Nursing Cost Containment

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SU_NSG3005_W4_A2_Smith_M.doc

The topics of the nursing role in the healthcare delivery system, the responsibility of being a nurse manager, and her nursing management accountability were discussed in a question/ answer format. Nurse Manager at Ohio Health Hospice Judy Walliser RN BSN was interviewed for the purpose of this survey. J. Walliser was asked the following questions, with her responses listed as follows.
• How do health care economics and public policy effect your job as a nurse manager?
“It’s difficult. Specifically as hospice reimbursement rates become smaller and smaller in relation to the medications and treatments used, and the staff utilized in delivering care. We are allotted per-diem by private and government insurance agencies. While our costs have increased, our per-diem reimbursement has not.”
While it is hoped that the recent health care reform will reduce overall health-related expenditures, at this time there is tremendous uncertainty about the long-run impact this will have on the industry. Because modern hospice care organizations are relatively new to the health care industry, the context as a field of academic study is also newly emergent, especially when compared to other health care contexts such as hospitals and nursing homes. Most research has focused on care provision. (Kirby, 2012)
As reported by Mrs. Walliser costs are rising and reimbursement is remaining stagnant. But as hospice is a newer industry entity, most of the focused for evidence based practice to this point is directed towards the provision of care, not the cost containment of care. As a society we are very mush focused on how productive we are as a means of evaluating the worth of services. In hospice productivity is difficult ...

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.... It is partially the role of the nurse manager to communicate with doctors and families in order to manage costs in care. The most effective use of the nurse manager’s time in this role is arming the nurses who deliver patient care with the knowledge and resources needed to have difficult conversations with hospice patients, families and physicians about goals during end of life care.

Works Cited
Bonebrake, D. R.-S. (2010). Clinically Differentiating Palliative Care and Hospice. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 14(3), 273-5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/506630429?accountid=87314
Kirby, E. G. (2012). Strategic groups and outcomes in the US hospice care industry. Journal of Health Organization and Management 26.5, 26.5, 641-54. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/1095443935?accountid=87314

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