Running head: EVOLVING PRACTICE OF NURSING AND PATIENT CARE DELIVERY MODELS 1 8 EVOLVING PRACTICE OF NURSING AND PATIENT CARE DELIVERY MODELS Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models Ishwari Basnet Grand Canyon University: NRS-440V February 27th, 2016 Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models Hello everyone! I Ishwari Basnet,I am a registered nurse and work in medical \surgical\mental health unit for more than ten years. I would like to welcome you all in this informal education session. Today, I would like to discuss about the changing role of nurses and concept of continuum of care and the new health care delivery models such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), medical homes, and nurse -managed health clinics. Evolving practice of Nursing and Health Care Models Health care system is changing; it is not just focused on the curative care but the disease prevention and wellness. Also, the new healthcare reform has approach to the development of healthcare delivery models with the changes in nursing role from acute care settings to community health care. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) formed at 2010 support the establishment of ACOs, medical homes and nurse-managed health clinics; also new payment policies. With the formation of Affordable Care Act (ACA), health has transformed from traditional treating approach to the preventive and wellness. Nurse’s role has also changed from front-line caregiver to the care integrators and coordinators and help in providing the health services to the underserved people. All the health models are focused on the concept of continuity of care which is defined as “a concept involving an integrated system of care that guides and tracks patient over time through a comprehensive array of health services spanning all levels of intensity of care” (Evashwick, 1989). It covers the delivery of healthcare over a period of time and for all levels and stages of care. Let’s talk about the three types of health care delivery model. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) In accordance to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services, “Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to their Medicare patients” (Cms.gov, n.d.). The ACO is the new unit built by the ACA; the health reform law 2010 which take care of the cost and quality of the care received by the patients. The main aim of ACO is to deliver flawless and high-quality care at the right time to the patients, especially the chronically ill patients. The ACO include the specific group of providers and suppliers assigned by the ACA and they encourage the active participation of nurse practitioners (NPs), clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) etc with physicians and physician assistants. As nursing leadership is encouraged in ACO, registered nurses can ...