Decision Making Process

The Policy Process: Part 1

Policies are very important as they are the kid to making things run smoothly and to protect people. Constantly policies are being reviewed and considered to help improve the American health care system. Because these policies have the ability to affect us on a daily basis careful consideration must be given when policies are proposed. So it is important to understand the process of how a topic eventually becomes a policy. In this paper I will discuss the complete process of how any issue becomes a policy and I will focus on the general process of policy development.

There are different phases which involve policy making, the first stage is the formulation stage. The formulation stage is a process in which important people will discuss information and ideas regarding the policy in which they want to put in place. There is also a lot of research that is done from people such as interest groups and organizations. During this process the issue is put into prospective and the desired outcome of this policy are clearly stated. During this time strategies will be put in place to achieve the desired outcome as well as what resources will be needed so that it can be planned for ahead of time. Then there is the legislative stage and the implementation stages. Once the law has been passed or a policy has been put in place is up to the different levels of government and departments to implement that law and or policy. The different legislators can also pass subordinate legislation on matters concerning the original law. In the implementation process there needs to be a clear goal and careful consideration because if something goes wrong there needs to be accountability. The implementation stage will recognize the problem as well as make a policy proposal to put in place. At this point the policies are then put into action by administrative agencies. Once this happens certain populations are targeted at which point they will feel the effects of the policy that was put in place. Next we have the evaluation stage where decision makers gather information. Without this step no decision can be made because it must be evaluated. There has a to be an evaluation of how that decision has either solved the problem or helped the problem that was brought to the table. There will also be a criteria that is set for this evaluation such as is the goal clearly seen, is it east for the administration to put in place, does the policy provide equity and fairness to the people that would be effected, most importantly is it cost effective, is there a clear agreement of requirements for the policy, law requirements and are there limitations on the cost if any.

The analysis stage is very involved and in this stage this includes building a team of people who may have expertise in this certain area of policy. Maybe a certain gender or a person in a certain profession