providers to increase financial savings and risk adjustment beyond the primary diagnosis; and the allowance of waivers for services not typically covered under Medicare, such as skilled nursing facility (SNF) care without 3-day hospital stay, telehealth coverage in all geographic areas; and post-discharge home visit waivers without direct physician supervision.2,4 In addition, BPCI Advanced will ensure payments are linked to quality measures, which did not happen in previous iterations of BPCI as well as utilize more specific measures for quality universally and per episode type.4 All of these will incentivize providers to maximize financial savings and to focus on improving healthcare quality for its Medicare patients.

2. In the US, the allocation of government funding for public health vs. health care delivery vs. scientific research has been the topic of intense debate. Using two (2) public health programs (or agencies) as examples, discuss trends in financing for public health vs. health care delivery vs. scientific research; politics and policies (e.g., legislative actions) that have influenced those trends; and evidence that supports or contradicts calls to increase financing for public health. Predict whether financing for public health will increase/decrease/remain flat in the current environment; provide a rationale for your prediction.

In the U.S., there has been a significant decrease in money allocated for public health initiatives and healthcare delivery, and an increase in budget allocations for scientific research. More specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has historically received funding for protection against infectious diseases and for prevention of chronic disease, has seen an approximately 1.2 billion dollar decrease in funding since 2017, whereas the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) saw a 454 million dollar increase in funding, which is approximately the amount of their total budget that is spent on medical product innovation initiatives.5
The allocation of government financing for public health, healthcare delivery, and health-related scientific research is heavily influenced by U.S. politics and who is resident in the oval office, as the majority of public health funding is considered discretionary, making the amount of public health funding wax and wane with