Second, healthcare is undergoing payment reform unseen since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid. Technology is revamping bedside manner, care delivery, and everything in between. And quality of care is more important than ever as doctors will be increasingly paid for how well patients get, not for services provided to them.
“NP and PA providers can have a great impact on care design and throughput as well as other contributions in the hospital environment,” she adds.
Cardin says there can’t be too many educated viewpoints on complicated issues that will affect care delivery in the United States for decades to come. And the first NP/PA voice might be, gulp, just what the doctors ordered.
“We’re at a pivotal time for this organization and also for healthcare in general with the shifts in how we’re paid and what we’re paid for and the complexity of electronic medical records and fragmented healthcare and billing and quality metrics—there’s just so many challenges right now,” she says. “It’s just hugely humbling to be a part of that and try to anticipate what direction that we as a society should go into.” TH
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.