Abraham, J.M., Hofner, A.N., Moscovice, I., (2011). Expansion of coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and primary care utilization.  The Millbank Quarterly, 89.1, pg. 69-89.

Summary: This article considers the effects of the PPACA on primary care, such as visits to the emergency room.  The authors also discuss the shortage of primary care physicians that may result from the bill.  They also utilize research to determine how often people visit emergency rooms and how much that number will increase once the bill is in full effect.

Assessment: The authors of this article seem very credible and the information they provide seems reliable and useful. All of their information is backed up with statistics and various studies, and there are several charts included that summarize their data.  The information is very objective and does not seem to be biased.

Reflection: The information I learned while reading this article was very relevant to my topic and I will use this information in my project. It helps support one of my main ideas and provides a lot of statistics I could utilize. It further enhanced my understanding of the act.

Berger, E. (2011).  Emergency physicians face uncertainty in accountable care organizations: Health care megatrend brings threats, opportunities for emergency medicine.  Annals of Emergency Medicine, 57.4, A13-A15.  

Summary: This article introduces the topic of accountable care organizations and the changes that the PPACA can bring about.  The author discusses the benefits that may come about from creating accountable care organizations, such as increased uniformity of patient’s records.  He also discusses the potential downfalls for care in emergency rooms, such as expensive care that may be unnecessary.

Assessment: The information in this article seems to be really objective and unbiased.  The author discusses both sides of the argument and backs up all of the claims with evidence.  He uses a lot of credible sources.  The information in this article provided an interesting viewpoint for my topic.

Reflection: This article provided an interesting topic that I would like to use in my project.  It gave me a new topic to support my argument and provided insight on something I wasn’t familiar with about the PPACA.  It caused me to think about the varying affects that accountable care organizations can have on emergency medicine.

Bisgaier, J., Rhodes, K.V., (2011).Cumulative adverse financial circumstances: Associations with patient health status and behaviors. National Association of Social Workers, 36.2, pg. 129-137. 

Summary: The authors of this article completed a study of patients in emergency rooms and their differing financial backgrounds.  The polled random people to discover what effects their finances had on things such as food and physician care in emergency rooms.  They then analyzed all of their data and created tables listing numerous factors of their experiment.

Assessment: This article was a well-written analysis of the experiment.  The authors gathered a lot of data from varying social and economic groups to compose their analysis.  There is an unbiased, objective tone to this article, and they rely on the data to back up their findings.  The information provided seems relevant and reliable.

Reflection: While the information provided in this article is interesting and reliable, I will not use this source because it isn’t really relevant to my topic.  It will not enhance my argument at all and does not seem necessary. The article really didn’t discuss the PPACA at all.

Goldsmith, J. (2011). Accountable care organizations: The case for flexible partnerships between health plans and providers. Health Affairs. 30.1, pg. 32-40.

Summary: This author discusses the affects that accountable care organizations can have on hospitals.  He emphasizes the Medicare program and how physicians could receive rewards for using accountable care organizations, in an attempt to reduce Medicare spending.  He also analyzes the flaws in this plan. The author also discusses flexible contracting as an alternative to accountable care organizations.

Assessment: The information in this article seems reliable and is backed up by evidence.  However, the author seems slightly biased because he only discusses the flaws of doctors participating in accountable care organizations. The article includes several references and the author has a credible background on the topic.

Reflection: This article is objectively written and contains information that enhances my topic concerning the PPACA.  This information could help back up my argument.  Also, this article provided me with new information about my topic that helped change my understanding of how the bill will work.

Goodson, J.D. (2010). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Promise and peril for primary care. Annals of Internal Medicine. Volume 152.

Summary: This article begins by stating the basic components of the act, and then gives statistics about physicians in the US and other countries around the world.  The author then explains the different promises of the act, and then analyzes their flaws.  Topics such as physician payment and  the increasing need for workers are covered.

Assessment: This article seems useful because it explains aspects of the bill and then analyzes the potential adverse effects.  However, it appears slightly biased because it only finds the flaws in the bill and not the benefits.  The information seems to be reliable, and references are listed at the bottom of the article.

Reflection: This source was very interesting to read, and holds some benefits for my research.  I will likely not use this source in my paper because it could be considered biased.  However, it did offer some ideas that are similar to other articles that I have read.

Knickman, J.R., Martinez, J., Powell, W., Ro, M., & Villa, N.W. (2011). Transforming the delivery of care in the post–health reform era: what role will community health workers play? American Journal of Public Health. Volume 101, No. 12.

Summary: This article considers the changes that the PPACA will bring to the medical field and the changing roles that community health workers will play.  They discuss the roles that community health workers can play in primary care and caring for people with chronic diseases.

Assessment: This article contains objective, reliable information.  Numerous sources are used, and there are references throughout the article.  The article was also written by a team of medical professionals. The information seems relevant to the topic.

Reflection: While the information in this article is accurate, I will not use it because it does not relate to emergency medicine.  The effects of the PPACA are accurately analyzed, but not for the emergency medicine aspect.  However, it was interesting to read about the changes that are taking place in other fields as well.