Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

NURS FPX 4065 Assessment 3 Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination Student name Capella University NURS-FPX4065 Patient-Centered Care Coordination Professor’s Name Submission Date   Slide 01 Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination Hello, ladies and gentlemen! My name is _______, and today I will be writing about the ethical and policy considerations that are important in effective care coordination, especially in the management of hypertension in the older adult at Mercy Hospital. Slide 02 As healthcare professionals, it is upon us to make sure that patient care is evidence-based, but it is also informed by ethical principles and aligned with healthcare policies that deliver safety, equity, and quality outcomes. As part of this presentation, I intend to discuss how ethical issues like patient autonomy, confidentiality, and beneficence intersect organizational and governmental policies that potentially affect clinical decision-making, communication, and collaboration between care teams. The knowledge of the ethical aspects is critical to the enhancement of coordinated care and the increase of patient trust (Varkey, 2021). Slide 03 Effect of Governmental Policies on Coordination of Care Government policies play a key role in the process of directing the manner in which healthcare organizations organize care, enhance safety, and improve the outcomes of patients with chronic illnesses like hypertension. These policies determine the structures on which health professionals interact, resource sharing, and equitable care provision within the community and hospital environments. They also make sure that their patients are provided with the same, evidence-based, and affordable treatment. Federal and state policies in the treatment of hypertension in older adults focus on preventive care, chronic disease management, education of patients, and collaborative models that facilitate long-term adherence and self-management (Gago et al., 2024). Having such policies, Mercy Hospital builds up a system of ethical principles, clinical responsibility, and coordination of care. Slide 04 Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is still one of the most significant federal policies that contributes to coordinated care in the United States. It focuses on preventive health care, managing chronic diseases, and value-based care, but not the fee-for-service model (Ercia, 2021). Hospitals such as the Mercy Hospital are invited to join Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and embrace Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), where multidisciplinary teams are formed to enhance communication and follow-ups through ACA initiatives. The ACA is also inclusive of wellness visits, blood pressure screening, and nutrition counseling of older adults with hypertension without cost-sharing. This is favorable to early detection and compliance with lifestyle change, and fewer emergency hospitalizations due to untreated high blood pressure. Slide 05 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chronic Care Management Program The CMS Chronic Care Management (CCM) policy targets specifically the patients with several chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It enables the healthcare providers to be paid for non-face-to-face coordination functions, including medication administration, phone appointments, and care plans (Jang et al., 2024). Nurses and case managers at Mercy Hospital deploy the program to ensure that older hypertensive patients remain in touch with the medical facility, to arrange follow-ups, and to monitor blood pressure trends remotely. The interdisciplinary effort among physicians, dietitians, and pharmacists is reinforced by the CCM model, which will lead to the minimization of the gap in treatment and thus enhance the control of blood pressure. The policy is particularly essential towards enhancing access to regular care in the elderly whose mobility is limited or who have difficulties with transportation. Slide 06 Million Hearts® Initiative Million Hearts Initiative is a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, which is geared towards the prevention of a million heart attacks and strokes over a period of five years. This is a policy-based program that facilitates standardized hypertension management, community-based outreach, and evidence-based interventions (Wall et al., 2020). Mercy Hospital engages in all strategies of the Million Hearts since it runs blood pressure surveillance initiatives, trains patients on sodium intake reduction, and partners with community health wellness facilities to improve cardiovascular health. The program promotes collaboration between clinical practitioners and community health institutions to recognize those patients who are at risk and provide them with specific preventive services. With the help of this policy, healthcare providers not only increase blood pressure control but also the overall cardiovascular health of the population. Slide 07 Ethical and Policy Considerations in Care Coordination The national, state, and local health policies are complex networks that guide the coordination of care for older adults with hypertension. These policies are expected to enhance the safety, access, and health equity, and some of them might provoke moral issues regarding fairness, autonomy, privacy, and resource allocation (Eastman et al., 2022). Care coordinators in Mercy Hospital should be able to interpret such policies in terms of an ethical perspective so that compliance would not be at the expense of compassion and a patient-centered approach. Ethical dilemmas usually emerge in cases where policies, which are required to affect the population level, do not tally with the needs of individuals or cultural inclinations. The awareness of these intersections will assist nurses in providing ethically and policy-equivalent care that facilitates well-being and justice. Slide 08 National Policy: Healthy People 2030 Initiative The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a program known as Healthy People 2030, in which the country has targets to be achieved in terms of lowering the prevalence of chronic diseases, with hypertension being one of them. It focuses on community-level prevention, patient education, and health equity (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2024). As much as these objectives may direct clinical priorities at Mercy Hospital, they may pose challenges of ethical dilemmas linked to equity and autonomy. On a case in point, standardized goals of blood pressure decrease might not take into account personal socioeconomic and cultural limitations that influence the way of living adherence to lifestyle. The ethical dilemma that nurses face is that they need to balance a principle of justice that recommends equal treatment to all patients