Nursing

Examine changes introduced to reform or restructure the U.S. health care delivery system. In a 1,000-1,250 word paper, discuss action taken for reform and restructuring and the role of the nurse within this changing environment.

Include the following:

Outline a current or emerging health care law or federal regulation introduced to reform or restructure some aspect of the health care delivery system. Describe the effect of this on nursing practice and the nurse’s role and responsibility.
Discuss how quality measures and pay for performance affect patient outcomes. Explain how these affect nursing practice and describe the expectations and responsibilities of the nursing role in these situations.
Discuss professional nursing leadership and management roles that have arisen and how they are important in responding to emerging trends and in the promotion of patient safety and quality care in diverse health care settings.
Research emerging trends. Predict two ways in which the practice of nursing and nursing roles will grow or transform within the next five years to respond to upcoming trends or predicted issues in health care.
You are required to cite to a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

ANSWER

U.S. Health Care Delivery System

Current/Emerging Health Care Law Introduced to Reform Health Care Delivery System

The U.S. health care delivery system has over the years been enhanced to encapsulate accessibility, affordability, coverage, and efficient delivery approaches. The reforms targeting policy reforms and laws are embedded towards improving health care delivery. The improvement of the nursing practice, education, and competence remains to be a center-piece of the enhancement of the American health care delivery systems. According to the American Heart Association, the prioritization of the patient needs and perspectives constitute of the key feature of realizing health care reforms (Warner et al., 2020). The realization of universal health care access, affordability, and coverage for everyone living in the United States is covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Warner et al., 2020). Obama (2016) asserts that, “ACA constitutes the most crucial health care reform that has been legislated since the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.” The reform stipulates the need to improve the quality of health care, accessibility, and affordability that health care delivery systems offer to the Americans. Erickson et al. (2020) echoes similar sentiments in the value of ACA towards making the U.S. health care system for all better through reforms on delivery and payment. The realization of efficient delivery system is informed by utilizing patient-centered approaches that enable health care professionals to work tirelessly towards ascertaining that patients access the best health care services.

Effects on Nursing Practice and the Nurse’s Role and Responsibility

The implementation of ACA reforms places great emphasis on improving the nursing profession through advanced education and building the capacity of nurses to offer effective care. To attain value-based care, ACA sets a roadmap for the nursing practice to be improved through continued education. By making nursing education more accessible and affordable, ACA guarantees high efficiency in the conduct of nursing practice. This is accompanied by more commitment in the nurses’ role and responsibility to deliver the best quality health care services (Warner et al., 2020). In turn, the health care delivery system is enhanced through efficient nurses’ practices and accountable professional conduct. ACA provides the basis for patient protection through enhanced nursing practice. The advanced education increases innovativeness, creativity, and efficiency of the nursing practice. This is accompanied with transformational leadership in the nursing practice that culminates in effective health care delivery systems.

How Quality Measures and Pay for Performance Affect Patient Outcomes and Effects on Nursing Practice

The quality measures and pay for performance outlines the baseline in which the nursing practice can be assessed. The measures enable to maintain a threshold in the conduct of the nursing practice. In turn, the patient outcomes are greatly elevated by setting a higher standard of quality health care service delivery as a measure for nursing practice efficiency. Also, quality measures provide the basis upon which merit of the nursing profession can be examined. In turn, high patient outcome can be continuously achieved with each measure’s realization being improved to ensure continued innovativeness and creativeness in health care delivery. Pay for performance impacts on the morale and commitment of the nursing professionals. The pay for performance ascertains quality patient outcomes as nurses are bound to receive more perks as they are able to meet the targets set by the health care facility. That is, better compensation and payment plans are essential to ensure nurses operate with utmost regard of the patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Moreover, the nursing practice is impacted positively by establishing a set of quality measures to be met by the nursing professionals. In addition, pay for performance induces positive impact on the nursing practice as it asserts the value accorded to the nurses. As a result, nurses are bound to feel more enticed when their skills, competence, and capacity is recognized and appreciated. Therefore, to achieve the best nursing practices, establishing quality measures contribute towards the quality of services while pay for performance motivate the nursing professionals to keep doing their best.

Significance of Nursing Leadership and Management Roles in Responding to Emerging Trends and in Promotion of Patient Safety and Quality Care in Diverse Health Settings

Nursing leadership and management roles are attained through advanced nursing education. ACA reforms make nursing education an integral feature towards making the nursing practice the best. The capacity to implement nursing leadership and management roles elevate the creativity, commitment, and efficiency of nurses in promoting patient safety and quality care delivery. The aspect of nursing leadership and management ascertains that the nursing practice basis its profession on quality and high standards of patient safety and quality care delivery (Seshamani & Sen, 2018). To achieve the best in a diverse health setting, the adoption of nursing leadership and management is essential as it ascertains delegation of roles and responsibilities informed by knowledge. The basis of understanding different aspects of the nursing practice is vital in attaining patient safety and quality care delivery. Therefore, the continuity of the nursing practice is based on the capacity to achieve higher levels of nursing education, leadership, and management capacity.

Emerging Trends: Future of the Nursing Practice in the Next Five Years

Among the top trending issues in the nursing practice constitutes of the growth and popularity of telehealth and privacy aspects and adoption of nursing education online. From the thirst aspect, the growth of telehealth and privacy aspects illustrates the future transformation of the health care delivery system (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). That is, nursing practice is in a position to offer patient centered services through electronic devices such as monitoring, feedback, prescription, and informing patients on the decisions to make. The nursing practice future is set on the capacity of the nurses to integrate its skills and competence to attain future prospects in patient care delivery. Therefore, the future of nursing practice is informed by the capacity of the nurses to adopt and integral technology in nursing practice.

Furthermore, online nursing education makes accessibility to further education for nurses more efficient and affordable. This is a critical feature that is intended to build skills, knowledge, capacity, and competence to operate efficiently (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Nursing education is vital to the growth and development of the nursing leadership. Hence, self-regulation and focus the best patient health care services is the primary objective.

References

Erickson, S. M., Outland, B., Joy, S., Rockwern, B., Serchen, J., Mire, R. D., & Goldman, J. M. (2020). Envisioning a better US health care system for all: health care delivery and payment system reforms. Annals of internal medicine, 172(2_Supplement), S33-S49.

Obama, B. (2016). United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. Jama, 316(5), 525-532.

Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic nursing, 36(1), 12.

Seshamani, M., & Sen, A. P. (2018). Moving Toward High-Value Health Care: Integrating Delivery System Reform into 2020 Policy Proposals. New York, NY: The Commonwealth Fund.

Warner, J. J., Benjamin, I. J., Churchwell, K., Firestone, G., Gardner, T. J., Johnson, J. C., … & American Heart Association Advocacy Coordinating Committee. (2020). Advancing healthcare reform: the American Heart Association’s 2020 statement of principles for adequate, accessible, and affordable health care: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 141(10), e601-e614.