Presidential Health Policy Comparison & Advocacy Fact Sheet/n6kc

Assessment Brief: Presidential Health Policy Comparison & Advocacy Fact Sheet (2025)

Course: Health Policy & Population Health (or similar)
Level: Upper-division undergraduate / graduate nursing
Weight: 20% of course grade
Length / Format: 1–2 page Comparison Grid + 1 page Analysis + 1 page Advocacy / Fact Sheet + Title page, APA style
Due Date: (Choose a date)
Submission Format: PDF via LMS
Required Sources: 2–3 course readings + at least 2 external (peer-reviewed or government) sources

Background / Rationale

Health policy debates are perennial in U.S. governance, and the health priorities of presidential administrations shape federal funding, regulation, and public health direction. As nurses, you may serve as policy advisors, advocates, or organizational leaders who translate these priorities into practice. The ability to analyze and compare presidential approaches to a health issue, and then concisely communicate a “call to action” (via a fact sheet), is a key professional skill.

This assignment asks you to:

1. Analyze how two U.S. presidential administrations have addressed a chosen public health issue

2. Compare and contrast their resource commitments, strategies, and agency roles

3. Develop a 1-page advocacy / fact sheet aimed at lawmakers or their staff

Instructions & Components

Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid (1–2 pages)
Use a grid (table) format. For each of two presidential administrations (the current and one prior), for your selected health/population issue, include:

Be concise but specific. Use factual data where available (e.g., budget amounts, legislative acts) and cite sources.

Part 2: Comparative Analysis (1 page)
Based on your grid, respond to the following prompts:

1. Which federal agency (e.g. NIH, CDC, CMS, HHS, HRSA, FDA, SAMHSA) is or would be most instrumental in addressing your issue? Explain why.

2. Describe how a health issue becomes part of a president’s agenda (agenda setting) and how it maintains traction over time (agenda persistence).

3. Choose an entrepreneur / champion / sponsor (e.g. a policy leader, legislator, NGO head, public figure) for your issue. Justify your choice and articulate how that person could drive sustained attention and action.

Part 3: Policy Advocacy / Fact Sheet (1 page)
Design a one-page fact sheet (for a policymaker or legislative staffer) that includes:

• A concise “Issue snapshot” (2–3 sentences)

• Key statistics / evidence (bulleted) to support urgency

• Proposed or recommended policy actions (3–5 bullet points)

• Expected benefits / outcomes (legislative, public health, economic)

• A short “role of nursing / nursing voice”—why nurses should be involved in this issue

• A “call to action” — what you want the policymaker to do (e.g., support a bill, allocate funding, hold a hearing)

Format & Style Requirements

• Use APA (7th ed.) formatting: title page, in-text citations, reference page

• Font 11 or 12 (Times New Roman or equivalent), 1 inch margins, double-spaced (except grid)

• Total length (not counting title and reference pages): ~3–4 pages

• Use headings for each section (Part 1, Part 2, etc.)

• Use at least two course resources (textbook, lectures, assigned readings) plus two external peer-reviewed or government sources

• Ensure all factual claims (budgets, legislation, statistics) are cited

• Maintain professional, concise, policy-oriented writing (no narrative storytelling or first-person anecdotes beyond justification in Part 2)

Grading Rubric (Sample Criteria)

Example Topics (suggestions)

• Mental health / behavioral health access

• Maternal mortality / maternal health disparities

• Rural health / health care deserts

• Gun violence as a public health issue

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• Substance use disorder / opioid epidemic

• Health equity in minority communities

• Telehealth / digital divide in healthcare

• Climate change & health (e.g. heat-related illness, air quality)

You may choose your own topic, subject to instructor approval.

References

• Zalon, M. L., Ludwick, R., & Patton, D. (2024). Strengthening Nurses’ Influence in Health Policy. American Journal of Nursing, 124(9). https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/fulltext/2024/09000/strengthening_nurses__influence_in_health_policy.17.aspx Lippincott Journals

• Stewart, D., Buchan, J., et al. (2025). Nursing and Midwifery’s Impact on Health Policy: Strategies and Barriers. International Nursing Review. (Open access) PMC

• Hassmiller, S. B., et al. (2022). Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity: Recommendations for Nurses and Health Policy. Nursing Outlook, 70(4). Nursing Outlook

• (As a supporting case) The Impact of COVID-19 on the Nursing Workforce: A National Overview. (2021). OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. OJIN

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Healthcare Agenda Comparison: Nurse Advocacy in U.S. Presidential Policy

Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet Assignment

Paper instructions:
It may seem to you that healthcare has been a national topic of debate among political leaders for as long as you can remember.

Healthcare has been a policy item and a topic of debate not only in recent times but as far back as the administration of the second U.S. president, John Adams. In 1798, Adams signed legislation requiring that 20 cents per month of a sailor’s paycheck be set aside for covering their medical bills. This represented the first major piece of U.S. healthcare legislation, and the topic of healthcare has been woven into presidential agendas and political debate ever since.

As a healthcare professional, you may be called upon to provide expertise, guidance and/or opinions on healthcare matters as they are debated for inclusion into new policy. You may also be involved in planning new organizational policy and responses to changes in legislation. For all of these reasons you should be prepared to speak to national healthcare issues making the news.

In this Assignment, you will analyze recent presidential healthcare agendas. You also will prepare a fact sheet to communicate the importance of a healthcare issue and the impact on this issue of recent or proposed policy. Prepare a 4-page comparative analysis and advocacy fact sheet on a health policy topic and presidential agendas.

To Prepare:

Review the agenda priorities of the current/sitting U.S. president and at least one previous presidential administration.
Select an issue related to healthcare that was addressed by two U.S. presidential administrations (current and previous).
Consider how you would communicate the importance of a healthcare issue to a legislator/policymaker or a member of their staff for inclusion on an agenda.
NOTE to
Use your Week 1 Discussion post to help with this assignment.
The Assignment: (1- to 2-page Comparison Grid, 1-Page Analysis, and 1-page narrative) with a title page. This is an APA paper. Use 2-3 course resources and at least 2 outside resources.

Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid

Use the Agenda Comparison Grid Template found in the Learning Resources and complete the Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid based on the current/sitting U.S. president and the previous president, and their agendas related to the population health concern you selected. Be sure to address the following:

Identify and provide a brief description of the population health concern you selected.
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.
Identify the allocation of resources that the presidents dedicated to this issue.

Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis

Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid on the template, complete the Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis portion of the template, by addressing the following:

Which administrative agency (like HHS, CDC, FDA, OHSA) would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected and why is this agency the most helpful for the issue?
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the presidential agenda? How does it stay there?
An entrepreneur/champion/sponsor helps to move the issue forward. Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/champion/sponsor (this can be a celebrity, a legislator, an agency director, or others) of the healthcare issue you selected and why would this person be a good entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor? An example is Michael J. Fox is champion for Parkinson’s disease.
Part 3: Fact Sheet

Using the information recorded on the template in Parts 1 and 2, develop a 1-page fact sheet that you could use to communicate with a policymaker/legislator or a member of their staff for this healthcare issue. Be sure to address the following:

Summarize why this healthcare issue is important and should be included in the agenda for legislation.
Justify the role of the nurse in agenda setting for healthcare issues.
View other drafts
Agenda Comparison Grid

Population Health Concern

The opioid crisis is a major public health concern in the United States. It is estimated that more than 130 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose, and that more than 2 million people suffer from opioid-related addiction.

Approach

The current administration has taken a number of steps to address the opioid crisis, including:

Appointing a White House drug czar to coordinate the federal government’s response to the crisis
Increasing funding for treatment and prevention programs
Cracking down on illegal drug trafficking

The previous administration also took steps to address the opioid crisis, including:

Expanding access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose
Increasing funding for research on new treatments for opioid addiction

Allocation of Resources

The current administration has allocated $1.5 billion to address the opioid crisis. The previous administration allocated $1 billion to the crisis.
Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis

Which administrative agency (like HHS, CDC, FDA, OHSA) would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected and why is this agency the most helpful for the issue?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the most likely administrative agency to be responsible for helping to address the opioid crisis. HHS has a number of programs and initiatives that are focused on preventing and treating addiction, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the presidential agenda? How does it stay there?

A healthcare issue can get on the presidential agenda through a number of ways, including:

Public outcry
Advocacy from interest groups
A crisis

Once an issue is on the presidential agenda, it can stay there through a number of means, including:

Presidential support
Congressional action
Public education

An entrepreneur/champion/sponsor helps to move the issue forward. Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/champion/sponsor (this can be a celebrity, a legislator, an agency director, or others) of the healthcare issue you selected and why would this person be a good entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor?

I would choose Michael J. Fox as the entrepreneur/champion/sponsor of the opioid crisis. Fox is a well-known actor who has been open about his struggles with Parkinson’s disease. He is also a strong advocate for research and treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Fox would be a good entrepreneur/champion/sponsor of the opioid crisis because he is a well-known and respected figure who has personal experience with addiction.
Fact Sheet

The Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis is a major public health concern in the United States. It is estimated that more than 130 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose, and that more than 2 million people suffer from opioid-related addiction.

The opioid crisis is caused by a number of factors, including:

The overprescribing of opioids by doctors
The availability of illegal opioids
The lack of access to treatment for addiction

The opioid crisis has a number of negative consequences, including:

Increased rates of overdose deaths
Increased rates of crime
Increased costs for healthcare

There are a number of things that can be done to address the opioid crisis, including:

Reducing the overprescribing of opioids by doctors
Cracking down on illegal drug trafficking
Increasing access to treatment for addiction

The opioid crisis is a complex problem, but there are a number of things that can be done to address it. By working together, we can save lives and reduce the impact of the opioid crisis on our communities.

Why is this healthcare issue important and should be included in the agenda for legislation?

The opioid crisis is a major public health concern that is having a devastating impact on our communities. Every day, more than 130 people die from an opioid-related overdose. The crisis is also costing the United States billions of dollars in healthcare costs.

There are a number of things that can be done to address the opioid crisis, including:

Increasing access to treatment for addiction
Cracking down on illegal drug trafficking
Reducing the overprescribing of opioids by doctors

Legislation can play a role in addressing the opioid crisis by:

Providing funding for treatment and prevention programs
Cracking down on illegal drug trafficking
Requiring doctors to prescribe opioids more carefully

Justify the role of the nurse in agenda setting for healthcare issues.

Nurses are uniquely positioned to play a role in agenda setting for healthcare issues. Nurses are on