how will health care reform impact the nursing job market?

[stefanyjoy]

I am just curious to everyone's thoughts about the subject -- do you think job opportunities will open up once the major phases of health care reform roll out in 2014? Do you think it will be like in the past where nurses have more freedom to switch specialties and new grads can find jobs easily?

[silentRN]

I think some areas will increase. With the new rule regarding parity of mental health care more people will be able to receive mental health services. With the change regarding preventive care services carrying zero co-pay and zero co-insurance there will be greater redemption of those services. I heard today on the news that there is a renewed interest in Washington about reforming medical liability. That would be fantastic for health care if it went through.

Reforming medical liability....tell me more about this. I'm interested.

[elkpark]

I heard today on the news that there is a renewed interest in Washington about reforming medical liability. That would be fantastic for health care if it went through.

"Fantastic" how? It wouldn't save much money -- the total cost of the entire liability system, court awards, malpractice premiums, legal fees, lost clinician time, cost of "defensive medicine" tests and procedures, the whole shebang, comes to less than 3% of the overall healthcare spending in the US each year, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. That means that, if we snapped our fingers and suddenly made it impossible for anyone to sue for anything (no matter how legitimate the case), no one had to buy malpractice, no one had to order extra tests to cover their butts, etc., etc., etc., the savings would be less than 3% of annual healthcare spending. And we all know that, even if some form of "reform" is passed, it will be a lot milder than that ...

"How much do medical liability costs--including the costs of malpractice insurance, claims and legal fees and doctors practicing "defensive medicine" to avoid being sued--add to overall medical costs? During the recent debates over federal health care reform, considerable attention focused on whether medical liability reform should be included in the package as a means of reducing costs. Proponents offered some very high estimates (as high as 10%) of how much the liability system contributed to health care costs, while opponents trivialized these expenses. In an effort to separate fact from fiction--and to provide the first academic study of medical liability system costs-- a comprehensive analysis from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that medical liability costs totaled about 2.4% of annual health care spending in the United States ..."

Medical Liability Costs in U.S. Pegged at 2.4 Percent of Annual Health Care Spending - September 07, 2010 -2010 Releases - Press Releases - Harvard School of Public Health