HLT 205 Assignment Policy Interview Analysis
Ten questions about policy, refined for one delivery setting. The brief warns you to start looking for an interviewee early, and that warning is the most practical line in it.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 25, 2026
Access is the constraint, and the questions are the product
The brief opens with logistics for a reason: health care professionals have limited availability, so start looking now and schedule weeks ahead, and accept email if that is what makes it happen. That is the practical constraint that decides whether this assignment gets done at all. The intellectual work is in the questions, and the brief sets a specific bar for them: at least ten, about governmental policy, critical to understanding current and future issues, and refined so they are relevant to this person and this setting. Generic questions produce generic answers, and ten of them will fill a paper with nothing anyone could not have written without leaving the house. Ten of them will fill the required word count and leave the paper indistinguishable from one written without an interview at all, which is the outcome this assignment exists to prevent. Both are worth settling in the first fortnight of the course.
Refined for the setting is the phrase to take seriously, because policy lands differently depending on where someone works. A skilled nursing facility administrator lives with survey and certification, staffing rules and Medicaid rates; a hospital compliance officer lives with conditions of participation and reporting programmes; a community clinic director lives with grant funding cycles and sliding fee scales. Read enough about your interviewee's setting to ask about the specific instrument that governs it, and ask about the gap between what a policy intends and what it produces on the ground, which is the thing only a practitioner can tell you. Then write the summary around their answers, note where an answer contradicted your expectation or the literature, and cite the two additional sources the brief requires to check what they said rather than to decorate the paper. That gap is also where the two required sources earn their place, by confirming or complicating what you were told.
Likely learning objectives
- Treat interviewee access as the assignment's real constraint.
- Write questions specific to a delivery setting and its governing instruments.
- Ask about the gap between policy intent and operational reality.
- Use required sources to test what an interviewee said.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Details: Important Notice: It is important for students, as they progress through this program, to learn from those currently working in health care. For this assignment, students will interview a health care professional. It is important that you start a search for potential candidates to interview at the beginning of the course as many health care professionals have limited availability due to their schedules. It is recommended that upon finding a candidate for the interview that you schedule a meeting a few weeks in advance. You may complete the interview face to face, over the phone, or through an e-mail correspondence if necessary. The Interview: Identify at least 10 questions around governmental policy that are critical to understanding current and future issues in specific delivery settings. Refine your questions so that they are relevant to the person or policy that the interview is based on. Conduct the interview at the agreed upon time in a professional manner. Summary Paper: After you have completed the interview, write a 750-1,000 word paper that summarizes your findings. Cite at least two resources in addition to your textbook for this class. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the GCU Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. HLT 205 Assignment Policy Interview Analysis This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center. While GCU style format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using GCU documentation guidelines, which can be found in the GCU Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.
What the interview assignment requires
- 01An interview with a health care professional, conducted face to face, by phone or by email.
- 02At least 10 questions around governmental policy critical to understanding current and future issues in specific delivery settings.
- 03Questions refined so they are relevant to the person or policy the interview is based on.
- 04A 750-1,000 word summary paper of your findings.
- 05At least two resources cited in addition to the course textbook, in GCU style.
Recruitment, questions, interview, summary
The interviewee and the setting
Describe their role and the delivery setting's policy environment.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A setting with identifiable governing instruments.
The questions and why these ten
Present the questions and the reasoning behind their selection.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Questions specific to this setting.
Current issues
Report what they identified as the pressing policy issues now.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Practitioner-level specificity.
Future issues
Report what they expect to change and why.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Anticipation grounded in something concrete.
Intent versus operation
Report where policy works differently in practice than on paper.
What the assessor is likely looking for
The finding only an interview could produce.
Checked against the literature
Compare their account with two cited sources.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Sources used as a check.
Where the policy background sits
Recommended databases
- CMS
- KFF
- PubMed Central
- NCBI Bookshelf
Search sequence
- 1.Identify the regulatory instruments governing your interviewee's setting.
- 2.Read current policy analysis for that setting before writing questions.
- 3.Find data that would confirm or complicate what they tell you.
- 4.Check the course text for the policy framework you are expected to use.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Internet-Only Manuals (IOMs)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · 2025
CMS manuals, for the operational rules a practitioner actually works under.
KFF policy research, for checking claims about cost and coverage.
Affordable Care Act
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, US National Library of Medicine · 2023
The Affordable Care Act, for the policy framework behind many current issues.
Value-Based Programs
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · 2025
Value-based programmes, as a policy with clear operational consequences.
Access to Healthcare and Disparities in Access
2021 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NCBI Bookshelf · 2021
Access and disparities in access, for the intent-versus-outcome comparison.
Before you submit
Common mistakes
- Leaving recruitment until the assignment is due.
- Asking ten generic questions about health policy.
- Interviewing someone whose role has no policy exposure.
- Summarising the questions rather than the answers.
- Using the two extra sources decoratively rather than to check claims.
Submission checklist
- Are there at least ten questions, and are they about governmental policy?
- Is each question relevant to this interviewee's setting?
- Does at least one question address intent versus reality?
- Is the summary organised around the answers?
- Are two additional sources used to test what was said?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.
Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.