Emerging health care law and impacts on Nursing Practice

Emerging health care law and impacts on Nursing Practice

Big improvements in the American health care sector have been witnessed in recent decades. Quality of the service delivered to the patient has become a pertinent factor in the reimbursement of the hospital. Policy-makers have passed laws directed at improving and changing the healthcare structure in the United States. Efforts to overhaul the health care framework in the nation seek to tackle health insurance rates and the standard of health services. Through research and past data, it is evident that healthcare has faced dire impediments. Similarly, Most Americans are also unable to access quality care treatment. The fact that healthcare services rendered do not meet the required quality has made most health-center deteriorate in terms of rating (Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, 2015). Nonetheless, the last ten years have seen a dramatic shift in quality of services offered. This has been made possible by the laws made by the registration authority regarding healthcare delivery. The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Patient Protection and Affordable Care has significantly improved public system and treatment. Retired President Obama established the ACA law in the year 2010. This comprehensive health care reform law has seen a notable improvement in service delivery. Through the ACA reforms, nursing practice has immensely improved both in service provision. This paper evaluates the ACA and its significant impact on the overall healthcare system delivery in the US.

The ACA laws and its implications on Nursing Practice

With the adoption of the ACA, in 2010, the United States healthcare sector has been revamped and restructured. The ACA contains several key provisions developed to increase access to the coverage of healthcare. One of the key steps taken to improve the quality of services rendered was to increase the coordination of healthcare. According to registration, this aspect would improve the quality of care, reduce costs attached to multiple prescriptions, unnecessary hospitalization, and repeated diagnosis. In addition, Value-Based Purchase (VBP), Shared Savings Arrangements, and Pay for Performance (P4P) are all aspect that has been purported by ACA laws (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). These three approaches were aimed at converting healthcare into an affordable, patient-centered, and high-quality organization. The ACA model is more embedded in providing rewards to service providers in response to experience and outcomes.

Furthermore, the ACA calls for the provision of a range of preventive measures in all insurance programs. This policy diverted focus from diagnosis to wellness education and disease prevention in the delivery of healthcare. The profession of nursing has also changed its emphasis. The emphasis is now on preventive health treatment and awareness centered on the prevention and development of disease safety (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). The nurses are diligent to avoid infectious illnesses, such as elevated blood pressure and diabetes. The nurses are responsible for ensuring that mental health programs are offered to their patients. Diabetes screening, hypertension, and rehabilitation are among the preventative, preventive programs provided by ACA. Salmond and Echevarria (2017) noted that nurses are now prioritizing health promotion activities (provision of health education) so that patients can acquire knowledge and prevent the onset of chronic diseases.

Innovative treatment and delivery systems frameworks have been developed under the ACA. Such styles also developed different tasks and responsibilities for caregivers. The ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations) was a revolutionary form of the treatment and service structures associated with the staff. People of the ACOs collaborate closely with other service professionals (doctors) to manage people of Medicare (Bagwell, Bushy, & Ortiz, 2017). The nurses aim to coordinate with the interdisciplinary team to ensure that patients receive quality care at the appropriate time, to avoid unnecessary duplication of services, and, most importantly, to observe the positive result of patients.

Quality Measures & Pay for Performance Affect Patient Outcomes

Performance pay and quality metrics are two important components that have allowed reforms in the US health system to improve quality, efficiency, and value for money. By providing financial assistance to healthcare professionals, clinics, and other healthcare providers across America, quality control and P4P play an essential role. It increases and produces outcomes for the individual. The success variable was utilized to enhance health satisfaction by public and private donors such as Medicaid and Medicare. The key aim in terms of charging health care professionals based on studies from the federal government is to encourage and improve patient performance. The implementation of P4P and quality measure dictates that nursed improve patient satisfaction and patient safety through Value-Based Practice. In addition, nurses may give patients health education to reduce the occurrence of diseases, which can prolong hospital stays period for patients. Medicaid does not provide outpatient costs during hospital stay owing to preventable illnesses like urinary tract infections triggered by catheters. The Act also protects compensation for success and guarantees that hospitals are paid The Affordable Treatment Act. It is the responsibility of the nurses to exercise professionalism by providing services that are patient-oriented and person-centered (Smith et al., 2016). Through the P4P approach, nurses are expected to report on patient outcomes.

Professional Nursing Management and Leadership Roles

In the strategy for reform of the American health system, successful management and good leadership are critical. In most instances, not all nurses begin their careers with good leadership qualities in the United States. Teamwork and teamwork of practitioners from different divisions strengthen management and leadership positions in nursing (Pihlainen, Kivinen & Lammintakanen, 2016). In the united states, the aspect of strong leadership quality is paramount in attaining the goal of reform the health system, thus boosting nursing efficiency. In the nursing field and inter-professional activities, leadership competencies, and skills are essential for health care. The excellence of the management department is the defendant on the communication abilities of enrolled nurses in their practices. Markedly cooperation and coordination lead to increased efficiency and service delivery. Rapidly growing leadership and management positions in nursing provide the capacity to recognize duplication and development regions, effective patient care strategies. The current leadership positions are often to improve the status of public safety by epidemic management programs and strategies for prevention. The current responsibilities of managers of clinical organizations include the responsibility to handle health problems and to facilitate rehabilitation through health-focused programs in the United States of America under Medicare (Regan, Laschinger & Wong, 2016). Leadership responsibilities included the obligation for upholding patients ‘diversity. The expertise of clinical practices strengthens the health of patients; hence, the risks of mistakes are minimized.

Emerging Trends Healthcare System

The implementation of telehealth to increase the standard of treatment for patients is an evolving phenomenon in the American healthcare sector is one of the prevailing trends in this field. In 2017, a telemedicine study revealed that in the US, more than 70% of patients choose a video to contact the primary care professional instead of attending the hospital directly (Burstin, Leatherman & Goldmann, 2016).

Secondly, artificial intelligence and machine technology have immensely affected American health sectors (Jiang et al., 2017). The application of new technologies has helped to develop artificial intelligence; thus, patient health and protection in hospitals have been enhanced. In the next five years, the nursing positions will grow to improve health care and technical skills. The growth will be attributed to the usage of the evidence-based methodology. Artificial intelligence offers sufficient data that nurses can use and interpret in their practices. Furthermore, digital intelligence has introduced numerous healthcare benefits, such as the diagnosis, preservation, and retrieval of patient records. Machinery and artificial intelligence have since improved health safety by providing better facilities. (National Center for Health Statistics, 2017). As a result of the Tele-health, nurses will be in a more stable position to converse with the attendees.