NR 447 Week 1 Discussion Question, The Affordable Care Act

NR 447 Week 1 Discussion Question, The Affordable Care Act Healthcare reform is a term that is ever present in our practice settings and will not disappear any time soon. 1. Share with the class implementation of the Affordable Care Act in your organization. (If you are not working as a nurse, think about what was happening when you were a prelicensure student). 2. How did your fellow healthcare workers react to implementation of the ACA? 3. How were citizens in your community impacted? The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 at Morristown Medical Center, a large community Hospital, was incomparable and sent demand into overdrive. Through discussion with many of my peers, the ACA provided affordable healthcare to millions in need, therefore sending all facets of the Healthcare System skyrocketing as the demand for care increased. Our text Leadership and Management for Nurses, explains the importance of Health Care Policy to Nurses and the correlation between many critical issues including: access to care, staffing, standards, policies and procedure, etc. (Finkelman p. 29) With the increasing demand on health care, Atlantic Health System, including Morristown Medical center and their seven other sister hospitals, directed many assets in preventative and primary healthcare, now covered by insurances. Working on an Open-Heart Surgery (OHS) floor, the steady stream of patients continued, but in other departments including the Emergency Department, increased tremendously, and all over the U.S. In September 2016, The Journal of Arthroplasty published an article regarding data collected in Illinois, “ED visit volume among patients aged 18 to 64 years increased modestly but significantly [in Illinois] after ACA health insurance expansion” (Dresden p. 179). With the establishment of the ACA came job security for all healthcare professionals. As we continue to move towards the goal of a universal healthcare there are many issues to address. Much of the patient experience is lost with concern of reimbursement, paperwork, expenses, etc. Although as healthcare professionals its welcoming to see our citizens in the community receiving the care they need and deserve. Dresden, S. M., Powell, Es., Kang, R., McHugh, M., Cooper, A. J., & Feinglass, J. (2017). Health policy/original research Increased Emergency Department Use in Illinois After Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Annal Of Emergency Medicine, . Finkelman, A. (2016). Leadership and management for nurses: Core Competencies for quality care (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.