judicial system. The American

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Hospital Association (AHA), for instance, has done much in terms of litigation fighting for the
rights of the citizens (Padula et al. 400). Some of the litigations done by AHA include suing
hospitals demanding HHS to meet deadlines for deciding appeals, litigation on the delayed
regulations on transparency and CMPs and the site Neutral Payment Policy (Angel and Ronald
115). The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) has equally
been involved in litigation through its concerted efforts to ensure that the citizens get what
rightfully belongs to them (Vieira et al. 23). Interest groups use legal means to support the rights
of the citizens when it concerns medical care (Park et al. 2). This is a good move as it helps to
enhance the level of healthcare services and reduces the cost of obtaining medical services.
Therefore, interest groups, apart from serving the political interest, serve a great purpose in the
improvement of healthcare in society.
Addressing the Need
As we have seen, interest groups create their action plans in a very systematic yet
cumulated manner. First, they determine whether they will work individually or as a coalition to
be able to pull together many resources. In doing so, they coordinate, negotiate, and reach a
compromise on what to do (Bourret et al. 10). Secondly, they determine what stage of the
legislation stage to pull many efforts and concentrate. Lastly, they choose on which tactics to use
on every strategy they choose. Depending on the number of available resources, the context they
operate in, and concerns for legislative details, interest groups choose which button to press and
at what time (Dumanovsky et al. 14). Also, we have noted that interest groups have the power
and energy to install leaders that bow to their mission and vision, which can sometimes be
problematic.

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One of the recommendations to reduce these problems is forming a board that oversees
and regulates the operations of interest groups. While this may not be practical owing to the
existence of freedom provided for by the constitution, it will be of national interest to see to it
that the nation is not just driven by the agendas of particular interest groups (Jung, Juergen and
Tran 140). The people to make this board should be members of these interest groups and
government officials. This way, there will be no room for biased decisions from the board that
seeks political advantage in the name of advocacy for the rights of the citizens.
Also, interest groups can encourage collaboration with health facilities and the
government to come up with policies that will see every American gain full access to medical
care in a less costly way (Jung, Juergen and Chung Tran 140). As a result, healthcare will
become affordable and accessible to every citizen. In the end, it will strengthen the existing
legislations as well as review the ones we have to ensure that best practices are executed in
hospitals and healthcare facilities to improve patient outcomes.
Conclusion
Conclusively, interest groups play an essential role in ensuring proper healthcare and
lower costs as well as improved patient outcomes. Interest groups achieve their objectives and
mission through litigation, electoral influence, grassroots mobilization, and lobbying. All these
activities correspond to their primary objectives, although they have hidden political agendas to
gain control as they do so. Because of this, interest groups need to be managed as they can
become dangerous and uncontrollable. The 2002 legislation that controlled their financing
campaigns served a great deal in reducing their political influence using money. However, they
have other aggressive means they can use to put their ideas across. That said, there is a need to

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form legislative bodies that comprise members of these interest groups and government officials
to oversee the work of interest groups. Furthermore, there is a need for interest groups to
collaborate with the government and healthcare institutions to improve healthcare outcomes and
reducing medical costs.

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