Timeline 2020
"Timeline 2020" is scary to someone in their late seventies, although living to be 100 years is more common as the aging wave becomes a tsunami in the future of health care delivery. How is the health care delivery of 2020 going to manage the number of increasing complexity of patient care in acute care settings as well as across the continuum of care? How can nursing leaders impact their organization's ability to be ready for all the regulatory mandates and keep patient safety and quality of care foremost in developing systems of accountability?
Why should nurse leaders be the ones to do it? Nurses still rank as the most trusted profession, topping the Gallup poll list for the 12th time in 13 years. The Affordable Care Act and the Future of Nursing recommendations provide a very strong basis for the leadership role of nurses in all sectors of health care. As the recent issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly (NAQ), "From CNO to CEO," clearly demonstrated that nurse leaders are on the cutting edge of our nation's health care delivery challenges and changes.
Foremost among nurse leaders in pivotal change positions is Rhonda Anderson, RN, DNSc(h), FAAN, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer of Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona.
Rhonda is serving as guest Issue editor for this "Timeline 2020" issue of NAQ, which reflects her vision as a major leader and innovator, realizing what lies ahead for all nurse leaders. She is Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Healthcare Executives. She also serves on the Institute for Interactive Patient Care National Advisory Board, National Guideline Clearinghouse and National Quality Measures Clearinghouse Expert Panel, American Hospital Association Board of Trustees, American Hospital Association Health Research and Educational Trust Board, National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions Quality Council, and the National Quality Forum Measure Applications Partnership Coordinating Committee. Rhonda is Chairman of the Board of Directors, Children's Action Alliance.
Rhonda received the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arizona State University College of Nursing. In 1987, Rhonda and I were honored to be selected participants in The First International Institute: Executive Nurse Leadership in the United Kingdom and the United States-Florence Nightingale Trust in London, England at the Royal College of Nursing. (I came from Saudi Arabia and it was one of the worst storms in London history.) Rhonda's achievements and awards are monumental and in 2011 she was the Phoenix Business Journal Women in Business Honoree. We are so very fortunate to have Rhonda as an NAQ board member since 1992 and a constant dedicated guest issue editor. Her consummate willingness to share and provide leadership to future nurse leaders has impacted many in preparing for the ability to meet the challenges ahead. A prime example is the biggest health care information transformation in modern-day history, cited as adopting a new system for medical and hospital billing that expands the number of codes from about 24 000 to 140 000, according to Independence Blue Cross and the Pennsylvania Medical Society (January 2012).
Are you ready for the top 10 health IT future challenges?1
1. The majority of US providers will use electronic health records by the end of 2012. This will advance health information exchange functionality.
2. Providers will establish successful accountable care organizations, which will emerge from private or public-private initiatives.
3. Health plans will rebrand in 2012 as the focus turns to consumers and will be channeled toward enhancing consumer engagement and care or health engagement strategies.
4. There will be greater integration of payment systems with clinical performance and outcomes.
5. Pharmaceutical companies will add software that provides real time alerts, data integration, and analytics to create actionable information that will drive operational efficiencies.
6. Accountable care organizations will need to develop an enterprise analytic framework that includes clinical analytics. It will be necessary to support an integrated model that will make data available for all stakeholders.
7. The relationships between pharmaceutical companies and outsourcing firms will shift to broader and deeper partnering relationships across entire functional areas.
8. As physicians, nurses, and mid-level practitioners increasingly use their personal mobile devices to conduct work-related tasks, hospital chief information officers will have to deal with increased securityrisks.
9. Health plans will have to deploy second-generation communication strategies to support consumer communications beyond 2012.
10. The second generation of consumer communications will leverage consumers' social networks, including family, friends, and coworkers, to support healthy habits, which encourage people to follow medical, diet, or exercise regimens.
The private sector is beginning to adapt to the health care act and we are constantly challenged to do more with less in our personal and professional lives. The Obama administration has created a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to cut health care costs. The Health Improvement Institute has initiated a program to harmonize health research guidelines to foster excellence. No matter what 2020 brings to nursing leaders, we will be ready through innovation, motivation, and our ability to accomplish more with less. We have the professional courage and curiosity to creatively look at what we do, as nurses, through the lenses of our patients, as we meet the challenges of the future.
-Barbara J. Brown, EdD, RN, CNAA, FNAP,
FAAN
Editor-in-Chief
Nursing Administration Quarterly
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