Rationale for the Reform
The process of providing healthcare services has been filled with internal issues in Florida due to financial, resource-related, and other types of constraints. However, the problem of addressing the needs of patients facing terminal diseases has been recently added to the state’s healthcare agenda (Wachterman et al., 2016). The limited access to medications that have not been yet approved by the FDA has always been a major impediment in providing high-quality care for patients in need of end-of-life care (Yadav et al., 2015). Therefore, the rationale for an appropriate reform emerged.
Reform Description
The reform known as the right-to-try law was adopted in 2015 by the state legislature to provide patients with an opportunity to locate the medication that could potentially affect their condition positively. The regulation was initially intended to provide high-quality end-of-life care for patients with terminal diseases (The Florida Senate, 2015). However, as the act became more frequently used in the Florida healthcare environment, the general notion of utilizing it as the opportunity to ameliorate the condition of patients with serious health conditions has become common as well (The Florida Senate, 2015). The reform is believed to have a dramatically positive effect on the lives of numerous patients since it increases access to care. The reform has been valued particularly strongly by the aging residents of Florida, who have been struggling to receive proper end-of-life care (Yadav et al., 2015). Therefore, the reform needs to be reinforced and supported actively as the tool for addressing the needs of patients with severe health issues and those requiring proper end-of-life care.
Funding Sources and Opportunities
The right-to-try law has been funded by taxpayers’ money, which seems to be a sensible solution to implementing the controversial regulation. Although the right-to-try law has been created with food intentions in mind, it may also represent a potential loophole for companies to promote their products that have not been yet approved by the FDA. While some of these medications may potentially have a positive effect, the lack of testing will inevitably increase the exposure to health risks among the target demographic. Therefore, the unwillingness of the state authorities to provide funding for the regulation in question is understandable.
The right-to-try act also faces several opportunities and threats in the future. As stressed above, being abused by pharmaceutical companies in order to push their product into the Florida medication market is a very likely outcome. Thus, prevention measures have to be designed to avoid the abuse of the right-to-try regulation. For instance, tighter economic obligations and legal repercussions for the organizations that provide medications without the approval of the FDA should be seen as a possible method of preventing the described scenarios from occurring.
Impact of the Reform
The reform has doubtlessly affected numerous vulnerable groups, increasing the efficacy of healthcare delivery. However, the issue of healthcare service accessibility remains open for a vast range of Florida residents. Therefore, additional improvements for providing Miami, FL residents with corresponding health issues with a chance to receive the required medications and maintain the needed level of the quality of their lives. The specified healthcare reform has also proved to be very useful in improving end-of-life care, thus assisting patients in retaining their decency despite the drastic health conditions. While the regulation may potentially be used as the ploy for prescribing off-counter drugs and commercially promoting the medication that has not been yet approved, a minor amendment to the regulation will allow addressing the specified concern.
References
The Florida Senate. (2015). CS/CS/SB 1052: Experimental treatments for terminal conditions. Web.
Wachterman, M. W., Pilver, C., Smith, D., Ersek, M., Lipsitz, S. R., & Keating, N. L. (2016). Quality of End-of-Life Care Provided to Patients With Different Serious Illnesses. JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(8), 1095. Web.
Yadav, K. N., Gabler, N. B., Cooney, E., Kent, S., Kim, J., Herbst, N., … Courtright, K. R. (2017). Approximately one in three US adults completes any type of advance directive for end-of-life care. Health Affairs, 36(7), 1244–1251. Web.