Briefings are common business communication events in almost all organizations. They are usually given by knowledgeable individuals or a team to a group of people or a superior. Policy briefings are used to update a group on a salient issue before the public or policymakers. Mangers and the organization’s senior staff ask for briefings in writing quite often from their staff. Even though briefings are commonly sought by the boss, they are surprisingly not always done well by staff. Most organization leaders depend on and appreciate good briefings from their staff. Learning how to develop a good briefing, especially on a controversial issue, is a good skill for a health care services manager to learn.

This written briefing should be a summary giving important details of the main issues, stakeholders, influencers, and environmental variables for the health policy issue. The briefing is not an opinion piece. Your goal is to give an objective account of the health issue at hand and its policy implications. It should take you about 3 or more single-spaced pages to complete the work below.

Here are the steps to follow in writing your briefing assignment:

A) Choose your health policy issue. This could be a legislative bill, administrative edict, or organizational policy. The issue I am giving you is Vaccination requirements for school and parents against this. Provide information on parents against vaccination requirements for school and why vaccination should be required for school.

B) Thoroughly research this issue and the proposed policy.

C) Keep your audience in mind when preparing the briefing. For example are you briefing a legislator, government official from the bureaucracy, CEO of a company, or the board of a nonprofit health organization? Therefore, mention in the paper who is being briefed.

D) Decide on the key points you wish to deliver to the person you are briefing and think about the scope and sequence of your information and a communication strategy. Briefings are semi-formal to formal presentations and demand a high level of substance, relevance, clarity, impact, and efficiency. The organization of your information is very important in a briefing. How will you present this information to your audience? Here is a suggested outline:

• Background: Give general information about the health issue. Always include the nature and extent (quantitative numbers) when presenting health data. Identify clearly the health policy proposal. You could also explain the overall environment in which this health issue emerged in the health care field.
• Rationale: Why is this issue important? This could be in the form of a problem statement or benefits statement.
• Substantive Information: (This is the bulk of your presentation.)
o Who are the stakeholders?
o Who is active or influencing the issue?
o What are the main and subtext arguments on the issue?
• Answer the “So What?” Question. Why is this issue important in health care today? What are the implications if the policy passes or does not pass?
• Anticipated Outcome, Conclusion, or Recommendations: How do you anticipate this health policy proposal will “play out?”

N.B. This is not an opinion piece but a well-presented overview of the health issue and policy proposal at hand. Work toward clarity, precision, and completeness and be sure to well represent the facts and varying opinions of the issue.

Criteria for Evaluation: You will be graded using a scale of 100 focusing on the sections mentioned above and your

• evidence that issue was researched;
• thoroughness of response related to each component above (This should take about 3 single spaced pages);
• clarity and professional writing (no colloquialisms, contractions, grammar, spelling, etc.)