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The CONnection News and Views from the University of South Carolina COLLEGE OF NURSING
March 2013
Health Reform: South Carolina Nurses Can Make a Difference With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, the health care system has been in a state of transition with demands to increase medical care coverage, improve care coordination and patient transitions across the care delivery continuum. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ website, an additional 800,000 South Carolinians will be eligible for access to new insurance coverage and/ or preventive service coverage and annual wellness visits. For nurses in South Carolina, there are opportunities to expand current nursing roles, create new roles, and lead innovations in shaping the future health care delivery systems. The University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing (CON) is leading transformations in several ways. First, we have the only nurse practitioner (NP) managed medical care home in the state, the Children and Family Healthcare Center. This CON managed center, located at 2638 Two Notch Road in Columbia, provides quality, safe and efficient primary care to approximately 2,500 patients annually. The center is equipped with an electronic medical record, and has several managed care contracts, including a new Refugee Resettlement contract. Secondly, the CON is leading the way in training new advanced practice nurses for our future workforce. We currently have 215 students enrolled in our Master’s NP and Doctor of Nurse Practice (DNP) programs. Being the 4th DNP program established in the nation over a decade ago, there are now a critical mass of USC alumni who are shaping health in primary care, urgent care, and health policy settings in South Carolina and beyond. Third, the CON has outstanding research faculty who are testing new innovative models to facilitate primary care utilization among those who have not typically sought preventive care. We have opportunities to test innovations in care coordination and management from acute to primary care and home settings, and are prepared to lead new models of care delivery. Finally, the CON is addressing health care policy based on the 2010 Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report, which calls for nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and training. The CON’s Center for Nursing Leadership, in partnership with the South Carolina Hospital Association, is leading a state-wide task force to address these and other IOM recommendations. Our faculty are providing testimonies Inside This Issue and working with state legislators to address the limited scope of NP practice. As South Carolina nurses, we still have a lot of work to do. In the months ahead, Students’ Corner...............2-3 there will be ample opportunities to step up, lead innovations in care delivery, test new Alumni & Development....4-5 models, and to work with policy makers to ensure our citizens have access to quality health care and improved health outcomes. We must keep pushing forward, and together, we can Faculty & Staff Notes........6 make a difference for all of our South Carolina citizens. MAP Conference...............7
Jeannette O. Andrews PhD, RN, FNP, FAAN Dean & Professor j.andrews@sc.edu
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Practice Update................8 Upcoming Events.............8
Send Inquiries or Newsletter items to: Jan Johnson jnjohnso@mailbox.sc.edu