Future Strategic Direction Challenges Health And Social Care Essay

Future Strategic Direction Challenges Health And Social Care Essay There are a number of challenges surrounding and defining the future strategic direction of health care. They are; information technology advancements, proposed health care reform and legislation, economics; including third party payers and maintaining a skilled workforceand pay for performance are just a few of the current challenges in health care that will still have a significant effect on the strategic direction of the future.This paper will highlight the above referenced challenges and attempt to explain how organizations may adapt its direction and strategies accordingly. Healthcare reform is stated that it will make health care more affordable, make health insurers more accountable, expand health coverage to all Americans, and make the health system sustainable, stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget, and the economy. There are two main purposes for the Health Care reform. The first is toput American families and small business owners in control of their own health care. Second it bridges the gap between the House and Senate bills,including new provisions to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse. The new law could be considered a massive failure because it is not designed to meet the three most important goals:Health insurance for all Americans,reduced insurance cost for individuals, businesses and government and increased quality of care. Newt Gingrich, former US House Speaker said the new healthcare law is socialized medicine and must be repealed. He called the legislation a back door road to socialized medicine that puts America at the edge of a possible catastrophic failure. (Lazarus, 2012) The U.S. has the most expensive health care in the world and the growth of health care prices grows more rapidly, but it still leaves the number of uninsured on the rise. Since early in the 20th century, health insurance coverage has been an important issue in the United States. The people who are uninsured or under-insured, have a higher mortality rate than those who have coverage.The Medicaid and Medicare programs have grown substantially; federal and state spending for them soon will be unable to keep pace with the demand for services.Medicare is a valuable source of health insurance for nearly 45 million Americans, mainly seniors ages 65 and older, but also 7 million younger adults with permanent disabilities.(Kaiser Family foundation, 2012) Medicare is a popular program, but faces a number of issues and challenges in the years to come. A critical challenge is how to finance care forfuture generations without unduly burdening beneficiaries, taxpayers, or the general economy. Another pressing issue relates to the role of private plans in Medicare, in light of rapid enrollment growth in recent years, and concerns about the current payment system for private plans. A third issue is the relatively new Medicare prescription drug benefit and how to address concerns about its current structure and further limit the burden of prescription drug spending. Lastly, there is the challenge of how to make health and long-term care more affordable for beneficiaries in light of rising health costs. (Kaiser Family foundation, 2012) Access to Health Care for the uninsured and poverty levels through trying to cut costs, have encouraged the shifting of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries to managed care. Medicaid provides health care to low income families with few resources. There are more requirements for Medicaid such as age, disability status and pregnancy status. The states provide Medicaid services to people who receive federal income assistance.Some 48 million people, or one in every seven people in the US, are now enrolled in the health care program for the poor(Randall, 2010). The spike comes as the recession has wiped out millions of jobs, and more people have lost their employer-sponsored health care coverage. US states are also forecasting a 6 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment over the next year, which will place increased strain on state budgets already reeling under the weight of the weak economy. (Randall, 2010) Pay-for-performance is a term that is used in describing health care payment system, which rewards hospitals, healthcare providers and doctors for their efficiency in a predetermined set of quality measures and performances. The adaptation of Pay-for-performance is important because in the current health care system the care providers are paid for each service that they perform that meets or exceeds the criteria set. Pay-for-performance offers health care providers financial incentives to performing more services.Hospitals need to work together with insurers, physicians, nurses, businesses, employers and individuals for better, safer and more affordable health care. Rewarding doctors, hospitals and others who deliver high-quality care can encourage accountability for patient care, offer incentives to coordinate care delivery and lead to better health care processes. One of the most common types of quality improvement programs is the pay-for-performance programs. This program links payment to specific steps taken or results achieved in care. According to a survey of health care purchasers, government agencies and health plans, at least half of evaluated pay-for-performance programs have significantly improved clinical performance. (Gillette, 2008) Managers in companies and different organizations use pay-for-performance in hopes to attract and motivate their employees. They expect performance standards will outweigh the costs of whatever incentives they put in place. The future of health care record keeping is in electronic medical records (EMR); computerized patient orders and electronic health records (HMR). However, the real recipients of the information technology advancements of automated patient records are the patients. Organizations are increasingly becoming global in their operations. Technology has made it easy to transcend geographical barriers to collaborate within the health care industry even if you are thousands of miles apart. With the advancement of technology it allows health care providers to access information about previous care, medications, prescriptions, lab results, or clinical guidelines which could support more productive discussions about current medical issues. The provider-patient relationship is one of our most valued and important connection, Technology can be used to enhance communication, increase compliance, limit no-shows, and improve treatment outcomes. Health information is among the most frequently sought search categories on the World wide-web, and consumers have been increasingly empowered to participate actively in both treatment and preventions. (Shortlife, 2005)In order for health ITs to deliver on its promise, several obstacles must be overcome. First, health IT systems must be able to speak the same language; in computer terms, they must be interoperable. These systems must also be linked in some way. Another issue is whether patient privacy might be jeopardized by health IT systems. We all know that technology isnt cheap, so who pays for these advancements? Currently, providers are expected to bear most of the initial costs, while most of the savings accrue to others. For example, hospitals often spend tens of millions of dollars on CPOE systems, providing benefits for other stakeholders-insurers, purchasers and patients. One majorstudy found that it would cost more than $150 billion over five years to develop a nationally interoperable system, including equipping physicians with standardized IT systems. (Kaushal, 2005) Retaining a skilled workforce in health care is important to adding certainty in the deliverance of quality patient care. Physicians as well as the staff of health care organizations need to be trained continually and educated frequently to stay up-to-date with health care technology. Health care workers need be ready for the future direction of the geriatric population. As the baby boomers over 65 increases, more health care work force needs training in geriatric care. A strategic direction for health care is training in the health care sectors is training for health care jobs that require certain competencies. Caring for the needs of the elderly population and the skills to work with them is in high demand. Skilled health care workers have an understanding of chronic and terminal conditions and have valuable experience in different settings. Health care workers need skills in how to converse in geriatric and hospice care settings in order to achieve successful patient transition (G entiva Health Services, 2011). By building on established public-private partnerships, hospitals, government, educational institutions, businesses and community groups can all work together to meet our future health care needs.The Government will build on the reforms it is already delivering with further investment in new health workforce training and support measures.Maintaining a skilled workforce is a challenge in health care, and is important to the future direction of health care. This does not just refer to physicians, but front-end staff and more. Health care organization can adapt its direction and strategies accordingly by keeping their workforce resources and competencies updated with continuous training applicable in technique and in technology. Most health care providers and their organizations study strategic planning approaches and concepts that will lead to success and improvement in the health care sector. While an ongoing process, strategic adaptation can be greatly accelerated by a relatively dramatic and visible change or set of changes in the environment. Organizations which do not adapt their strategies and restructure accordingly in anticipation or in response to these changes may jeopardize performance. (Zinn, Mor, Feng, Intrator, 2007) Strategic direction of an organization should be the guiding force and framework in which they operate. There will always be changes made in every aspect of health care. There will be improvements in technology, financial support, advancements of medicine, and overall care of patients will continue to grow. Nobody can say for sure what will happen to our health care system or what changes will be effective. Organizations need to continue to communicate and have a willingness to adjust to changes within the organization and also make room for the needed improvements.

Labyrinth of Suffering

â€Å"How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering? † I believe suffering is something ones self is born with. When we give our first steps in this world we soon realize there is struggle and the struggle is ever lasting in ones life. Alaska Young was brought down with the suffering in her life. The labyrinth of her life dragged her down and the question of escaping the labryitnh would not leave her mind. She broke. Alaska got out of her labyrinth â€Å"straight and fast. † Maybe getting out of the labyrinth of suffering is forgiveness just like pudge believes.If one holds on to hatred and pain then it grows and it eats away your every whim. Pudge needed to answer this question not only for his class assement but he needed to answer it for himself. He knows as well as I do that Alaska is gone forever and he may never know why or how she died. Pudge knows that to get out of his labyrinth of suffereing he needs to forgive Alaska. He needs to forgive her to be a ble to continue mazing through the labrynth of his life. Pudge needs to forgive her to get to happiness.The answer to this question lingers in my mind,will I get out of this labryith of suffering? I am not sure at all. I know there is always a smile in darkness, and I can forgive and forget just as Pudge forgives Alaska. Maybe even after death there will still be the labryitnh of suffering. Or maybe after death the suffering ends. The first steps we give in death are probably not a struggle at all. Unlike Alaska I don’t want to find the answer just yet. I rather linger on it and learn or wonder. I will not find a way out â€Å"straight and fast. At some point in life â€Å"Everyone†¦gets dragged out to sea by the undertow†¦we are all going. † In other words, at some point in time we know we are going to die/suffer or someone we love and care for is going to die, how do we deal with this knowledge? Right now Miles’ answer is to believe in an afterlife, however Miles becomes enlightened and he changes his outlook on surviving the Labyrinth. Something similar to a parable/riddle is then introduced in the novel after Miles makes his inital decision about surviving the Labyrinth.The parable is: Banzan â€Å"Was walking through the market one day when he overheard someone ask a butcher for his best piece of meat. The butcher answered, â€Å"Everything in my shop is the best. You cannot find a piece of meat that is not the best. † Upon hearing this, Banzan realized that there is no best and no worst, that those judgments have no real meaning because there is only what is, and poof he reached enlightenment. † How does this relate to the central question of surviving the labyrinth of suffering?Well Alaska spent her life after her mom’s death thinking about the best and worst times in her life constantly. This parable is directly related to when Alaska suggested that they play the â€Å"Best Day/Worst Day† game when out camping with her friends. There she shares the worst day of her life that has overshadowed everything she did thereafter. The world religions teacher then introduces a zen belief that â€Å"Everything that comes together falls apart. † In other words death will happen†¦Ã¢â‚¬ we are all going†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦it is inevitable†¦therefore suffering will only cease when we stopped wishing things would not fall apart.Alaska could not do this and so she did not survive. She could not survive. The problem is not life but how much emphasis we put on disappointment, pain, and laying blame while trying to hold ourselves together; creating a sense of hopelessness. Miles then becomes truly enlightened when he realizes that the only way to survive the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. When Alaska’s mother died she blamed and could not forgive herself for something that was out of her control and this is what caused her to self-destruct.Similarly, Miles blamed h imself for the death of Alaska as he felt he should have stopped her from getting in her car drunk†¦if only he had stopped her! This thought haunted him but then he realized: â€Å"She forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth. There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions.But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless. † So I ask again: What is the best way to go about being a person? What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it? How do we survive as oppsed to escape the labyrinth of suffering? According to Miles it is to forgive. Stop beating yourself up for elements of your life that are outside of your control such as death. Forgive yourself and others for the unf ortunate things that happen in life and accept what is.

What Is The Blue Ocean Strategy Commerce Essay

Blue ocean scheme makes companies to come out of ocean of bloody competition by making market infinite which is uncontested and that makes the completion irrelevant. Since, spliting up bing demand and benchmarking the rivals, Blue Ocean scheme is sing grow demand and interrupt off from the competition. The concern existence can be thought as a composing of two sorts of oceans the first is the ruddy ocean and 2nd one is the bluish ocean. Red ocean includes all the industries which exist today and it is about the known market infinite. But on the other side Blue Ocean can be considered as industries which are non in bing today and it is called unknown market infinite. The industries boundaries are defined and good accepted in the ruddy oceans. In the ruddy oceans the regulations of competitory games are good defined. The companies try to take away the greater portion of the bing demand. Because there is a cut pharynx competition that makes the ruddy ocean bloody and merchandises become trade goods.Blue oceans and Red oceansBlue Ocean can be considered as a fact of the demand creative activity, untapped market infinite and greater chances of extremely profitable growing. Some industries can be created good beyond of the bing industries. But most of the blue oceans are created from the within the ruddy oceans by spread outing the industry boundaries which are bing. Since, regulations of the game are to be set so competition becomes irrelevant in the bluish oceans. Red oceans will ever be taken as a affair of concern life. When supply exceeds the demand in more industries so the competition for undertaking demand will non ensue in to prolong high public presentation. Companies will hold to travel beyond the competition. They will hold to make bluish oceans to do more net income and growing chances. The most focal point of scheme work has been on the competition based ruddy ocean schemes in the recent times. But it provided the reasonably good understanding about accomplishment of how to vie in competitory environment from analysing the economic construction of the bing industry. It besides helped in doing a pick between strategic places of distinction or low cost or focal point, to benchmark the competition.Scheme followed over the clip periodThis term bluish oceans may be new but their being is non new at all. These are an of import characteristic of concern life, past and present. If we look back 100 old ages and inquire ourselves, How many o f today ‘s industries were non bing so? Probably the reply can be seen as many industries every bit basic as petrochemicals, music recording, cars, air power, direction consulting and wellness attention, were unheard of or had merely started to germinate at that clip. If we look back merely 30 old ages so once more we see, a multibillion-dollar industries came out like cell phones, common financess, biotechnology, gas-fired electricity workss, express bundle bringing, minivans discount retail, , snowboards, place pictures, java bars and many more. If we take and seek to see merely three decennaries ago, non one of those industries was bing in a important manner. Now we see frontward twenty old ages or possibly 50 old ages and inquire ourselves how many now unknown industries will probably be so. If we go by seeing the history as a tool to foretell the hereafter, so once more the reply is many of them.Some facets considered to follow this schemeThis is the world that industries ne'er become changeless. Industries continuously maintain evolving. The some operations related to industries better, markets get expanded, and participants enter and issue as the clip passes. This is the fact that history gives us lessons that we have a great underestimated capableness and capacity to make new industries and re-create the bing 1s. The services sector which were under the old system, for illustration, now have been expanded into seven concern sectors runing from information to wellness attention and societal aid. As given that these syst ems are designed for standardisation and continuity, such a replacing shows how of import the enlargement of bluish oceans has been. As we have noticed that the overruling focal point of strategic thought has been on competition based ruddy ocean schemes.Making bluish ocean impactIt can be quantified the impact of making bluish oceans on a house ‘s growing in footings of both grosss and net incomes based on the studied information. It has been found that 86 % of the new launches were extensions in the line that can be said as incremental betterments within the ruddy ocean of known market infinite and those accounted for mere 62 % of entire grosss and mere 39 % of entire net incomes. The remainder 14 % of the launches were targeted at making bluish oceans and they created 38 % of entire grosss and 61 % of entire net incomes.Forces behind the bluish ocean schemeThe several drive forces are working behind a lifting tendency to make bluish oceans. The promotions in engineering hav e significantly has improved productiveness of industry and made providers to bring forth the maximal possible array of merchandises and services. This resulted in increase in the Numberss of industries and supply exceeded demand. This followed tendency toward globalisation accelerated the state of affairs. The trade barriers between states and parts are going lenient and as the information regarding merchandises and monetary values become immediately, easy and globally available, the niche markets and opportunities for monopoly continuously keep disappearance. Although supply is keep on lifting as planetary competition increasing, and it is non supplying clear grounds that of an increase in demand worldwide, and statistics or informations even indicating towards to worsening populations in many developed markets. This has been resulted in increased commoditization of merchandises and services, intensified monetary value wars, and catching net income borders.Blue ocean assist in mak ing trade nameFor the major services and merchandises classs, trade names are usually going slightly similar, and since they are looking more similar people normally select those merchandises based on monetary value. The clients no longer state and steadfastly inquire, as they insisted in the yesteryear, that their laundry detergent be Tide. Because of the overcrowded industries, distinguishing trade names are looking harder in both economic downswings and upturns. This shows that the concern environing environment in which assorted scheme and direction patterns of the twentieth century evolved that clip is now vanishing. Since, ruddy oceans are going systematically bloody, direction will hold to be more concerned with bluish oceans. Scheme helps in dividing victors from also-rans The thing that makes the victors separate from also-rans in making bluish oceans was their scheme. Furthermore, the companies running in the ruddy oceans went by a attack which is conventional and traveling to crush the competition by constructing a safer status and place within the industry existed. Those steadfast or Godheads of bluish oceans, surprisingly, did non take the competition as their benchmark. But they implemented a alone and different strategic logic that can be considered as value invention.Value invention of import for this schemeThis Value invention can be taken as one of the of import concerns in bluish ocean scheme. It is called value invention since in topographic point of concentrating on header with the competition, the houses try to do the competition irrelevant by making and accomplishing value for purchasers ( clients ) and the company, so looking up new market infinite which is uncontested. This value invention focuses equal importance on value and inventio n. The values without invention attempt to concentrate on value creative activity on the incremental graduated table, something which improves value but is non adequate to do you prolong in the market place. Invention without value will be technology-driven, market pioneering, or futuristic, most of the times hiting beyond what purchasers or clients are ready to accept and pay for. It is indispensable to hold better apprehension that shows differentiation between value invention as opposed to innovation in engineering and market pioneering. It makes clear that what separates victors from the also-rans in making bluish oceans is neither shed blooding border engineering nor market entry clocking. It has been seen that sometimes it exists but most of the clip it does non. The value invention takes topographic point merely when the companies bring invention with cost places, public-service corporation and monetary value. The value invention is a new and different manner of believing about and put to deathing the scheme that consequences into the creative activity of a bluish ocean and a come off from the competition. It is by and large believed that houses or companies can either make intensified value to clients at a relatively higher cost or can make sensible value at a lower cost. Here it can be said that scheme is seen as choosing a pick between distinction and low cost. But those that want to make bluish oceans follow distinction and low cost at the same time.Other schemes related to blue ocean schemeThe creative activity of bluish oceans is about conveying costs down while at the same time taking value up for purchasers. This shows that how a spring in value for both the company and its purchasers is achieved. Since, purchaser value is created from the public-service corporation and monetary value that the companies offer to purchasers and because the value to the company is created from moneta ry value and its cost construction, value invention can be achieved merely when the whole system of the house or company ‘s monetary value, public-service corporation and cost activities is decently and efficaciously matched. This represents the whole-system attack that makes the creative activity of bluish oceans a sustainable and effectual scheme. Blue ocean scheme includes the scope of a company ‘s functional and operational undertakings or activities. On the other side inventions such as production inventions can be acquire at the subsystem degree without impacting the house ‘s overall scheme. The value invention is non lone invention but it is more than invention. It describes scheme that integrates the full or whole system of a house ‘s activities and undertakings.DecisionBlue ocean scheme describes that it is all about to retrace boundaries of market to interrupt away from the competition and create bluish oceans. This highlights the hunt hazard that m any companies struggle with. The primary challenge is to successfully and efficaciously place, out of the hayrick of possibilities that exist, commercially obliging bluish ocean chances.

Joe Biden, Former Vice President of the United States

Joe Biden (born Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. on Nov. 20, 1942) is an American politician who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years and ran twice unsuccessfully for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination before being elected vice president in 2008 under Barack Obama. Bidens signature legislative accomplishment is the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which stepped up prosecution of domestic and sexual violence and enhanced services for victims. Biden is also known for both his oddball sense of humor and his stoic endurance of the tragic deaths of his first wife and two of his children. Fast Facts: Joseph Biden Known For: Vice president of the United States.Born: Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA.Parents: Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.Education: University of Delaware (B.A., history and political science) and Syracuse Law School.Key Accomplishment: The Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation signed into law in 1994 protecting women from domestic violence and sexual assault.  Spouse: Jill Jacobs Biden, Neilia Biden (deceased).Children: Ashley Jacobs, Hunter Biden, Naomi Amy Biden (deceased), and Joseph Beau Biden III (deceased).Famous Quote: If you do politics the right way, I believe, you can actually make peoples lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game. Early Life Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 20, 1942, the oldest of four children to Joseph Robinette Biden Sr., a down-on-his-luck used-car salesman, and Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, who was so protective of her firstborn that she told the would-be vice president at a young age: No one is better than you. Everyone is your equal, and everyone is equal to you. Biden, writing in his autobiography Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics, said his mother confronted a seventh-grade nun at the Catholic prep school Archmere Academy who mocked her son for stuttering. If you ever speak to my son like that again, Ill come back and rip that bonnet off your head. Do you understand me? Biden recalled of his mother. Bidens parents moved the family from northern Pennsylvania to Claymont, Delaware, in 1953. He graduated from Archmere Academy in 1961 and entered the University of Delaware. He graduated in 1965 with a double major in political science and history and entered the Syracuse University School of Law. Family Tragedy Ends First Marriage Biden got married in August 1966, before graduating from law school. He had met his first wife, Neilia Hunter, during spring break in the Bahamas. Biden earned his law degree in 1968 and began work as a public defender in Wilmington, Delaware. He also launched his career in politics, winning a seat on the New Castle Town Council at age 28. But he had much greater aspirations. 12/13/1978- Washington, DC: Closeups of senator-elect Joseph Biden, Jr., (D-DE) in his office. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images Biden took on his home-state senator, Republican J. Caleb Boggs, in the 1972 election and won, making him one of the youngest people to win election to the U.S. Senate, at age 29. The following month, Bidens wife and infant daughter Amy were killed when a tractor-trailer struck their station wagon in Hockessin, Delaware. Two other children, Hunter and Beau, were seriously injured but survived. (Beau Biden died at age 46 in 2015 from a rare form of brain cancer.) Biden nearly gave up his political career after the deaths of his wife and daughter but decided instead to take his seat in Washington, D.C.—and return home to Wilmington on the train almost every night after working in the Senate. I did it because I wanted to be able to kiss them goodnight and kiss them in the morning the next day. ... I came to realize that a child can hold an important thought, something they want to say to their mom and dad, maybe for 12 or 24 hours, and then it’s gone. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. And it all adds up. But looking back on it, the truth be told, the real reason I went home every night was that I needed my children more than they needed me. Complicated Legacy in the Senate Bidens most significant legislative achievement was President Bill Clintons signature in 1994 on the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which included the Violence Against Women Act authored by the senator in 1990. The law provided more services for victims of abuse, doubled penalties for repeat sex offenders, and allowed for the prosecution of stalking. Biden has credited the measures for leading to a steep decline in domestic violence. But that same legislation has since come under fire from advocates seeking to reform the criminal justice system, who point to the laws significant negative consequences—mass incarcerations, particularly among the African-American population. The 1994 law targeted gangs, spent nearly $10 billion on new prisons, and slapped repeat violent offenders with life sentences. Clarence Thomas (C) facing Sen. Judiciary Comm. on 1st day of confirmation hrgs. w. wife Virginia (seated behind wearing flowered dress). The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images / Getty Images Biden also came under fire as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for his handling of the 1991 confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Thomas had been accused by law professor Anita Hill of inappropriate sexual behavior, and Biden endured strong criticism for his failure to stop Thomas supporters from attacking her during her testimony. To this day I regret I couldnt come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us, Biden said in 2019. She paid a terrible price—she was abused through the hearing, she was taken advantage of, her reputation was attacked. I wish I couldve done something. Biden has also been portrayed by critics as being in the pocket of the financial services industry and credit card companies, many of whom have headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. One of those companies, MBNA, had been Bidens largest campaign contributor, and Biden had been supportive of legislation that made it more difficult for borrowers to claim certain protections when filing bankruptcy. Meanwhile, he was portrayed as too cozy with wealthy bankers; he once said about the faltering economy: â€Å"I don’t think 500 billionaires are the reason we’re in trouble. I get into a lot of trouble with my party when I say that wealthy Americans are just as patriotic as poor folks.† Campaigns for President Derailed Biden twice sought the Democratic presidential nomination, and he failed both times. The first attempt, in 1987, ended in a train wreck, as he put it, after he was accused of plagiarism. Biden was forced to publicly acknowledge plagiarizing another authors work. He said he used five pages from a published law review article without quotation or attribution in a paper he claimed to have written as a first-year student at the Syracuse University College of Law, according to a faculty report on the incident issued at the time. Biden quit the race. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. standing with his family after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images / Getty Images Biden launched his second bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2007. The crowded field of candidates included U.S. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the former first lady. Biden dropped out of the race in January 2008 after placing fifth in the Iowa caucuses. Obamas Running Mate and Vice President Obama tapped Biden to be his running mate in August 2008, a move that helped the inexperienced senator from Illinois win the presidency. Biden was seen as the wise elder statesman, a stark contrast to the inexperienced Republican vice presidential nominee that year, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Obama won the election and served two terms in office. Biden served as his vice president all eight years. The former senator from Delaware became Obamas most trusted adviser and helped the president form his administrations position in support of same-sex marriage, among many other key issues. Sources â€Å"Vice President Joe Biden.†Ã‚  National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/vp.Broder, John M. â€Å"Fathers Tough Life an Inspiration for Biden.†Ã‚  The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24biden.html.Dart, Bob. â€Å"Bidens Met, Forged Life Together after Tragedy.†Ã‚  OrlandoSentinel.com, 12 Oct. 2018, www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2008-10-24-a3bidenwife24-story.html.