| Course | MMHA 6050 Delivery of Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 2 |
| Paper type | Three-party interest map |
| Length | About 500 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MMHA 6050 Week 2
Three-Party Interest Map: What Providers, Payers and Patients Each Protect, and Where They Meet
Student Name
Walden University
MMHA 6050: Delivery of Healthcare
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three-Party Interest Map: What Providers, Payers and Patients Each Protect, and Where They Meet
Purpose
This map sorts the three main parties in U.S. health care, providers, payers and patients, by what each is trying to protect, then shows where their interests meet at a transaction. Later arguments about cost and access need parties with stakes, not abstractions. Each party is treated as a bundle of interests rather than a category of organization, because a single organization can hold several interests at once.
The Three Parties
Providers, hospitals, physician groups, clinics and post-acute providers, weigh revenue, which depends on volume and price; volume itself; clinical autonomy, the freedom to decide how to treat; and reputation, which affects both referrals and recruitment.
Payers, private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, balance premium or tax income against claims expense, and must maintain networks adequate enough to sell or administer coverage. Private insurers also protect margin and market share.
Patients hold interests in out-of-pocket cost, convenience, choice of clinician and, above all, outcomes. Patients rarely negotiate directly; their interests are represented through choices of plan and provider, and through employers and government.
Employers and government sit on two sides at once. Each funds coverage, through premiums or taxes, and each purchases it, choosing plans or setting payment rates. That dual position explains why employers both demand broad networks for their workers and press insurers to hold down premiums, and why governments both expand coverage and restrain provider payment (Shi & Singh, 2022).
Where the Interests Meet
The three pairs of parties meet at three transactions. Table 1 summarizes them.
Table 1
The Transactions That Bind Each Pair
| Pair | Transaction | What each side wants from it |
|---|---|---|
| Provider and payer | The network contract | Provider: higher prices and fewer restrictions; payer: lower prices, utilization controls and an adequate network |
| Payer and patient | The premium and benefit design | Payer: premiums that cover claims; patient: low premiums, low cost sharing and broad choice |
| Provider and patient | The bill | Provider: payment for services delivered; patient: care that works, at a cost they can predict |
Reading the Map
The map explains why disputes in U.S. health care are so often about who bears a cost rather than whether it is incurred. When a payer and a provider disagree in their network contract, the patient may face a surprise out-of-network bill. When a payer redesigns benefits to lower premiums, the patient bears higher cost sharing at the point of care. Administrative complexity sits at each edge: one analysis of remittance data found wide variation in claim denial rates across insurer types, with billing costs that providers and payers both carry (Gottlieb et al., 2018). Those costs, in turn, feed the national spending total, which reached about $4.9 trillion in 2023 (Martin et al., 2025).
Using the Map Later
Later weeks will use the map to ask, for any proposal, which party gains, which pays and at which transaction the change happens. A proposal that lowers cost at one edge but raises it at another has moved cost, not removed it.
References
Gottlieb, J. D., Shapiro, A. H., & Dunn, A. (2018). The complexity of billing and paying for physician care. Health Affairs, 37(4), 619-626. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1325
Martin, A. B., Hartman, M., Washington, B., Catlin, A., & National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. (2025). National health expenditures in 2023: Faster growth as insurance coverage and utilization increased. Health Affairs, 44(1), 12-22. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01375
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2022). Delivering health care in America: A systems approach (8th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Reading the MMHA 6050 Week 2 instructions
Interest maps in a health care delivery course generally ask you to show what the main parties want and where they meet. Treat each party as a bundle of interests rather than a type of organization, and list those interests briefly. Place any party that sits on two sides, such as employers and government, and explain why. Then identify the transaction that binds each pair of parties, such as a contract, a premium or a bill, and say what each side wants from it, ideally in a table. Use the map to explain a real tension, for example why changes at one transaction often move cost to another party rather than reducing it. Support claims about spending or administrative cost with sources. Finish by showing what the map is for in the weeks that follow.
How this MMHA 6050 Week 2 example is built
The purpose section explains why later arguments need parties with stakes. The parties section lists providers' interests in revenue, volume, autonomy and reputation, payers' in premium income, claims expense and network adequacy and patients' in cost, convenience, choice and outcomes, and places employers and government on two sides, citing Shi and Singh. Table 1 labels the network contract, the premium and benefit design and the bill, with what each side wants. The reading section explains surprise bills and higher cost sharing as cost moved between parties, citing Gottlieb and colleagues and national spending from Martin and colleagues. The close explains how later weeks will use the map.
MMHA 6050 Week 2 rubric: what earns full marks
Interest maps are judged on whether they explain behavior. A map that lists the three parties with definitions, without interests or transactions, earns little credit. Treating each party as a bundle of interests earns the first share. Placing employers and government on both sides shows understanding. Identifying the transaction that binds each pair earns the largest share, because it shows where interests actually meet. Using the map to explain a real tension, such as cost shifting, shows the map is a tool rather than a diagram. Sources for spending and administrative cost claims are expected. A brief statement of how the map will be used later completes the assignment.
MMHA 6050 Week 2 help: mistakes that cost marks
Interest maps often become organizational charts, listing hospitals, insurers and patients without saying what each wants. Start instead by asking, for each party, what it would fight to protect. Then ask where each pair of parties actually deals with one another, a contract, a premium, a bill, and what each wants from that deal. Draw those deals as the lines of your map. Finally, test the map on a real dispute, such as a surprise bill, and see whether it explains who gains and who pays. A map that explains one dispute well is more useful than one that names every party. We can build a three-party interest map that shows each party's stakes and the transactions that bind them.
Get a MMHA 6050 Week 2 example written to your instructions
The MMHA 6050 Week 2 map sits on file here, three parties profiled on one skeleton and every edge labeled with the transaction that joins it. Insurers, hospitals and employers in it are illustrative inventions, not portraits of anyone. Send the prompt and the rubric your section posted and the first custom sample comes back free inside 24-48h.
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MMHA 6050 Week 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MMHA 6050 Week 2 sample paper?
The interest map and its transaction table are free to read on this page.
Which parties does the MMHA 6050 Week 2 map sort?
Providers, payers and patients, with employers and government placed on two sides at once.
What binds each pair of parties?
The network contract binds providers and payers, the premium and benefit design binds payers and patients and the bill binds providers and patients.
Why are employers and government on two sides?
Each both funds coverage and purchases it, so each pushes for broad coverage and lower prices at once.
What tension does the map explain?
Why changes at one transaction often move cost to another party, such as higher cost sharing for patients, rather than reducing it.