Registered nurse care coordination: Creating a preferred future for older adults with multimorbidity

Abstract

The concept of care coordination is often touted as the preferred way to streamline care for complex patients. Care coordination is even more popular with the mention of it in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and with new Medicare payment models. The purpose of this article is to define care coordination, briefly describe trends for older adults and care coordination, and explore roles for registered nurses. We describe elder-appropriate models of care coordination useful for older adults with multimorbidity. A brief exemplar provides an example of evidence-based care coordination services provided by a nursing and social work team, a model supported by recent literature. As a result of this discussion, readers will become informed about possibilities for the future of care delivery and the future of professional nursing practice.