Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination Presentation Script
Title Topic
Hello and welcome to this presentation focused on ethical and policy issues in care coordination. As nurses remain at the forefront of coordinating care within the context of the community, they must be able to understand the various ethical and policy issues that affect such care coordination. This presentation aims to equip nurses working within communities with the knowledge to interpret and apply the code of ethics and health policy across the care continuum.
Presentation
This is the outline of today’s presentation. The presentation first presents the organization of choice. In this case, we focus on The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). It will then cover two specific governmental policies that directly affect NAMI, with a focus on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We’ll further cover how the specific provisions of these two policies raise ethical questions and dilemmas for care coordination, then the impact of the code of ethics for nurses on the coordination and continuum of care, including the analysis of factors contributing to health disparities based on the Healthy People 2020 as a framework before concluding the presentation.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
The selected organization that would be interested in learning about ethical and policy issues that affect the coordination of care is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI has been selected as it is the United States’ largest grassroots mental health organization. NAMI is made up of 700 NAMI State organizations and affiliates. The organization’s main efforts are focused on providing much-needed support to mental healthcare providers, patients, and individuals within the community in order to provide care and promote awareness of mental health at the community level through education. NAMI also advocates for patients and communities to ensure the issues of mental health are focused on within related policies. As NAMI works with grassroots volunteers to provide care, help, and hope to Americans at the community levels, the organization, through such volunteers who include nurses and other mental health specialists directly involved in the coordination of care for mental healthcare, and thus must understand ethical and policy issues that affect the coordination of care throughout the mental health care continuum.
Governmental Policies Affecting NAMI
There are several government policies related to access and mental healthcare, and the management of patient health information that may create ethical and policy challenges for NAMI during the coordination and delivery of mental healthcare services. This presentation focuses specifically on and analyses the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) align with the Coverage of Preventive Services under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a number of ways (see. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2016)). For instance, as outlined in the ACA, it is pushing toward achieving universal health insurance coverage. The policy mandates the insurance marketplace cover mental health and substance use disorders like any other health condition. The provisions of the MHPAEA affect the NAMI organization. They aim to eliminate the existing discrimination against mental health issues due to substance use in health insurance coverage, while the NAMI itself is focused on enabling access to mental healthcare and information to all Americans indiscriminately.
Governmental Policies Affecting NAMI (Cont..)
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a major policy that has a significant impact on the operations of the NAMI. First, HIPAA was created to ensure the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage for Americans, as well as to provide protections for protected health information (PHI) (Moore & Frye, 2019). The policy has provisions that affect how NAMI operates, such as setting up standards for the security and privacy of protected health information PHI, including electronic health data, and setting up rules that define how PHI and any other identifiable patient health information is shared or disclosed among healthcare providers. This means that, as NAMI collects and manages a lot of patient and population health data and other individually identifiable information, HIPAA places the liability of protecting such information on the organization. Therefore, NAMI must ensure that all of its members, including volunteers, adhere to the provisions of the HIPAA to achieve compliance. And most importantly, the HIPAA supports the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage for all Americans, a provision that can help NAMI achieve its goals of supporting mental health across the U.S.
Policy Provisions Raising Ethical Questions/Dilemmas for Care Coordination
Although both the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are beneficial to the operations of the NAMI, they have particular provisions that raise ethical questions and dilemmas during the coordination of care for mental health patients. For instance, regardless of MHPAEA’s provisions for coverage of mental health issues as any other health conditions and for coverage for all Americans, there still exist racial and ethnic disparities in mental healthcare, majorly due to lack of insurance coverage (Thomeer et al., 2023). Additionally, the lack of insurance is still a barrier to access to healthcare among U.S. populations with mental health issues (Coombs et al., 2021). Additionally, certain provisions of the MHPAEA create policy implementation issues. For instance, it is not definitive how insurance coverage for behavioral health care compares to other types, such as medical‐surgical coverage, and failures in regulating care management due to a lack of clear clinical details of an illness (Frank, 2018) in this case mental health issues related to substance abuse.
Policy Provisions Raising Ethical Questions/Dilemmas for Care Coordination (Cont.)
The HIPAA has various provisions that raise ethical questions and dilemmas about care coordination. For instance, the main provision of the privacy rule has set various rules and standards for the management and handling of patient health information or PHI. It only allows the sharing of such PHI with “covered entities,” which, from the perspective of NAMI, may limit how providers involved in the provision of mental health services coordinate in throughout the continuum of care. Noting that some volunteers do not fall under the definition of “covered entities,” such a limitation may significantly inefficient care coordination. Moreover, patient control of their health information may also lead to poor sharing among providers, which reduces the efficiency of care coordination (Ivanova et al., 2020). Another ethical issues that arise due to HIPAA is the patient’s right to disclose information, which may lead patients to withhold crucial health information, especially related to substance abuse (Grando et al., 2020). This may complicate the collection of patient information, including MH/SUD health issues, leading to a lack of comprehensiveness in the issue diagnoses. Thus, there is a poor quality of care and prolonged suffering.
Impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses on the Coordination and Continuum of Care
The Code of Ethics for Nurses by the American Nurses Association (ANA) is a comprehensive framework in nursing that acts as a guide for responsible nursing practice (American Nurses Association (ANA), n.d.). The code also defines ethical values and nursing practice, stating that nurses are obligated to follow ethical values throughout the family. The Code of Ethics for Nurses also defines the duties of the nurse within each nursing profession. Additionally, the Code also helps show how nurses remain committed to serving the community.
Impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses on the Coordination and Continuum of Care (Cont..)
The Code of Ethics for Nurses was created by the American Nurses Association to promote successful adherence to ethical principles within the nursing profession (American Nurses Association (ANA), n.d.). The Code of Ethics for nurses has a significant impact on the coordination of care throughout the continuum of care. For instance, it ensures that nurses comply with the set standards of care including ethical standards. It also impacts care coordination in the continuum of care by motivating nurses to advocate for the rights of patients as well as eliminate disparities in access to mental health services and ensure that each patient regardless of social, economic, or racial background has access to the best available mental healthcare. Additionally, the Code of Ethics for Nurses further supports care coordination throughout the continuum of care by promoting respect for the autonomy of patients and ensuring all aspects of patient privacy and confidentiality are observed during the design of coordinated mental healthcare.
Factors Contributing to Health Disparities and Access.
Regardless of the existence of government policies such as the ACA and MHPAEA, significant health disparities in health and access to health services, especially mental healthcare services, still exist. Based on the Healthy People 2020 and the recent Healthy People 2030 frameworks, it is possible to determine the various factors contributing to health, health disparities, and access to health services. Using Healthy People 2020 as the assessment framework, the following factors are identifiable: economic stability, which has been found to determine access to critical health services (Maness et al., 2020), access to education and quality of the education, an individual’s social and community context, access to health and quality of available health services, and their neighborhood and build environment. Other factors that have been found to have significant and persistent impact on health are race and knowledge of diseases (Zhu & Young, 2022).Evidence and
Conclusion
In this presentation, we have noted that NAMI has a clear goal of enabling all Americans to have access to mental healthcare and support. However, the efforts of the organization are much hindered by existing government policies. Such government policies, including MHPAEA and the HIPAA, determine the efficiency of care coordination within the continuum of mental care by creating ethical challenges, questions, and dilemmas within the operations of the NIMA. Regardless, the success of care coordination across the continuum of care must adhere to the code of ethics for the best outcomes. At the same, the success of the efforts of NAMI is easier to achieve if the organization bases its decisions on the social determinants of health within the local communities they serve.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Select a community organization or group that you feel would be interested in learning about ethical and policy issues that affect the coordination of care. Then, develop and record a 10-12-slide, 20-minute presentation, with audio, intended for that audience. Create a detailed narrative script or speaker notes for your presentation, 4-5 pages in length.
Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination Presentation Script
Expand All
Introduction
This assessment provides an opportunity for you to develop a presentation for a local community organization, which provides an overview of ethical standards and relevant policy issues that affect the coordination of care. Completing this assessment will strengthen your understanding of ethical issues and policies related to the coordination and continuum of care, and will empower you to be a stronger advocate and nursing professional.