Health Care Finance, Economics, and Policy for Nurses: A Foundational Guide

The complexities of health care finance, economics, and policy today are inextricably intertwined with traditional nursing practice. This undergraduate nursing text distills these challenging topics into an engaging, easy-to-read format that facilitates ready application to any practice setting. Written specifically for RN to BSN and second-degree nursing programs, the book is the only such text grounded in nurses' own understanding and experience. Concise and practical, it supports foundational concepts with real-life case studies and clinical applications and reinforces information with interactive quizzes and multimedia materials. The book's content fulfills one of the AACN's key Essentials of Baccalaureate Education. Written by a health economics and policy expert, former dean, and award-winning teacher, the text synthesizes the vast scope of health economics to create an easily understandable guide for nursing action from bedside to boardroom.

The text describes the relationship between nursing and health care economics and traces the history of our health care system from the early 1900s through today. It contrasts the economics of health care with that of classic free markets and discusses the intersection of ethics and economics, providing nurses with the ethical tools to thoughtfully consider dilemmas arising from today's focus on the bottom line. The book describes how to use economic principles to shape organizations and public policy and includes a step-by-step, skillbuilding guide to enhancing professional influence through participation on governing boards. Complex financial principles are broken down to facilitate understanding for nurses with no prior knowledge of this discipline. The book also includes relevant information on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and is compatible with online teaching and coursework. Faculty resources include PowerPoint slides, a test bank, comprehensive review questions, and sample syllabi.

KEY FEATURES:

• Fulfills one of the key Essentials of Baccalaureate Education
• Addresses the specific needs of RN to BSN courses with a concise, easy-to-read format
• Illuminates complex principles with specific, engaging case examples relevant to nursing practice
• Authored by a leading nurse expert, health policy leader, former dean, and award-winning teacher
• Guides readers in using economic principles to shape organizations and public policy

Betty Rambur, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Routhier Endowed Chair for Practice and professor of nursing at the University of Rhode Island. She was formerly professor of nursing and health policy and at the University of Vermont and from 2000 to 2009 served there as an academic dean. In this role, she led the 2002 merger of the School of Nursing and the School of Allied Health Science to establish the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

These experiences build on Dr. Rambur's substantive leadership history in health policy and payment reform. From 1991-1995 she led North Dakota's 33-member, statewide public/private health financing and delivery reform effort that led to omnibus legislation. In 2013, Dr. Rambur was appointed to Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board by Governor Peter Shumlin and served in this role until 2017. The five member Green Mountain Care board is a quasi-judicial body. It oversees Vermont's financing, payment and delivery reform and holds broad regulatory, innovation, and evaluation authority. In May 2020, Dr.. Rambur appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission by the U.S. Comptroller General, Director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. MedPAC is an influential, nonpartisan group of policy experts who advise the U.S. Congress on Medicare payment and policy. She was reappointed to this role in 2003. She has also served on numerous advisory and governing boards, including the boards of trustees of an academic medical center and an independent community hospital.