{"id":57095,"date":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/panel-members-say-nursing-involvement-key-to-improving-quality-reducing-health-care-costs\/"},"modified":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"panel-members-say-nursing-involvement-key-to-improving-quality-reducing-health-care-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/panel-members-say-nursing-involvement-key-to-improving-quality-reducing-health-care-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Panel members say nursing involvement key to improving quality, reducing health care costs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Routhier Lecture Series kicks off with timely discussion on ways to improve care<\/b><\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 28, 2015 \u2013 A recent international study found that the American health care system is the costliest in the world and yet it ranks 11th among wealthy countries on measures of quality, access, efficiency and equity, including areas such as infant mortality.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe study, supported by the Commonwealth Fund, says the United States spends 17.6 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, while the United Kingdom, which ranked first in the study, spends just 9.6 percent of its GDP on health care.<\/p>\n


\n\tBut six health care experts who gathered recently for the first Routhier Lecture Series at the 溏心vlog免费B站 said there is a solution to these problems and a way to respond to the demands of the Affordable Care Act. That solution is the 2.7 million nurses across the country working in hospitals, patients\u2019 homes, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, private medical practices and the free clinics that serve the poor.<\/p>\n


\n\tThey talked about nurses serving as case managers, overseeing every aspect of care as part of a concept called patient-centered care. In this concept the nurse would coordinate care with hospitals, outpatient services, doctors\u2019 offices, pharmacists and clinics.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cOften the most expensive \u2018ingredients’ in American-produced goods and products is the cost of health care for employees, which impacts both product affordability and U.S. global competitiveness,\u201d said Betty Rambur, a Visiting Routhier Scholar at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Nursing, former dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Vermont and a nationally recognized expert on health finance and economics. \u201cBut we are seeing a growing understanding of the difference between health and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe said that estimates of waste in the U.S. health system range from 21 percent to 47 percent.<\/p>\n


\n\tRambur said that slowly the country is moving from a volume-driven, fee-for service approach to a value-driven approach that puts \u201cnurses in a pivotal position to drive changes\u201d as they relate to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement\u2019s, Triple Aim\u2014better health for the population, better care for individuals and lower cost through improvement.<\/p>\n


\n\tAnne Schmidt, vice president of Patient Care Services and the chief nursing officer at South County Health Care System, said payment reforms in the Affordable Care Act are tied to the Triple Aim. She said instead of episodic care, which is the treatment of an acute illness or injury with single trips to the hospital or the doctor\u2019s office, American health care is moving toward a comprehensive approach that reduces the need for acute hospital services while keeping patients healthy in their homes and communities.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWithin the Affordable Care Act, nurses will be central to managing such conditions as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other chronic illness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\tAngelleen Peters-Lewis, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Women & Infants Hospital, said nurses must position themselves and be seen as clinical care leaders who are experts at inter-professional collaboration and pursue lifelong learning in the field, even after they earn master\u2019s degrees or doctorates.<\/p>\n


\nIn addition, the nurse must be a leader of innovation, a designer of new health care models and a scholar.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cNo one spends more time with patients than nurses do,\u201d Peters-Lewis said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s as much as 16 hours a day.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWho better to be at the forefront of patient-centered care, she asked the audience.<\/p>\n


\n\tNancy Roberts, president and chief executive officer of the Visiting Nurse Service of Care New England, has been in community care for more than 30 years. \u201cNo setting gives a nurse as much autonomy and a greater role in managing a patient\u2019s care than community (home) care,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n


\n\tUnder the Affordable Care Act, individuals will not be hospitalized at the rate they are today, she said.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThe ability to provide skilled and supportive care in the home is central for older adults who want to age in place,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIf a patient has access to personal care and homemaking services, for as little as four to six hours a week, combined with symptom management, the need for long term placement can be delayed for up to 24 months. Nurse practitioners are well positioned to manage the care of older adults in the home.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThe care transition role leverages the unique skills of the registered nurse,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThe best way to prevent re-admission is to ensure prompt access to primary care. The average length of time before a person sees his or her doctor after a hospital stay is 21 days. Much can happen in that time frame. Nurse practitioners deployed to a patient\u2019s home within 24 hours of hospital discharge can serve as the bridge between primary care and hospitalization.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMarie Ghazal, chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Free Clinic, wrapped up the panel discussion.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe call ourselves the safety net for the safety net,\u201d she said. \u201cWe leverage $5 million in care with a $1 million budget.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShe said the greatest change for the Clinic came when many of its patients obtained health insurance through the ACA, which meant that patients could now see health care professionals in private practice. It also meant that the Clinic was able to eliminate its lottery system for deciding who receives care and who doesn\u2019t, and to welcome more new patients than ever before who still remain beyond the reach of Affordable Care Act reforms.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cWe (in health care) all have to change our strategies so that we work together more effectively and efficiently,\u201d Ghazal said. \u201cAs just one example, our Clinic is partnering with CVS Health to open its pharmacies for free service to our patients. Through this partnership, patients now benefit from an increased level of care. This should be the goal for us all.\u201d

\nThe program\u2019s moderator, Esther Emard, a Routhier visiting faculty member and former president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England, concluded the program with this quote from Florence Nightingale:<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMay we hope that when we are all dead and gone, leaders will arise who have been personally experienced in the hard, practical work, the difficulties and the joys of organizing nursing reforms, and who will lead far beyond anything we have done.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Routhier Lecture Series kicks off with timely discussion on ways to improve care KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 28, 2015 \u2013 A recent international study found that the American health care system is the costliest in the world and yet it ranks 11th among wealthy countries on measures of quality, access, efficiency and equity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}