Running head: HEALTH CARE POLICY DEVELOPMENT PAPER 1

Health Care Policy Development Paper

Angela Wetli

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Business of Healthcare in Complex Systems

4240

Catherine Mikelaites

October 9, 2016

Health Care Policy Development Paper

Health care policy development is important to the health care providers as well as the

patients. These policies can dictate how patients are cared for, what services are provided, and

how these services are paid for. Health care professionals need to understand the impact on

themselves and patients, the financial implications, and the opportunities or challenges that these

policies can present.

Health Care Law

The health care bill outlined in this paper is H.R. 1602- Nurse Staffing Standards for

Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2015. It was introduced by Representative Janice

Schakowsky on April 7, 2015. It was then referred to the subcommittee on health and is currently
under consideration. This bill is meant to provide standards for how many patients a nurse should

care for. There are multiple studies whose results show that patient outcomes can be directly

related to staffing levels. When nurses are asked to care for too many patients, there can be more

medical errors and patient care suffers. Once passed, this law will place a standard ratio for

nurses to patients based on the acuity of the patients. Each hospital will be encouraged to provide

a committee that oversees these ratios and continues to provide the staff to maintain these ratios.

This bill is meant to allow a nurse to refuse an assignment that is not within the outlined

ratios that are considered safe for the patients. The nurse can also refuse an assignment based on

lack of experience or education. The nurse can refuse such an assignment without receiving any

disciplinary action.

This bill prohibits hospitals from requiring mandatory overtime for nurses in order to

maintain the ratios that are outlined. The hospital must provide enough staff to maintain these

ratios without requiring nurses to work overtime shifts. The hospital must also provide enough

staff so that nurses can relieve each other for breaks during the shift.

Impact on Nursing Profession and Patients

This law has a positive impact on both the nursing profession and the patients. This law

requires that hospitals provide enough staff to maintain safe nurse to patient ratios. Section 3405

of this law states that a nurse can refuse an assignment or task based on a lack of experience or

education without disciplinary action ("H.R. 1602," 2015). It also requires that the hospital

provide enough nurses to relieve each other for breaks. This law provides that nurses cannot be

made to work mandatory overtime in order to staff the units properly. This will cut down on

medical errors and the burnout rate for nurses. Nurses will be able to do their job in a safer

manner which will improve nurse satisfaction with their job. This will aid in nurse retention for
HEALTH CARE POLICY DEVELOPMENT PAPER 3

facilities as well. This will lead to a team of more experienced nurses. The more experienced

nurses have lower incidence of errors.

This law is supported by the American Nurses Association. The ANA supports the fact

that this law will create staffing plans that are specific to each unit. The staffing plans take into

account the patient acuity and how many discharges, admission, and transfers each unit has on a

daily basis ("Nurse Staffing," 2015). The experience of the RNs on a floor and the ancillary

staff, such as nursing assistants is also taken into account.

The impact of this law on patients is positive as well. This law was introduced because

the Federal Government is interested in encouraging more quality care and improving the health

care services provided to patients in the United States. Because of this law, the care provided to

patients in hospitals and other facilities will be positively impacted. The patients will be less

likely to receive a medical error or harm. They will have more thorough care and have more

adequate time for education and instructions with their nurses. There will be more time for

family interaction with the nurses. Patient satisfaction scores will improve because of the more

adequate care.

Financial Implications

There are financial implications to take into account due to this law. The hospitals will be

required to hire more nurses, which is an expense because of their salaries. It is expensive to hire,

train, and pay a nurses salary. If the facility is required to hire multiple nurses this could be a

large expense. However, if the nurses are more satisfied with their jobs, then the retention rate

will go up. The hospital will then save money due to less turnover.
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If a hospital or healthcare facility hires enough nurses to give high quality care to their

patients, they will save money in time. This will increase their overall profits. The patients will

have a lower rate of medical errors, which can be very expensive. The patients will also have a

lower readmission rate due to better care and education upon discharge. Medicare

reimbursements are based on patient outcomes and complications. Complications could include

infections acquired during hospitalization, hospital readmissions, or patient falls. Medicare

reimbursements will be improved if the patient outcomes are good.

Opportunities and Challenges

There are definite opportunities for improvements due to this law. The hospitals and

healthcare facilities can greatly improve their patient care. When a facility has adequate staffing

to care for the patients, the facility can improve their employee satisfaction, as well as provide

quality care to their patients.

The challenges due to this law can be providing adequate staffing in all units of a facility.

There might be a unit that is understaffed due to illness or employees leaving the facility. The

hospitals will need to provide enough nurses in order to maintain the safe nurse to patient ratios

that are outlined in this law. Also, a particular day might have a higher admission rate or higher

acuity patients than on a typical day. The hospital might need to hire a float pool of nurses to fill

in on these situations. This law also requires hospitals and facilities to provide a committee to

oversee that these staffing needs are met. Putting together this committee could pose a challenge

to the facility.

Conclusion
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In conclusion, this law will require that hospitals and healthcare facilities provide

adequate nurses in order to maintain safe staff to patient ratios. This will improve nurse

satisfaction as well as patient care and outcomes. The ANA has shown support for this law. There

is a positive impact on the nursing profession as well as patients. The financial implications will

effect hospitals and facilities in a positive manner in the long run. Finally, the opportunities for

facilities to improve patient care will outweigh the challenges that are faced in order to provide

enough nurses to maintain the outlined safe nurse to patient ratios.

HEALTH CARE POLICY DEVELOPMENT PAPER 6

References

H.R.1602 - Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2015. (2015).

Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1602?q=%7B

%22search%22%3A%5B%22H.R.+1602%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=1

Nurse Staffing. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/nursestaffing