Healthcare
#1 I believe in evidence-based policy, and on that front there is evidence that the glass ceiling exists. I have no personal anecdotes to tell on the subject, and an individual anecdote is meaningless when discussing broad sociological phenomena. After all, this is a well-studied issue for which there is a lot of data. A lot of the studies on the subject are European, but there are a few that specifically discuss the United States. Cotter et al. (2001) found evidence that a glass ceiling exists in the United States in their study of the gender inequalities of earnings in the 25th, 50th and 75th quartiles of earnings. Their findings show that gender inequality with respect to wages, and opportunity, increases the higher up the corporate ladder you go. There is evidence that females have lower rates of holding positions of authority than do men (Baxter & Wright, 2000).
Moreover, women also perceive the glass ceiling, sensing that there are unofficial, unspoken constraints on their career success that have nothing to do with merit (Jackson, 2001). Not only the glass ceiling something that is perceived by those at the middle management level, but it also persists at the level of corporate boards, where such a phenomenon is highly-visible and therefore theoretically...
What all of this evidence shows is that the glass ceiling both exists, and is perceived.
#2 One of the most important pieces of legislation for the medical clinic receptionist to know about is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which has been in place since the Clinton Administration. This law was passed because of concerns about fraud, but has a number of other implications for health care practice. Some of the objectives of HIPAA are to "improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets," to "combat waste and fraud," to "promote the use of health savings accounts," to "improve access to long-term care," to "simplify the administration of health insurance," "create standards for electronic health information transactions" and "create privacy standards for health information" (Green & Rowell, 2013, Chapter 5).
There are five main parts to HIPAA, Titles I- V. These are health care access, portability and renewability; preventing fraud; tax-related health provisions; application of group health plan requirements and revenue offsets. The first two titles relate substantially to the receptionist's position.…
