Lobbying for Change

Instructions: For this assessment, you will develop a letter to an official in your state or local government (choose the individual in the level of government that will best address your issue). The purpose of this letter is to advocate for action with regards to your chosen health care environment issue. Remember, when writing the letter, you must use your personal address and telephone number unless you are exclusively representing a group or your organization.
Be sure to address each main point. Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide, including performance-level descriptions for each criterion, to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete and how it will be assessed. In addition, note the requirements for document format and length and for supporting evidence.
Overall, your assessment submission will be assessed on the following criteria: Summarize the health care economic issue that you are addressing.
Keep this brief but try to include details about how the issue is currently impacting the elected officials’ constituents.
Explain the positive outcomes that will occur if the issue is addressed and the negative outcomes that will occur if the issue is not addressed.
Tailor this messaging to focus on the impacts in the communities and organizations that are relevant to the elected official you are writing to.
Summarize key information from scholarly sources to support the importance of addressing the issue; the issue’s overall impact on health care at the institutional, local, state, or national level; and proposed changes or actions to address the issue.
Cite at least five current, scholarly sources that support your argument and help provide the elected official (who may not have a detailed knowledge of the health care environment) with an understanding of the issues, changes, or actions that you are proposing to drive improved outcomes.
Identify the impact your issue has on health care institutions and health care providers at the local community, state, or national level.
Make sure to include information from both a health care and an economic perspective. An elected official may be more responsive to one perspective than another.
Incorporate social justice, structural racism, and inequity principles when picking resources and making recommendations for change in your assessment.
Explain how personal, professional, and organizational experiences have informed the resource planning and risk analysis for working toward addressing the economic issue.
Think about how your experiences (the experiences can be personal, professional, or from your team’s perspective or experience) affect how you have planned for the resources needed to implement your desired changes or actions. How did this impact your approach to conducting a risk analysis on the project?
Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly communication standards.
Remember to conclude your letter with a summary of your position on the issue and a compelling reason that the elected official should act in your favor and support your issue or initiative.
Additional Requirements: Audience: Make sure you are addressing your letter to an actual local or state official.
For most states, you can use the following resource:
Assessment 4: Lobbying for Change.
For local officials, search your city’s government website for officials and their positions.
Competencies Measured: By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the effects of financial and economic factors (such as cost-benefit, supply and demand, return on investment, and risks) in a health care system on patient care, services offered, and organizational structures and operation.
Summarize the health care economic issue that you are addressing.
Competency 2: Develop ethical and culturally equitable solutions to economic problems within a health care organization in an effort to improve the quality of care and services offered.
Explain the positive outcomes that will occur if the issue is addressed and negative outcomes that will occur if the issue is not addressed.
Competency 3: Justify the qualitative and quantitative information used to guide economic decision making to stakeholders and colleagues.
Summarize key information from scholarly sources to support the importance of addressing the issue; the issue’s overall impact on health care at the institutional, local, state, or national level; and proposed changes or actions to address the issue.
Competency 4: Develop ethical and culturally equitable economic strategies to address dynamic environmental forces and ensure the future security of an organization’s resources and its ability to provide quality care.
Explain how personal, professional, and organizational experiences have informed the resource planning and risk analysis for working toward addressing the economic issue.
Competency 5: Produce clear, coherent, and professional written work, in accordance with Capella writing standards.
Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
Scoring Guide: Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.
Criterion 1
Summarize the health care economic issue that you are addressing.
Distinguished
Summarizes the health care economic issue that you are addressing. Notes how the issue is currently impacting the constituents of the elected official that the letter is addressed to.
Criterion 2
Explain the positive outcomes that will occur if the issue is addressed and negative outcomes that will occur if the issue is not addressed.
Distinguished
Explains the positive outcomes that will occur if the issue is addressed and negative outcomes that will occur if the issue is not addressed. Targets tone and content of the explanation to the elected official the letter is addressed to.
Criterion 3
Summarize key information from scholarly sources to support the importance of addressing the issue; the issue’s overall impact on health care at the institutional, local, state, or national level; and proposed changes or actions to address the issue.
Distinguished
Summarizes key information from at least five scholarly sources to support the importance of addressing the issue, the issue’s overall impact on health care at the institutional, local, state, or national level, and proposed changes or actions to address the issue. Notes social justice, structural racism, and inequity principles that were used when making the recommendations for the proposed changes.
Criterion 4
Explain how personal, professional, and organizational experiences have informed the resource planning and risk analysis for working toward addressing the economic issue.
Distinguished
Explains how personal, professional, and organizational experiences have informed the resource planning and risk analysis for working toward addressing the economic issue. Relates a succinct story from experiences in personal health care practice to illustrate the planning and analysis approach taken.
Criterion 5
Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
Distinguished
Conveys clear purpose, in a tone and style well-suited to the intended audience. Supports assertions, arguments, and conclusions with relevant, credible, and convincing evidence. Exhibits strict and nearly flawless adherence to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards, including APA style and formatting.