Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Two provisions that will be affected continually by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are that no insurance discrimination will be based on an individual's wages and there will now be support of training programs that are concerned with integrated both mental and physical health services ("ANA POLICY & PROVISIONS of HEALTH REFORM LAW," 2010). When looking at the insurance discrimination no longer being tolerated, what this means is that group health plans and health insurance issuers cannot establish certain rules of eligibility for an individual to enroll under their plan ("ANA POLICY & PROVISIONS of HEALTH REFORM LAW," 2010). What this means for nursing practices both at the time this was established and now is that insurance companies can no longer prevent medical professionals from being able to take insurance that certain sectors of the population such as low-income individuals have. It also removes the element of pre-existing conditions in terms of what an insurer will or will not take.  

Literature has consistently discussed the role of nurses in mental health programs and services; specifically, patient satisfaction with the nurse practitioners, regardless of the amount or type of treatment that they received. While the role of nurse practitioners who provide assistance and support to mental health patients has been good, there exists a need for further training programs in order for these nurses to keep up with the core competencies and ever-changing aspects of research on mental health (Wortans et al., 2006). With the changes that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will implement, there will be support for more training programs for nurses to be able to keep up with the ever-evolving field of research as it relates to mental and physical health services and treatment. While the nurse practitioner knows and understands a lot about the treatments that can be applied to mentally and physically hurt patients, this is frequently changing because of medical evolution and how it is being integrated into the overall field.

References

ANA POLICY & PROVISIONS of HEALTH REFORM LAW. (2010). Retrieved from American Nurses Association website: http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy/HealthSystemReform/Policy-and-Health-Reform-Law.pdf

Wortans, J., Happell, B., & Johnstone, H. (2006). The role of the nurse practitioner in psychiatric/mental health nursing: exploring consumer satisfaction. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 13, 78-84.