Evidence Base in Design

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen numerous changes within the government, leading to numerous health-related amendments aimed at providing grounds on which the healthcare system and the country, in general, can defeat the virus and its effects. Some of the most recent proposed health policies include the COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act 2021, a bipartisan bill introduced to the House of Representative Committee on eighth march 2021 by senators Dick Durbin and Chunky Grassley. The bill’s primary focus was to temporarily extend the provisions of the COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief found in the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was set to lapse on March 27, 2021, to the same date in 2022 (House Committee on the Judiciary, 2021). This policy’s primary intent is to ensure families and small businesses continue benefiting from the financial reliefs provided by the government to people who ran bankrupt due to the effects of the pandemic either on their businesses or daily livelihood.

House Speaker Senator Nadler passed this new policy as amended, suspended all the rules governing policy amendments, and passed the bill due to its urgency and essence on the economy and the people’s lives. The pandemic has seen several families and small business owners run bankrupt, prompting legislatures to find a quick and substantive solution to ensure the economy remains stable during this crisis and citizens do not suffer further from the pandemic’s effects (JDSUPRA, 2021). The CARES Act, which provided financial assistance to people whose income sources were affected by the pandemic, was set to expire in March this year, which would leave several people economically struggling, risking increased exposure to the virus. This new policy thus aims to ensure this group of people continue to access the CARES Act’s financial benefits, which provides critical financial aid to prevent people from unnecessary exposure. The proposed bill ensures the people’s safety by ensuring they continue to access increased debt threshold to manage their daily activities and keep their businesses running. This proposed bill was enacted into public law on March 27, 2021, to allow continued financial access to support people’s daily livelihoods by ensuring they have all the supplies they need to stay safe during this pandemic, and also set grounds to ensure both debtors and creditors benefit from this policy by setting out a fair payment plan for both parties.

This proposed policy is very crucial to the general public and the government. Basing on the evidence that the majority of the population is composed of small business operators whose sources of income was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and risk exposure to the deadly virus if not financially supported to continue living their lives as usual with limited movements to seek daily supplies (Congress.gov, 2021). The extended financial relief and increased debt threshold will enable the people to stay home but still afford their daily expenses, limiting their exposure and thus the spread of the coronavirus. This new policy ensures every citizen is protected from the virus by availing the finances needed by each person to limit their movements, thus minimizing the spread of this deadly disease. This policy will allow for the safety of the public and the economic security of individuals and the country by ensuring families and small businesses make optimum use of the finances to reorganize their lives and businesses disrupted by the pandemic.

References

Congress.gov.(n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2021, from https://www.congress.gov/

House Committee on the Judiciary retrieved on April 13, 2021, from https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentssingle.aspx?DocumentID=4470.

JDSUPRA. (2021). Senators Propose COVID-19Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act to Extend COVID-19 Changes to the Bankruptcy Code. Retrieved April 13, 2021, from https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnew/senators-propose-covid-19-bancruptcy-7431719/

Discussion 1: Evidence Base in Design

By Day 3 of Week 7

By Day 6 of Week 7

H.R. 137, from the 117^th Congressional Session, is titled “Mental health access and gun violence prevention act of 2021.” This proposed bill would provide funding to increase access to mental health care treatment and services, and it would encourage reporting of disqualifying mental health information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (Congress, 2021). In section 2 of the bill there are statements made about suicide and violence related to access of a firearm such as suicide being the leading cause of gun related deaths, and people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrator. The primary sponsor of this bill, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas also sponsored the bill H.R. 127- Sabika Sheikh firearm licensing and regulation act which was created in response to the fatal shooting of an exchange student, Sabika Sheikh (Hollandsworth, 2019), and nine others at Santa Fe High school in Texas on May 18^th, 2018. During Representative Jackson Lee’s time on the Houston City Council she also helped pass a safety ordinance that required parents to keep guns away from their children. Through my research it appears that Ms. Jackson Lee has an extensive background in gun control and safety and multiple agendas trying to reform which individuals may have access to firearms.

Evidence-based practice takes the current, best evidence research and clinical expertise to decide patient care using a five-step process (Milstead & Short, 2019). Health services researchers can inform policy through identifying a problem, examining the risks and benefits of solutions, and by providing an estimate for how much a solution may cost the government and society (Milstead & Short, 2019). “The Center for Disease Control and Preventions approach to preventing firearm injuries focuses on three elements: providing data to inform action; conducting research and applying science to identify effective solutions; and promoting collaboration across multiple sectors to address the problem” (Center for Disease Control, 2020). Based on the definition of evidence-based practice and what I have found during my research, I do not believe there is enough evidence base support for this bill currently. Mental health and gun control are two different hot topics in our country that many believe correlate, but have not discovered the full scope of it. It is mentioned throughout the article by Swanson et al., 2015, that “there are a number of gaps in our knowledge about mental disorders, gun violence, and effective policies to reduce the risk of gun violence and suicide.” More extensive and problem-specific research needs to be funded over time to address the knowledge gaps. Studies have shown that more people perceive the lack of adequate mental healthcare as the core problem of violence with guns versus accessibility of firearms (Swanson et al., 2015).

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, May). Firearm violence prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.html

Congress. (2021). H.R.137 – Mental health access and gun violence prevention act of 2021. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr137/BILLS-117hr137ih.pdf

Hollandsworth, S. (2019, May). Faith, friendship, and tragedy at Santa Fe high. TexasMonthly. Retrieved from https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/remembering-sabika-sheikh-pakistani-student-killed-santa-fe-school-shooting/

Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015, May). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy, 25(5), 366-376. Doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.03.004