The American Rescue Plan and Its Effects on Nursing Practice

Health Care Delivery Models and Nursing Practice
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Course Name and Number
Due Date
Health Care Delivery Models and Nursing Practice
The United States healthcare system is constantly changing to meet contemporary patient and professional needs. Stakeholders have induced changes through reforms and restructuring to ensure that it provides the best health care services for quality outcomes. Within the last five years, different policies have significantly affected practices across various professions. These changes also affect patient outcomes in unique ways, in addition to demanding specific leadership approaches from the healthcare providers. In this context, this paper explores the current healthcare reforms in the nation, the actions taken, and the nursing roles within the changing environment.
Current or Emerging healthcare Laws or Federal Regulation
The American Rescue Plan represents one of the recent federal regulations introduced in America to restructure and reform healthcare delivery in the nation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden signed it into law on March 11, 2021 (Campaign for Action, 2022). The rule incorporates a $1.9 trillion relief package for COVID-19 with various provisions seeking to transform the health systems, hospitals, and professions. It also comprised other funding targeting rural healthcare professionals and facilities, among other fundamental elements like the Medicare wage index changes. Its central objective was to boost the country’s capacity to respond against the pandemic through additional resources for treatment, vaccines, personal protective equipment, development of the workforce, tracing of contacts, and testing (Campaign for Action, 2022). The law is comprehensive because it influences diverse practices, including nursing, in dynamic ways.
Nursing practice has received critical and progressive effects since the president signed this regulation into law. For instance, it has bolstered the workforce population in underserved communities, relieving the existing practitioners of the excess work-related pressures (Campaign for Action, 2022). The $500 million in finances provided by the law to support skilled nursing facilities arises as an impactful component that has enabled these experts to extend their services to vulnerable populations, increasing access and availability of nursing services for all (Campaign for Action, 2022). The focus on improving nursing, capacity building through training, and meeting loan repayment demonstrates the law’s readiness to improve their working conditions and facilitate easy delivery of nursing services (Campaign for Action, 2022). This approach has positioned nursing roles as fundamental in the caring of diverse populations during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It has elevated their responsibility in combating diseases as critical to the stability of the healthcare system.
Quality Measures and Pay for Performance Effect on Patient Outcomes
Quality measures and pay-for-performance have remained a divisive discourse in the healthcare system. Researchers such as Martin et al. (2020) indicate that some studies find these...