Care coordination entails organizing patient care actions by sharing among all the individuals involved in patient care to realize more active and effective care (Swan, Haas, and Jessie, 2019). The main goal of coordination of care is to meet the needs and preferences of the patient through delivering high-value and high-quality care. Ethical and government policies have determined the success of the healthcare system. The coordination of care is highly guided by ethical factors and policies that aim to elevate patient safety and improve nursing practice.
Governmental Policies linked to the Health and Safety that Affect the Care Coordination.
Considerably, communities operate through local and federal government policies. These policies are a set of regulations and rules that the government has adopted to reach specific goals accessible to the broader community through acceptable means. The healthcare system has encountered challenges as a result of policy and ethical issues. The government policies that affect the coordination of care have been implemented to improve the delivery and safety of healthcare. This is because these policies have affected healthcare through regulations and laws that govern the coordination of care. The government believes that policies effectively lower the burden of disabilities, ailments, and injuries. Nurses and other healthcare practitioners execute their responsibilities per the stipulated codes of ethics. The government policies have encouraged the development of new delivery models that are intended to boost the quality of patient experience and efficacy.
The coordination of care in nursing homes is affected by the HIPAA and Affordable Care Act. HIPAA offers guidelines that guarantee that the patient’s confidential records have been protected from any unauthorized distribution. HIPAA has offered standard rules that safeguard the patient’s health information (Bell, 2018). The privacy rules have dictated how the patient information will be utilized and exceptions of sharing information during care coordination.
Affordable Care Act was designed to lower the cost of health insurance coverage for individuals that quality through cost-sharing reductions that reduce expenses for low-income families and individuals (Griffith, Evans and Bor, 2017). The Affordable Care Act creates opportunities to test and design new models of care delivery and payment, which boosts care coordination, thus reducing spending, healthcare quality, and improved health. The Affordable Care Act has been a comprehensive reform that has changed care coordination through improved quality of care, extending access to care, and consumer protections.
National, state, and Local Policy Provisions that Raise Ethical Questions for Care Coordination.
The United States healthcare has faced many ethical dilemmas in care coordination due to state provisions on access to care. For instance, the criteria of choosing patients for subsidized care and poor people accessing care have been among the most common ethical dilemmas in healthcare today. Despite the establishment of generic drugs, the prices of medication are still high. The high price of drugs has reduced the medical attention of employees with our without medical insurance coverage. The issue of medical insurance and high prices for drugs has raised ethical issues since employees are denied a chance for proper healthcare. Despite the Affordable Care Act reducing the number of uninsured persons, the affordability of health insurance has continued to be a great concern for most individuals and disparities in race, geography, and income. Additionally, ACA has led to significant ethical issues of justice as individuals, legislature, and communities offer quality healthcare to most individuals without sacrificing the basic rights of even a few.
The impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses on the Coordination and Continuum of Care.
As care coordinators, nurses have to be attentive of the code of ethics that affects care within the community context. Knowing the code of ethics enables nurses to uphold ethical ideals for continuum and coordination of care. The code of ethics enables the nurses to improve the organization and range of care. The provisions of the codes of ethics with interpretive statements offer discussions about the responsibilities of the nurses to promote safety and health, maintaining professional and personal growth in nursing homes (American Nurses Association, 2018). The nurse practices inherit ethical settings of quality care, which boost continuity of care. For instance, the nursing code of ethics offers a standard and consistent manner that facilitates quality care. Through the code of ethics, the nurses establish, maintain, and improve decision-making and nursing practice.
Factors that Contribute to Health, Access to Services and Health Disparities
Different factors influence health, health disparities, and access to healthcare. Care access, race and ethnicity, genetics, and community facets such as access to healthy foods, violence, and environmental conditions influence health quality. Multiple socioeconomic factors such as physical and social environment, education, and income contribute to health disparities (Artiga, Orgera, and Pham, 2020). For instance, those in poverty suffer from detrimental health consequences due to their environmental conditions and socioeconomic status. This results in a surge in chronic diseases, health risk behaviors, and infectious diseases. Inadequate access to quality care has led to disadvantages in health and health disparities.
The Social Determinants of Health in Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 has strived to identify health determinants, disability, disease, and increased public m awareness. Healthy People 2020 has shown quantifiable goals and objectives valid at the government, nation, and native levels. According to Healthy People 2020, many social, personal, environmental, and economic factors have contributed to population health (Heyman, Kelly, Reback, and Blumenstock, 2018). Healthy people 2020 has structured the social determinants of health in five realms. These include education, economic stability, health and healthcare, social and community setting, and built environment and neighborhood.
