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The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment

The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment

1st paper

Rising drug costs

Healthcare is an important necessity in the lives of every member of society. Unfortunately, it has become more like a commodity rather than a basic service, especially in the United States which is dominated by for-profit system (Branning and Vater, 2016)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment. Considering the ever-increasing number of people suffering from congenital or hereditary problems, chronic illnesses and the rising number of lifestyle-related diseases, the availability of medications to alleviate suffering, increase life expectancy, and improve quality of life is a critical issue we have been dealing with for years. Having adequate access to providers is a major barrier, but an even greater obstacle is the affordability of medications, particularly for those requiring multiple medications, having limited incomes, and having chronic issues (Hamel, et al., 2022). The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of prescription drug affordability and identify health policy solutions on this issue that will ultimately improve population health.

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The Prescription Drug Affordability Issue

            When medical expenses are incurred, they generally pose a hardship most people and the effects are not only felt directly by the patient and their family, but also have repercussions which may resonate throughout communities and up to the national level. Those with chronic medical problems are at greater risk because they may require multiple medications without which their disease may result in difficulties maintaining gainful employment or worsening health affecting their quality of life (National Academies…, 2017). Often, they may need to prioritize expenses, sometimes being forced to choose between food and housing for themselves and family or paying for their prescriptions. Persons who elect to forgo the prescriptions inevitably cause higher costs down the road as their health declines. The prescription co-pays for those who are insured, whether by government or commercial insurance, may or may not be affordable to the individual, but the part covered by the insurer results in increased premiums or taxes paid by others, thus shifting the financial burden to society. Likewise, prescriptions provided at no cost to patients by charitable programs or organizations must be paid for by someone at some point.

             In the United States in 2016, a bit more than $3,000,000,000,000 was spent on healthcare (Branning & Vater, 2016) and approximately 17% of that was due to prescribed medications (Kesselheim et. al., 2016)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment. In the report Making Medicines Affordable: A National Imperative (National Academies …, 2017), persons taking multiple prescriptions, especially those with low income or who are uninsured, find it very difficult to purchase prescription medications and this affects the quality of their health negatively, serving to further perpetuate social inequities.  As a result, a majority of Americans feel that reducing medication costs is a moral obligation of paramount importance and deserves immediate attention from the legislative branch of government for change. Congress has been successful over the past 40 years in making changes to Medicare which have helped reduce costs related to provider and hospital reimbursement. Per capita healthcare costs across the board were reduced with the exception of prescription drugs which, adjusting for inflation, have still doubled. The Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act, S.3162, was proposed in 2020 as an attempt to control the increased cost of drugs, a problem magnified by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent hoarding of drugs necessary for the treatment of other illnesses, but died in committee (Piatek et al., 2020).

Negative effects of drug prices on healthcare quality

According to Hamel, et al. (2022), the majority of people feel that the price of medications far too high but, interestingly, around 70% said they were not difficult to afford. For those who cost was an issue, they tended to do one or more of the following: under-dose to extend the life of the prescription, attempt to substitute with nonprescription medications, or simply prescription unfilled. When illnesses are not managed, health declines further resulting in even more utilization of resources and thus, increased costs. Looking even farther down the road, infections which are not appropriately treated with a full course of antibiotic therapy may develop resistant strains (CDC, 2019) requiring more investments in the future for drug development and morbidity and mortality in the meantime.

From the financial perspective, budgetary changes must be made to account for the increased expenses and funds reallocated which affects other services necessary to maintain or advance overall population health (Rajkumar, 2020), thereby reducing access to care, an important social determinant of health. According to the American Hospital Association (2019), hospitals are finding themselves in the position of having to limit formularies in an effort to control spending or seek out less expensive treatments that may not be equal to the best available. Capital spending for new equipment, expansion of services, and updating of facilities is impacted due to lack of funds and hiring freezes or personnel cuts are placed into effect to alleviate financial strain, further reducing the quality of and access to care.

Perhaps the worst effect is that lifesaving or extending medications are not available to all who might benefit because the price is too exorbitant resulting in increased mortality rates. When their only hope is an expensive medication, they may potentially place themselves and their family in a state of poverty in pursuit of a cure that may not work (Covinsky et al., 1994)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

Drug prices and social justice

            Although everyone is affected in some way by rising drug prices, minorities, who are more likely to be adversely affected by social determinants of health, are disproportionately affected.  Fadeyi-Jones, et al. (2020) asserts that “High drug prices contribute to poor health outcomes and disproportionately harm Black and Brown Americans — perpetuating systemic racism in health care”. As they have higher incidences of many chronic diseases related to socioeconomic disparities as well as some genetic component as in the case of sickle cell anemia, they are more prone to the effects of the cost of prescription medications.

Some causes of high prescription drug costs

Pharmaceutical companies receive the lion’s share of blame by the public for the problem. The process to research and bring a drug to market is both lengthy and very expensive (CDC, 2019) with no guarantee of success. In an effort to help manufacturers recoup their expense, the FDA allows a period of exclusivity where there is no competition by generic forms of a particular medication thereby permitting a temporary monopoly causing higher prices. For some diseases, this is perpetuated by the development of newer, more effective treatments that are ready to replace the old treatment when patents expire (Rajkumar, 2020). Also, the “evergreening” of medications (AHA, 2022), a process where minor changes are made to an older medication or they are combined, allows manufacturers to extend the protected period. The rarity and severity of a disease, for obvious reasons, as well as misuse of the Orphan Drug Act, are culprits (AAN, 2022) in driving prices up.

American Hospital Association support

The American Hospital Association (AHA, 2022) presented recommendations to Congress to reduce prices of prescription drugs. These included removing regulatory barriers to competitors, incentivizing research, ensuring the clarity understanding of how medications are priced, stabilizing prices through rebates, alter Medicare Part D as an experiment for allowing more negotiation with pharmaceutical companies, and keep the 340B program in place to help organizations serving at-risk and poorer clientele. American Academy of Neurology (2022) also advocates for allowing drugs sold by American pharmaceutical companies at lower prices and other countries to be purchased in those places and brought back to the United States for consumption.

Who are the stakeholders in prescription drug affordability?

            The to this question is simple; everyone. Patients who purchase and benefit from medications, healthcare professionals who prescribe and administer drugs, organizations must obtain drug supplies, insurers which pay for the treatments, government that sets health policy and regulates the industry, and the pharmaceutical companies who create and sell their products which have the potential to improve and save lives (Institute of Clinical Bioethics, 2022). Simply everyone a stake in this issue to some degree and can play a role as change agents to a greater or lesser extent in suggesting, advocating for, developing, and implementing policy.

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Bill S. 1898. Affordable Medications Act

            Introduced May 27, 2021 and currently in committee, the Affordable Medications Act (2021-2022) this bill proposes to lower drug costs through several mechanisms advocated for by many organizations. It is intended to improve pricing transparency, expand availability of medications for low-income individuals, require government insurers to negotiate prices well as create new means to do so, ease import restrictions on prescription medications, penalize manufacturers who are out of compliance with government regulations, limit the period of patent protection monopoly, improve generic drug availability, and incentivize research for the development of antibiotics among other goals The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

Plan for developing a prescription drug affordability health policy brief

Much like the preceding evidence presented in this paper, a health policy brief addressing prescription drug affordability must clearly identify the problem and the impact of high drug costs on those in need of treatments to save or improve their lives, particularly the vulnerable populations, those with chronic illnesses, the uninsured, the financially disadvantaged, and those affected by socioeconomic inequalities. Barriers to implementation must be identified so that a realistic plan can be developed and stakeholders with the ability to effect change will be recognized to form a basis of support. The first policy action will revolve around negotiated prices with manufacturers, particularly in relation to Medicare/Medicaid and their ability to utilize economies of scale to reduce prices. Likewise, pharmaceutical manufacturers should be incentivized to provide rebates to purchasing groups who can provide heavily discounted medications to the uninsured and low-income populations. The second action would focus on limiting the ability of manufacturers to raise prices over time. Finally, regulations must allow for a faster approval and introduction of generic medications in the market.

The ability of the proposed recommendations to achieve the desired outcomes will need to be clearly demonstrated by evidence-based research. Furthermore, the benefits to all stakeholders must be made clear and the vision of the final outcome should be made clear as well. The anticipated positive results will be thoroughly explored, but potential negative effects must also receive equal weight in the brief in an effort to maintain objectivity in measuring a successful outcome. The plan will also endeavor to keep in mind that the end goal is not measured as much by the dollars involved, but by the societal benefits of improving population health through addressing social determinants of health and access to care.

Conclusion

As clearly illustrated in this paper, he affordability of prescription drugs a significant concern affecting everyone in the United States some level. Sadly, many do not have access to lifesaving or improving medications while others are forced to choose between obtaining health or providing for their families. Reducing the cost of drugs is critical to improving population health and addressing social inequities that prevent many from reaching their full potential The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

2nd paper

Rising Prescription Drug Costs

            As of 2016, about 17% of healthcare dollars were spent on prescription drugs making this a prime target for reducing healthcare costs (Kesselheim et. al., 2016). For those with insurance, co-pays are generally affordable for routine prescriptions and the healthy uninsured population and generally afford the occasional antibiotic or short-term prescription. However, those with chronic illnesses and multiple comorbidities may find themselves having difficulty paying for their prescriptions, even with insurance, and have to choose between filling their prescriptions or paying for necessary expenses. The cost of medications has well outpaced inflation, due to annual increases having the effect of compounding interest. Medicare recipients, most on fixed incomes, may face higher co-pays on their prescriptions and costs are also passed to those who are commercially insured through higher co-pays and premiums. Costs that outpace inflation will place the Medicare program in jeopardy and the choice will have to be made to either increase taxation or cut services to keep the program viable (Copeland, 2022). In this paper, we will look at current efforts to address this issue and examine whether current laws can be modified to accomplish the task or if new legislation is needed. We will also discuss what would be required for effective changes to be enacted.

Current Efforts to Address Prescription Drug Costs

Over the past few decades, there have been no significant bills passed in Congress to effectively lower the cost of prescription drugs. In the current legislative session, the Affordable Medications Act was introduced in the Senate and the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act in the House of Representatives. Both failed to progress past being introduced and read (Dusetzina & Oberlander, 2019). The primary reason is, although there is bipartisan support for reducing drug costs, the bills have been attached as part of packages which include other spending issues unable to achieve the same bipartisan support. Some states have taken matters into their own hands and there are now at least 288 bills in state legislatures aimed at reducing drug costs by various means (National Academy for State Health policy, 2022). They are somewhat limited in actions they can take because they cannot affect interstate commerce in any way. In 2017, a law passed in Maryland was ruled unconstitutional for this reason but a revised version passed in 2019 allowing state and local government plans to set prices with manufacturers (Sklar & Robertson, 2019)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment. Due to ongoing awareness of the problem and increasing public opinion in favor of doing so, campaigns have been started from the grassroots level to involvement of professional lobbyists. Two interesting campaigns are the Push For Lower Rx Prices and Lower Drug Prices Now.

Lower Drug Prices Now

            The Lower Drug Prices Now organizations campaign is, at this time, primarily centered around promoting what has become the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now act. They have 57 state and national partners in their coalition. Their policies are based on four interconnected principles which guide their recommendations. The first is that the United States Government is responsible for making sure that everyone, regardless of income, is able to pay for the medications they require. Next, and quite closely related, is to remove existing challenges to medication affordability. This would not only include the prices, but also issues such as the intentional stifling of competition. The third principle is to make pharmaceutical companies accountable by minimizing their ability to set and increase prices by requiring negotiation and rebates based on economic circumstances. Finally, they wish to place public health above the profits of pharmaceutical companies (Lower Drug Prices Now, n.d.)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

On their website, they provide resources one can use to educate themselves and discuss the need for changing current policies to address the problem with others. Petitions are available to sign. They also provide a link to finding your representatives and senators in Congress to facilitate contacting them with one’s opinions. However, they are a strongly Democratic organization and instead of proposing H.R. 3 independently its own merits, they chose to attach it to the Build Back Better Act, causing it to fail without bipartisan support (McCullough, 2022)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

Push For Lower Rx Prices

            Started by Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNOW), a bipartisan organization, the Push for Lower Rx Prices campaign has a broad base of support with 72 organizations joining the founding group. P4ADNOW was founded by a gentleman who had multiple myeloma and was faced with crippling costs for treatment, thus motivating him to leave his job and take on this fight. Their strategy is to have real people who have struggled with high prescription drug costs to speak out publicly, as well as speak directly to politicians at all levels of government, in an effort to influence them they are confronted directly by those most affected. They also acknowledge a focus on social equity with regards to the specific need of minorities and low-income families who are disproportionately affected (Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, n.d.).

Enacting price negotiation and control policies

The first policy action recommended is to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the manufacturers and limit price hikes to the rate of inflation. It can easily be accomplished through current legislation. In fact, it can be done so easily that the United States Senate took the first big step August 7, 2022 when the Inflation Reduction Act, H.R. 5376, a greatly scaled-down version of the Build Back Better Act which included many of the provisions in H.R. 3, was passed and sent back to the House of Representatives. There, it will likely be approved, before heading to the White House for Presidential approval. Included were provisions to allow Medicare to negotiate prices of expensive drugs with manufacturers, limiting pricing hikes, and, as a bonus to Medicare beneficiaries, limiting their maximum costs for drugs to $2000 per year (Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, 2022)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment. While this is progress, legislation must be modified in the future to make sure all drugs purchased by Medicare have price hike limitations and negotiable prices to provide maximum cost savings. An example of this is the omission of insulin, necessary for millions of Americans, from the negotiable drugs under consideration. Also, since pending legislation promises to accomplish the second policy action recommended, capping price increases, a further extension should be proposed to grant price matching for the uninsured, who do not enjoy the luxury commercial and government insurers have. Otherwise, pharmaceutical manufacturers would still be free to charge as much as the market would bear in an effort to shift their profit sources. Although anti-gouging laws may have some use against this if brought to bear, government legislation to dictate, rather than negotiate, market prices has Randian overtones and would likely be an overreach of authority under the Constitution.

Obtaining Legislative Support

While the majority of politicians may have begun their careers with altruistic motives, most become defined by the tenets of Public Choice Theory. This theory states that individuals, particularly those in public office, will tend to act out of self-interest (Buchanan & Tullock, 2003). The first step is to identify key lawmakers and ensure that their awareness of the urgency for change is raised in their minds. Any lobbyist can spend a few moments communicating the issue and petitions for change can be obtained and forwarded to lawmakers, but the approach taken by P4ADNOW may be better because it is real people affected by the problem facing them. Also, if a direct audience cannot be readily obtained, as is highly likely, their families, close acquaintances, and advisors can be used as proxies when the case is made to them in a manner that engages them to advocate for the desired policy (Animal Welfare Institute, n.d.)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

The second step is to show them it is in their own interest to help reduce drug costs. They must be made cognizant of the amount of public support to lower prescription drug prices. When they are aware that their constituents, who have the ability to vote them out of office, are demanding action, will be more prone to supporting and promoting the legislation. However, this will require more than simply telling them it is so. Grassroots actions must take place within their districts and states so they hear the problem and demand for action from the voters who may keep them in office (Urbinati, 2019).

Dealing with Opposition

There are few opponents against making drug prices more affordable. The foremost of these is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) which is the foremost lobbyist group for the pharmaceutical industry. They represent nearly all of the major pharmaceutical companies and have spent millions opposing the recent H.R. 3 Bill (Sullivan, 2021). Their side of the issue is that reducing prices will result in government choosing what drugs and treatments will be available for patients and that funding for research and development will be reduced, thereby resulting in fewer new treatments coming to fruition. While there may be some truth to that, it must also be remembered that R&D is not the largest expense for pharmaceutical companies. Instead, it is sales and marketing. According to an analysis from 2020, 70% of the top 10 biopharmaceutical companies spent an average of almost 40% more on advertising than R&D (Anderson, 2021). A big part of the increase is from a shift in marketing towards individuals who may feel the new medications are beneficial to them and ask for them by name when they see their physician (Schwartz & Woloshin, 2019). Also, pharmaceutical companies enjoy median profit margins twice that of other industries in the S&P 500 (Ledley et al., 2020)The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

To deal with corporations, legislation may not be the most effective means. Perhaps they should be dealt with on their own level. Drug prices in America are higher than any other nation in the world for the same products. One simple solution is straw purchases in other countries where the prices are lower or importing equivalent drugs from manufacturers in other nations where costs are less. Another solution would be to simply offer what was felt to be reasonable and decline to pay more. If they do not agree, will have no market to sell the drug. The drawback to these ideas is that patients may suffer while a waiting game was played. The final tactic, and perhaps most effective, would be to threaten to change the period of exclusivity for new medications unless prices came down.

Conclusion

There is no simple fix to the problem of high drug costs. For the majority of people, generic drugs are easily affordable. In the private sector, some entrepreneurs, such as Mark Cuban, are stepping up to help. His recently founded Cost Plus Drugs purchases directly in bulk from manufacturers enabling them to sell at lower prices to consumers. One biologic in particular is sold by them for less than 1% of the retail price (Constantino, 2022). Legislation to improve prescription coverage for the uninsured, applying market pressure to pharmaceutical companies, freeing government to negotiate any other entity, and public pressure are the most likely actions to achieve change.

INTRODUCTION

High costs of prescription drugs limit the capacity of individuals to manage chronic conditions, prolong life, be economically productive and maintain quality of life. This policy brief addresses the high prescription drug costs faced by patients in the United States, identifies causative factors, outlines the impact of high drug costs, and provides recommendations to ensure affordability of prescription drugs.

PROBLEM ANALYSIS

  1. Relevance of problem

Rising prescription drug prices negatively affect access to healthcare for citizens of the United States. While 70% of insured persons report adequate capacity to afford prescription drugs, this does not hold for the uninsured, the underinsured and low income earners. Prevalent lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes require lifelong drug use. Rising prescription drug prices threaten patients with loss of life and diminished quality of life, even for insured clients especially under co-pay contracts.

Access to healthcare is a human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, legislators must work together to ensure prescription drug affordability. Increasing awareness of the issue and public support for lowering prescription drug prices have resulted in grassroots campaigns and lobbying to ensure everyone has the ability to pay for drugs they require regardless of income. As elected legislators, it is essential to address concerns raised by constituents, especially those on a basic need, a basic right, as healthcare The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment

  1. Why have prescription drug prices been rising?

Prescription drug prices have been rising at twice the inflation rate. This shows that drug price hikes are related to factors other than normal demand and supply forces. These factors are:

  • Monopoly behaviour facilitated by FDA-enforced exclusivity to manufacturers of new drugs.
  • Abuse of the Orphan Drug Act and the protection it offers to manufacturers of treatments for rare diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
  • Evergreening, where manufacturers make minor adjustments to drugs to maintain exclusivity and monopoly pricing power.
  1. Effects of Rising prescription drug costs.

Rising drug prices affect American citizens and healthcare providers in the following ways:

  1. Increasing insurance premiums for the insured population.
  2. Increasing taxes by the government to fund healthcare.
  • Reducing capital expenditures on equipment, quality improvement, hiring and expansion by private healthcare facilities to avail prescription drugs.
  1. Underdosing for the uninsured and low-income population. Under-dosing can cause development of drug resistant strains.
  2. Foregoing medication.
  3. Substituting prescribed drugs with cheaper unprescribed drugs.
  • Increased mortality from poor disease management.
  • Higher overall high costs from the need to develop new drugs to counter resistant strains.
  1. Attempted solutions

Limiting the ability of manufacturers to raise prescription drug prices and negotiating to reduce current prices are the two ways of dealing with prescription drug affordability that have been tried, albeit with varying degrees of success. Notable cases are:

  1. The Elijah E Cummings Lower Drug Prices Now Act, which failed to pass as it was embedded with other spending issues.
  2. The Prescription DrugAffordability Board created by State of Maryland in 2019. The board studies and reviews prescription drug prices so as to protect consumers in the state. The effectiveness of this law is limited by lack of jurisdiction over inter-state trade.
  • Bulk drug purchases from manufacturers by private entrepreneurs, who then avail these to the mass market. This strategy has been successful although on a small scale. The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment
  1. Policy Options

Managing prescription drug prices can be accomplished via the following policies:

  1. Bringing more people under the insurance umbrella.
  2. Reducing the period of FDA-assured exclusivity for commonly used branded drugs.
  3. Setting prescription drug prices at reasonable levels, pegged to international prices.
  4. Opening up the prescription drug market to generic drugs.
  5. Negotiating drug prices with manufacturers to limit prices hikes to the rate of inflation. This option is viable for large bodies such as Medicare/ Medicaid.
  6. Facilitating faster approval of branded drugs to lower development and wait costs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. Adding more drugs to the Inflation Reduction Act H.R. 5376. The Act, currently in the House of Representatives, allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers and peg price increases to the inflation rate. Some crucial drugs, such as insulin, are not part of this Act. Including such drugs would ensure affordability for thousands of patients.
  2. Capping drug prices across the board, so that both insured and uninsured consumers enjoy lower prices. These prices can be set at international prices for similar drugs and eliminate the super-profits US drug sales yield to drug manufacturers and retailers.
  3. Allowing the importation and sale of generic drugs in the United States. This policy would avail low-cost alternatives to patients and create competitive pressure to lower the prices of branded drugs The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment.

References

Branning, G., & Vater, M. (2016). Healthcare spending: plenty of blame to go

around. American health & drug benefits, 9(8), 445.

Covinsky, K. E., Goldman, L., Cook, E. F., Oye, R., Desbiens, N., Reding, D., … & Murphy,

  1. J. (1994). The impact of serious illness on patients’ families. Jama, 272(23), 1839-1844.

Dusetzina, S. B., & Oberlander, J. (2019). Advancing legislation on drug pricing-is there a

path forward?. The New England journal of medicine, 381(22), 2081-2084.

Everson, J., Henderson, S. C., Cheng, A., Senft, N., Whitmore, C., & Dusetzina, S. B. (2022).

Demand for and Occurrence of Medication Cost Conversations: A Narrative Review. Medical Care Research and Review, 10775587221108042.

Kang, S. Y., DiStefano, M. J., Socal, M. P., & Anderson, G. F. (2019). Using external

reference pricing in Medicare Part D to reduce drug price differentials with other countries. Health Affairs, 38(5), 804-811.

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Kesselheim, A. S., Avorn, J., & Sarpatwari, A. (2016). The high cost of prescription drugs in

the United States: origins and prospects for reform. Jama, 316(8), 858-871.

Ledley, F. D., McCoy, S. S., Vaughan, G., & Cleary, E. G. (2020). Profitability of large

pharmaceutical companies compared with other large public companies. Jama, 323(9), 834-843.

McClellan, M., Rajkumar, R., Couch, M., Holder, D., Pham, M., Long, P., … & Smith, M.

(2021). Health care payers COVID-19 impact assessment: lessons learned and compelling needs. NAM perspectives, 2021.

O’Sullivan, B. P., Orenstein, D. M., & Milla, C. E. (2013). Pricing for orphan drugs: will the

market bear what society cannot?. Jama, 310(13), 1343-1344.

Rodwin, M. A. (2021). How the United Kingdom controls pharmaceutical prices and

spending: learning from its experience. International Journal of Health Services, 51(2), 229-237.

Sklar, T., & Robertson, C. (2019). Affordability boards: the states’ new fix for drug

pricing. New England Journal of Medicine, 381(14), 1301. The High Costs Of Prescription Drugs Assignment

put together your information in a 2-3 page (maximum) issue brief. In other words, this Health Policy Brief will summarize and synthesize all the key points you drafted in papers I and II. This is an opportunity for you to share your findings and objective data to legislators and stakeholders in a succinct and cogent manner. A few examples on policy briefs are provided by the National Council on Aging titled, Issue Briefs and Fact Sheets.

Submission Parameters:

Please use the following guidelines and criteria for this assignment. Also, please refer to the rubric for point allocation and assignment expectations. The expected length of the policy brief is approximately 2-3 pages, which does not include the cover page and reference page(s).

I. This policy brief is not to be presented as an academic paper. In other words, the document is intended for you to share your findings and objective data to legislators and appropriate stakeholders. That said, please include a cover page and reference page, which will help faculty identify the author and references used for the final product.

II. This policy brief will summarize and synthesize all the key points you drafted in papers I and II. There should be limited additional research needed to complete this brief. That said, this is an opportunity for you to translate your first two academic papers into a succinct and cogent brief.

III. Well written briefs have included the following elements (you may use these as headings):

What is the aim of the policy brief?
What is the best hook for the audience?
What background information does the audience need?
What data are most important to include for your audience? How will you convey the data to your stakeholders (i.e. combination of in-text, bar graph, etc.)?
What are the policy options?
What are your recommendations?
IV. To summarize, please note that short policy briefs are useful tools to conveying research and scientific implications for policy development and implementation and clinical practice. Writing effective policy briefs requires a specific set of communication and collaboration skills.

In regards to APA format, please use the following as a guide: