The 21st century nurse leader and the future of health care

Abstract

The United States Healthcare System became an organized body through politics. The historical importance of The Flexner Report is that the report provided the framework for medical education reform in the US. Nonetheless, the current system of various payor sources, with Medicare and Medicaid being the largest, is going through yet another transformation and is looking to the future to provide better quality care at lower costs. The Essential Hospitals Institute (2013) explained the concept of the healthcare system development. There have been varieties of integrative health care development systems built to improve, correct, and lower cost, which are the main issues of the current health care system. There are two main integration systems: horizontal integration and vertical integration. Horizontal and vertical integrations are achieved by grouping multi hospitals, offer continuum of care, reduce cost and risk. Health care today is looking to provide better care and most importantly increase population wellness at a lower cost. The goal of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to provide healthcare to those without health insurance or those underserved populations as explained by the Institute for Health Care Improvement. Faced with all these important changes in the health care system, nurse leaders are poised to play an important role in the present and future of the medical system. Therefore, the nurse leader must be experienced, knowledgeable and be dynamic and flexible enough to adapt to the changes. Roussel, Thomas and Harris clarified the importance of nurses within the context of the future of nursing and nurses as catalyst for change. By definition, nurses are the catalysts to bring about the change the ACA seeks to provide in the health care delivery system.