Introduction
Stakeholders in a health sector are the managers or people that are vested with powers of leadership to run such organizations. In most cases, they are interested in healthcare policies, politics, and reforms that affect the implementation of various strategies in an attempt to achieve organizational goals. This provides a structured analysis of the Maryland Children’s Health Insurance by providing an insight into the organization’s overview.
Overview of Children’s Health Insurance (Maryland)
The Maryland children’s health insurance has been supported by the federal state to provide insurance cover on healthcare to children up to 19 years of age. These children are not considered under the umbrella of Medicaid and have been identified to have a gross income of below 300-percent of poverty level (Macek, Wagner, Goodman, Manz, & Marrazzo, 2005). They obtain care from various Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) through the HealthChoice Program based in Maryland (Macek et al., 2005). The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA), which is an independent agency that regulates insurance laws, manages the program (Mann, Rowland, & Garfield, 2003). The health insurance program benefits the children through various ways that include doctor visits, hospital care, laboratory activities, dental and vision checkups, immunization, and mental health services among others.
Currently, the insurance company is planning to expand its capacity to cover children in remote areas that have access to internet. The strategy is deemed to succeed due to the management’s open method of enrollment (Mann et al., 2003). Various responsibilities that are entitled to the Maryland children’s insurance funds include regulation of insurance laws, complaint investigation, and evaluation of financial records among others (Macek et al., 2005).
Affordable Healthcare Services as a Key Issue being addressed by Children’s Health Insurance in Maryland
The stakeholders at Maryland remained in the forefront to advocate for better children healthcare and medical cover at affordable fees. This matter has been discussed variously in both federal and state levels. Many leaders in Maryland heavily supported the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Two senators namely Sen. Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski lobbied many representatives to vote in the bill (Janicke, Finney, & Riley, 2001). Through the ACA, the stakeholders at Maryland were able to reduce the high number of uninsured children. An improved Medicaid enrollment was also registered (Janicke et al., 2001).
The People represented by Stakeholders
The Maryland Children’s health Insurance was initiated with an aim of enabling underprivileged children to gain access to Medicare. The plan was perceived as a solution to alleviation of poverty. Through its stakeholders, this organization ensures that full medical and health insurance cover is offered to all children who are below 19 years old (Janicke et al., 2001).
Impact desired on the Issues Above
The stakeholders and managers of the children’s health insurance firm have a desire that all children should benefit from the medical cover. Various benefits include doctor visits, hospital, dental, and vision care. Others include immunization of children, laboratory tests, medical prescriptions, treatment of children who abuse drugs and mentally incapacitated. The stakeholders have availed these benefits to children through enactment of laws that enforce affordability (Janicke et al., 2001).
Benefits entitled to Constituent if the Results are achieved
The stakeholders are entitled to several benefits that include good life and proper investment that is safe and long-term. The constituent members will also enjoy maximum protection against the constantly rising healthcare expenses upon realization of the results. In addition, long-term saving strategies will build a good corpus in meeting the needs of children and adults at every stage of life (Simms, Dubowitz, & Szilagyi, 2000).
Children’s Health Insurance Perspectives
The children’s health insurance perspective is discussed in regards to payers such as the insurer, the government, and employers. The primary payer of the children’s health insurance in Maryland is the US government. It accomplishes this responsibility through its department of health and human service. These funds are received through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which is designed to provide medical cover for poor and unprotected children. The funds are then channeled through the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) to the insurance scheme (Simms et al., 2000).
The program is geared towards improvement of health care among children of poor backgrounds whose age lies below 9 years. The program also targets the mentally impaired children who are not insured under the Medicaid program. Various categories of targeted people include adolescents, pre-adolescents, pre-school children, infants, people with on-health insurance, and expectant women (Simms, et al., 2000).
Child Care Subsidy (CCSP) or Purchase of Child care (POC)
The CCSP is based in Maryland to assist families to pay funds for child healthcare. It is run under the Maryland Department of Education (Oliver, 2004). This program ensures that eligible families obtain vouchers and grants through the locality and social service offices or childcare centers. Consumers are allowed to use services that are offered informally to the caregivers. However, the local departments approve the services. This organization adopts a low-cost strategy to ensure affordability of services by the underprivileged groups (Oliver, 2004).
Secretary Sam Malhotra heads the topmost leadership. Mr. Malhotra has been trained on skills that include strategic and vision planning, sales and marketing, cost analysis, program and human resource management, public relations, team building, and negotiation skills. The manager is also skilled in areas such as finance, budgeting, and cost management. Sam has attained a BA at the University of Maryland, MD at College Park, OPM at the Harvard Business School, MA at Soldiers Field, and Georgetown University, Washington, DC. This position requires skills that include leadership, strategic planning, negotiation, financial, and human resource management (Oliver, 2004).
Other stakeholders that are supposed to work together with the individual include public accounts departments, office of the inspector general, chief administrative operations, director of the procurement office among others. The program deals with issues of finance that are applied in the CCSP programs. Therefore, various stakeholders who have been mentioned must exist to ensure effective management of the program in areas such as bookkeeping among others (Brach et al., 2003).
Impact brought about by a Person in such Position to Health Career
Good leadership entails transparency and accountability of the transactions that are undertaken by an organization. Health sectors that are managed under such leadership portray progress as well as improved development due to team building. The managers also allow for interactions and consultations; hence, they hold an inclusive type of operation. This leadership strategy results in improved management processes. It also minimizes time wastage and workload (Brach et al., 2003).
Conclusion
A critical perspective stakeholder analysis of an organization provides information that is paramount to enlightening people on health-related issues. This essay has elaborated on the performance of various stakeholder groups under the Maryland’s Children Health Insurance program. It has revealed how effective leadership has led to the progression of the program. It has also highlighted other organizational programs have entered partnership to ensure that children gain access to affordable health insurance cover.
Reference List
Brach, C., Lewit, E., VanLandeghem, K., Bronstein, J., Dick, A., Kimminau, K.,…& Szilagyi, P. (2003). Who’s enrolled in the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP)? An overview of findings from the child health insurance research initiative (CHIRI). Pediatrics, 112(1), 499-507.
Janicke, D., Finney, J., & Riley, A. (2001). Children’s health care use: a prospective investigation of factors related to care-seeking. Medical care, 39(9), 990-1001.
Macek, M., Wagner, M., Goodman, H., Manz, M., & Marrazzo, I. (2005). Dental visits and access to dental care among Maryland schoolchildren. The Journal of the American Dental Association, 136(4), 524-33.
Mann, C., Rowland, D., & Garfield, R. (2003). Historical overview of children’s health care coverage. The Future of Children, 13(1), 31-53.
Oliver, T. (2004). Holding back the tide: policies to preserve and reconstruct health insurance coverage in Maryland. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, 29(2), 203-36.
Simms, M., Dubowitz, H., & Szilagyi, M. (2000). Health care needs of children in the foster care system. Pediatrics, 106(3), 909-18.