Healthcare Reforms In Hawaii And Massachusetts Essay

Healthcare Reforms In Hawaii And Massachusetts - Essay Example Hawaii was the first state to pass legislation, Hawaii’s Prepaid Health Care Act 1974, which requires employers to provide employees with health insurance. The state has remained consistently pro-health reforms and this is evident in the legislation that was passed in 2009 that created the Hawaii Health Authority. This authority has been mandated to plan for healthcare needs of the state and to determine future capacity needs for the state’s health providers, support services, equipment, and facilities. Hawaii’s support for health reforms is also seen in Hawaii Health Authority’s task of determining, implementing and maintaining the waivers that are available to the state’s residents under federal law. Similarly, Massachusetts has demonstrated its support for health reforms by adopting health care reform laws like the one it adopted in 2006. This law required residents to have insurance coverage, employers to provide employees with health insurance cover and pledged that the state would provide residents earning below 150% of the federal poverty level (FPL) with free health care insurance. The state amended this law in 2008 and 2010 in order to realign its health reform goals to those of the Federal Affordable Care Act. The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority is Massachusetts’ equivalence of Hawaii Health Authority (Bauer & Hollier, 2012). Despite their support for health reforms, there exist disparities in how these reforms play out in the two states.

Goal Setting and Team Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Goal Setting and Team Development - Essay Example According to Morgeson, DeRue & Karam (14) setting goals and objectives helps in accomplishing the team’s task. According to Morgeson et al (14), research on the subject of team leadership offers compelling evidence to suggest that setting clear goals and objectives is one of the most valuable leadership functions for promoting the effective performance of teams. In one meta-analytic review of the literature on team goal-setting, it was established that teams that have clearly defined goals and performance expectations significantly outperformed teams that lack goals. Another study on the subject involving 238 knowledge employees from 26 project teams in the consumer, technology and chemical products industries was conducted. It was established that clarifying objectives, inspiring and motivating through challenging goals, as well as, rewarding the team’s members whenever they achieve goals are important leadership behaviors that promote the creativity of the team (Morge son et al 14). This goes to demonstrate that setting clear goals and objectives plays a vital role in motivating teams. Similarly, many other studies have established that setting clear goals and performance expectations are important for team development and performance even in the traditional business setting (Morgeson et al 14). For instance, one study on leadership processes within sailing teams established those team leaders who set explicit goals and clear performance expectations are associated with better performing sailing teams.