Public Health Epidemiology and Policy - Essay Example

? Public Health Epidemiology and Policy: Medicare and Cancer Physical Exercise Rehabilitation Programs Public Health Epidemiology and Policy: Medicare and Cancer Physical Exercise Rehabilitation Programs The utmost focus on developing specialized needs for the cancer survivors has long been witnessed to gain worldwide attention during previous few years. This can be considered as a direct reflection towards the fiercely growing numbers of cancer survivors within the United States (US) and rising challenges in providing optimal healthcare facilities to this particular group of population (Alfano, Ganz, Rowland & Hahn, 2012). Emphasizing the current practice of different rehabilitation programs performed by the institutions, the primary purpose of this report is to critically justify whether Medicare cover community based physical exercise cancer rehabilitation services. Therefore, the report will incorporated five major sections such as determining case study question, explanation along with significance, providing description of the health issue in public health terms, recognizing appropriate methods, conducting practice and research literature for review and presenting timeline for project submission and execution. Case Study Question, Explanation and Significance According to the phenomenological development of the US cancer rehabilitation programs, the cancer care programs develop by the public institutions have been viewed to worsen the detachment between the survivorship and the rehabilitation programs. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the cancer care delivery processes are highly inclined with community-based care system. A lesser amount of complexities in the surgical process along with continued adjuvant chemotherapy can be apparently observed to form community-based care programs within the US (Alfano, Ganz, Rowland & Hahn, 2012). The Medicare facilities within the US healthcare policy tend to cover therapeutic services for the individuals suffering with cancer. Medicare generally tends to possess 80% health coverage which is delivered to the patients having cancer and it also ensures to pay the rest 20%, if the patients have any other insurance other than Medicare (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, n.d.). The major importance of community-based rehabilitation programs for the cancer patients is that it enhances their quality of life and ensures to build effective preventive measures. Moreover, the intervention of physical exercise in the cancer care programs is also identified as a tertiary prevention, which further enables the community-based healthcare institutions to reduce the recurrence of cancer (International Agency for Research on Cancer, n.d.). Description of the Health Issue in Public Health Terms In relation to the existing healthcare policies and practices regarding the rehabilitation programs for the cancer patients, it can be apparently observed that the rehabilitation programs of the public health institutions generally involve conventional processes with a minimum acceptance of behavioral and physical development of the patients. Although the policies underneath the Medicare plan of the public administrations tends to provide extensive coverage of the patients suffering from chronic disease i.e. cancer, the public health institutions often face certain critical issues associated with cancer care deliveries. In this context, the epidemiology, behavioral science and public health administration/policy can be identified to restrain the continuous development of cancer care programs performed by public and community based healthcare organizations (Korstjens, 2008). Epidemiological Administration The aspect of epidemiological administration in the context of cancer rehabilitation programs is mainly concerned with determining the events that occur amid the population of cancer survivors. The primary goal of cancer epidemiology is to ascertain major risk factors that might lead towards early introduction of different cancer preventive measures. However, the process is regarded as a predominant observational method which cannot be experimented due to range of prevailing ethical issues. Therefore, the identification and making use of natural experiments are the major problems for the cancer epidemiologists restricting them to enhance cancer rehabilitation programs along with the quality of life of the cancer survivors (International Agency for Research on Cancer, n.d.). Method The integration of an effective physical exercise within the cancer rehabilitation program can improve the quality of the life of the cancer survivors. In this regard, Schneider (2013) has argued that the intervention of an effective exercise along with evidence-based nutritional attributes can significantly improve the rehabilitation program of the community based cancer care institutions. The practice in this regard can offer a major advantage to the caregivers in successfully improving the physical and psychological condition of the patients (Schneider, 2013). Moreover, the reports that published by Fox Rehabilitation (2013) has also revealed that the intervention of physical exercise is likely to reduce depression along with physical weakness of the cancer survivors. The rehabilitation program of the institution also stated that the deleterious effects regarding inactivity of the body muscles can be substantially reduced through making an effective physical exercise in the cancer care programs. Moreover, the implementation of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation process can often be identified to negatively impact on the overall development of the cancer survivors. Therefore, it can be affirmed that a continuous physical exercise enables the patients to improve their atrophied tissues within the body and helps in quickly repairing damaged muscles (Fox Rehabilitation, 2013). Practice and Research Literature for Consideration and Review According to Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward and Schneider (n.d.), the integration of exercise training for the cancer survivors tend to radically improve their physiological and psychological conditions. It can be viewed that over thirty four cancer survivors including males and females have been taken into concern for conducting the experiment which resulted a fundamental improvement of cardiovascular endurance of the survivors by 12.1% along with decrease of almost 34% of their psychological depression (Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward & Schneider, n.d.). Moreover, the experiment which conducted by Smith, Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward and Schneider (n.d.) demonstrated that the continuous practice of physical activity ensures to maintain overall health conditions of cancer survivors. The 3 months experiment has eventually proved that the practice enables the patients to maintain effective balance of diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP) and cardio respiratory fitness (VO2peak) (Smith, Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward & Schneider, n.d.). The supervision made by Quinn, Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward and Schneider (2010) identified that certain negative impacts are imposed upon cardio respiratory fitness (VO2peak) of the cancer survivors by incorporating various cancer treatment related procedures. The integration of physical exercise in the supervision has revealed certain significant differences between the initial assessment and the treatment exhibited cancer patients. The assessment has observed that the treatment exhibited patient’s scored higher as compared to initial treatment exhibited patients in terms of enhancing cardio respiratory fitness (Quinn, Brown, Lalonde, Dallow, Hayward & Schneider, 2010). The experiment of Hydock, Lien, Jensen, Schneider and Hayward (2011) further determined that the intervention of effective physical exercise tends to reduce dietary fat intake doxorubicin cardiotoxicity. According to the assessment, the changing towards low-fat diet during or prior to DOX treatment enable the patients to reduce the amount of cardio toxicity by a certain degree (Hydock, Lien, Jensen, Schneider and Hayward, 2011). Time Line for Project Execution and Submission Project Activities Content of the Activities Due-Time 1. The Draft that is Due on The draft incorporates relevant information regarding the importance of physical exercise in rehabilitation programs December 2nd 2. Conduct Literature Review Gathering relevant data from different scholarly articles, medical institutions (public and community based) and their present cancer care practices October 30th 3. Editing and reviews from peers Justifying relevancy and accuracy of data through reviewing from peers January 30th, 2014 4. Project Due Date Aligning appropriate information towards the promotion of physical exercise in cancer rehabilitation programs April 24th, 2014 5. Developing Poster Developing various posters to effectively communicate the efficiency of physical exercise for physical improvement of the cancer survivors April 25th, 2014 References Alfano, C. M., Ganz, P. A., Rowland, J. H., & Hahn, E. E. (2012). Cancer survivorship and cancer rehabilitation: Revitalizing the link. Journal of Clinical Oncology 30(9), 904-906. Brown, J. M., Lalonde, T. L., Dallow, K., Hayward, R., & Schneider, C. M. (n.d.). Physiological and psychological responses to a longitudinal rehabilitation program. Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute. Fox Rehabilitation. (2013). Oncology rehabilitation program. Retrieved from http://foxrehab.org/uploads/pdf/FoxBrochureOncology.pdf Hydock, D. S., Lien, C. Y., Jensen, B. T., Schneider, C. M., & Hayward, R. (2011). Exercise preconditioning provides long-term protection against early chronic doxorubicin cardiotoxicity. Integrative Cancer Therapies 10, 47-57. International Agency for Research on Cancer. (n.d.). Introduction to cancer epidemiology. World Health Organization, 1-9. Korstjens, I. M. (2008). Cancer rehabilitation: Evaluation of two group-based programs combining physical and psychosocial training. Maastricht: Datawyse / Universities of Maastricht. Quinn, C. J., Brown, J. M., Lalonde, T. L., Dallow, K., Hayward, R., & Schneider, C. M. (2010). Initial physiological and psychological measures in cancer survivors during treatment versus following treatment. University of Northern Colorado: Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute Schneider, C. M. (2013). The Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute. Retrieved from http://www.unco.edu/rmcri/ Smith, A. R., Brown, J. M., Lalonde, T. L., Dallow, K., Hayward, R., & Schneider, C. M. (n.d.). The effect prior physical activity has on physiological and psychological outcomes in cancer survivors. FACSM. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (n.d.). Recommendations. Retrieved from http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/ Read More