Bill Would Allow Non-Doctors To Perform Abortions In California

Last week, California state senator, Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego), introduced legislation that would allow licensed nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurse midwives to perform aspiration abortions, which is a non-surgical procedure most often used to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester. Currently, only four other states allow for non-physicians to conduct non-surgical abortions and Sen. Kehoe argues that this expansion would, "give many California women access to earlier, safer procedures in the first trimester of their pregnancy".

Click here to read the full article.

A Shift From Nursing Homes to Managed Care at Home

Last week, Joseph Berger, reporting for the New York Times, discussed how providers are moving from the traditional nursing home model of care to managed care at home. This new model of care has not only been proven cost effective, but also allows for able-bodied elderly individuals to live independently. Mr. Berger's article highlights the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly(PACE), which provides almost all the services a nursing home would but in an 'day care' setting. This program, in addition to similar home health services, receives bundled payments for each patient they treat rather than relying on the traditional fee-for-service reimbursement model. PACE and similar home-care programs are being heralded as the future model of health care for the aging baby boomer generation.

Click here to read the full article.

Proposed Bill Would Allow Michigan's Community Colleges to Offer 4-Year Nursing Degrees

A bill currently being considered by Michigan's Senate Education Committee would allow community colleges to offer 4-year degrees in nursing and other fields. David Jesse, of the Detroit Free Press, reported that the bill has already been passed by Michigan's House of Representatives and is now being reviewed by the state Senate. Proponents of the bill argue that the legislation would reduce the cost of 4-year nursing degrees while closing the projected 18,000 nurse shortage slated for 2015. This proposed bill aligns with recommendations made in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to the IOM's report

INQRI's Mark Pauly on Nurse Scope of Practice Laws and Economic Motives

INQRI co-director, Mark Pauly, was featured today on RWJF's Human Capital blog with a piece titled, "Expanded Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Scope of Practice Laws: Can We Ignore Economic Motives and Effects?"

Mark's blog post discusses a recent article published in Nursing Research and Practice, by Patricia Pittman and Benjamin Williams, "Physician Wages in States with Expanded APRN Scope of Practice." Mark explains that while the Pittman/Williams article does not present a "smoking gun" in regards to the effect of expanding nurse scope of practice on physician salaries, it does move the discussion away from economics to a focus on quality and access to care.

Take a look at Mark's blog post and the original article and let us know what you think.

Op-Ed: Healthcare Reform's Missing Link - Nurse Practitioners

Yesterday, local Indiana news source, wsbt.com, featured an Op-Ed by Dr. Patricia Dennehy that discussed how advanced practice registered nurses can make important contributions to health care reform. Dr. Dennehy, who is the director of GLIDE Health Services in San Francisco and a professor at the UCSF's School of Nursing, argues that APRNs can help fill the primary care practitioner shortage while providing the same level of care that patients' receive from a physician. Dr. Dennehy also calls for reimbursement reform so that nurses will no longer need to bill their services under the supervision of a physician. Many of the issues raised in this Op-Ed were also featured in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report, which is also cited at the end of the article.

Click here to read the full op-ed.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to the IOM's report.

Important Opportunities And Challenges Posed For Registered Nurses And APRNs In The Creation And Implementation Of ACOs

On March 27th, The Nursing Alliance for Quality Care and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners will be hosting a symposium on nursing leadership in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The symposium will be focused on opportunities and strategies for registered nurses and advanced practiced registered nurses working next to and within ACOs. The event, which will be held in Washington D.C., features Dr. Kavita Patel, Barbara Safriet, Joyce Dubow and Nancy O'Rourke as speakers.

Click here to find out more information about this upcoming symposium.

Also, don't forget to register for our upcoming national meeting in Washington D.C. on April 26-27. Registration is free and if you are interested, please contact Heather Kelley-Thompson at hkelley@nursing.upenn.edu

INQRI Program Co-Director Awarded The William B. Graham Prize

We are pleased to share with all of you that Mark Pauly, Ph.D., INQRI's Co-Director, has been named the 2012 winner of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research. Dr. Pauly follows a long line of distinguished recipients of this award including former CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick; AHRQ Director, Carolyn Clancy; and INQRI NAC member, Dr. Linda Aiken. The award program is funded by the Baxter International Foundation, administered by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and is considered to be one of the most prestigious and highly regarded recognitions a health services researcher can receive.

Please join all of us at the INQRI Program in congratulating Dr. Pauly on such a wonderful achievement.

To learn more about the William B. Graham Prize, click here.

America's Three Million Nurses are Changing Healthcare in Dramatic Ways

This past weekend, the UCLA School of Nursing published a press release emphasizing the growing importance of nurses who are the largest segment of the health care workforce. The press release highlights the influence nurses have in clinical settings, conducting research and promoting state and national health policy. Many of the topics discussed in this press release were also featured in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to the IOM's report.

Summer Institute on Evidence-Based Quality Improvement

Presented by the Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice (ACE), the Improvement Science Research Network (ISRN) and the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, the Summer Institute on Evidence-Based Quality Improvement allows participants to apply evidence and build science to improve care and patient outcomes. Experience a full immersion in the latest advances in health care improvement. The Call for Abstracts is open until March 12, 2012 and the conference will take place from July 17-21, 2012 in San Antonio, TX.

To read previous posts about the Improvement Science Research Network, please click here.

PCORI Seeks Comments

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is requesting input on two issues:

PCORI Translation Tool RFI - The PCORI Methodology Committee is inviting input on the translation framework components and to engage stakeholder communities in the development of PCORI’s translation tool. Responses are due by 5:00pm on February 17, 2012.

Comments Open on PCORI’s Research Priorities and Agenda - Comments are invited on the first draft of the PCORI National Priorities for Research and initial Research Agenda in advance of PCORI’s first funding announcements in May 2012. Responses are due by March 15, 2012.

Advice from Patient Advocates

This month, Women's Day magazine is featuring a piece, "Six Things Your Patient Advocate Wants You to Know" which everyone should tear out and tape on the refrigerator. This simple one-pager offers tips on how to best utilize a patient advocate, what assistance your pharmacist can provide and how to select a hospital. But, the item that caught our eyes was this one:

"If you have a chronic illness, choose a practice with a dedicated staff registered nurse (RN). Whether you choose to go to a traditional family practice physician or a larger group practice, make sure the staff includes an RN whose role specifically includes dealing with patients who have a chronic condition, say Farbstein. That way, if the doctor is unavailable, the nurse can help with any problems or answer questions. You also want a practice with an organized office staff since you'll be working with them to arrange prescriptions, appointments and treatments."

We think it's great advice - kudos to Women's Day for recognizing the important role of nurses!

Future of Nursing Webinar Series: 1st Event

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, offers a series of recommendations to improve health care by advancing nursing as a field. There is a great body of research that shows that when nurses take greater leadership roles in health care, not only does the quality of that care improve, but so do patient outcomes. This is the time to share and promote that research and to identify processes and practices that can be replicated.

To that end, INQRI is pleased to announce a webinar series based on the recommendations made in this groundbreaking report.

Please join us for the first webinar in this series, which will discuss the third recommendation made in the IOM report, which addresses the implementation of nurse residency programs: "State boards of nursing, accrediting bodies, the federal government, and health care organizations should take actions to support nurses' completion of a transition-to-practice program (nurse residency) after they have completed a prelicensure or advanced practice degree program or when they are transitioning into new clinical practice areas."

Developing and Sustaining the Professional Nursing Organization Through New Graduate RN Transition-to-Practice
Presented by Charles F. Krozek, MN, RN, FAAN, Managing Partner of Versant Holdings, LLC.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
12pm - 1pm ET
Click here to register.

INQRI Grantee, Kathleen Stevens, Slated To Be Inducted Into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

We are pleased to share with all of you the recent announcement that fourteen nurse researchers, including INQRI grantee, Kathleen R. Stevens, EdD, MS, RN, ANEF, FAAN, will be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI)'s Hall of Fame in August of this year. This prestigious list of researchers have achieved significant and sustained national and/or international recognition for their work, and whose research has impacted the profession and the people it serves. For any of you interested in attending, the 23rd International Nursing Research Congress will be taking place in Brisbane, Australia from July 30th to August 3rd.

Please join the INQRI team in congratulating Dr. Stevens and her colleagues for this wonderful achievement!

Click here to read the full announcement.

Click here to read more about Dr. Stevens' research.

Nurses, Care Coordinators Are Gaining Importance in ACOs

Earlier this morning, Jennifer Lubell, of AISHealth.com, detailed the growing importance of nurses in the ACO model of care. These "embedded nurses", or care coordinators, have been found to be an essential part of the ACO framework as they improve patient outcomes by providing a significant communication link between the patient and physician. Insurance companies, including Cigna and Aetna, have touted the care coordinator role as a key contributor to improved patient outcomes.

Click here to read the full article.

Philadelphia Hospital Boosts Use Of Registered Nurses In Bid To Improve care

Yesterday, Stacey Burling, reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer, detailed how Hahnemann University Hospital plans to utilize more registered nurses (RNs) and reduce the amount of nurse assistants. This decision was spurred by a pilot study conducted in one nursing unit that found that using all registered nurses to care for patients instead of a combination of nurses and nursing assistants led to higher-quality care, and greater patient and nurse satisfaction. The hospital cites changing payment models that emphasize the importance of quality of care as a catalyst for this initiative. The hospital's decision also relates to INQRI studies that have found having higher levels of RN skill mix leads to better patient outcomes.

It should also be noted that the union representing the certified nursing assistants protested outside of the hospital yesterday in response to the new care model announcement?

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Click here to read the full story.

Former INQRI NAC Member, Linda Burnes Bolton, Elected to RWJF Board of Trustees

We are pleased to share with all of you the recent appointment of former INQRI NAC member, Linda Burnes Bolton, RN, DrPH, FAAN, to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Board of Trustees. Dr. Burnes Bolton is currently vice president for nursing, chief nursing officer, and director of nursing research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, in addition to being one the principal investigators at The Burns and Allen Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai. As an INQRI NAC member, Dr. Burnes Bolton advised INQRI grantees to think about the broader impact and implications of their research on local, state and national health policy formulation.

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to INQRI NAC members.

New Jersey Nurses Train to Coordinate Their Patients' Care

Last week, Beth Fitzgerald, reporting for NJ Spotlight, discussed how new nurses are learning a variety of skills to act as population care coordinators. The program, which is a collaborative effort between Horizon Healthcare Innovations (HHI), Duke University School of Nursing and Rutgers University College of Nursing, emphasizes the importance of new nurses taking on the roles of coach and health advocate in order to improve coordinated follow-up and preventive and wellness care. The program is also based off of the patient-centered medical home model of care and focuses on patient engagement to improve the overall quality of care.

Click here to read more about the new initiative.

Massachusetts Expands Scope of Practice For Nurse-Midwives

Yesterday, Rachel Zimmerman, of WBUR Boston, reported House Bill 3815 was signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick. The bill, “An Act Relative to Enhancing the Practice of Nurse-Midwives", authorizes nurse-midwives to issue written prescriptions and order tests, directly aligning with the first recommendation made in the IOM's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report. The article also included a letter from the Massachusetts Medical Society seeking to have the bill rejected. This letter brings up the contentious issue of expanding nurse-midwives' scope of practice as it partially erodes the autonomy the physicians currently have.

How do you feel on this issue?

Click here to read the article.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to the IOM's report.

"The End of Health Insurance Companies" - An Op-Ed piece by Ezekiel Emanuel, Keynote Speaker at INQRI's Upcoming National Meeting

This past Monday, Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Jeffrey B. Liebman wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times predicting the demise of health insurance companies as a result of the implementation of accountable care organizations (ACOs). Drs. Emanuel & Liebman emphasize the importance of the transfer of risk from insurance companies to ACOs in this model of care and how it can lead to insurance companies becoming obsolete.

Click here to read the Op-Ed.

If you are interested in attending our national meeting (w/ no registration fee), which will take place in Washington, D.C. on April 26th-27th, please contact Heather Kelley-Thompson at hkelley@nursing.upenn.edu.