Objectives: To explore public health nurses' knowledge, perceptions, and practices under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Design and sample: A cross-sectional, web-based survey was completed by a sample of 1,143 public health nurses (PHNs) in the United States.
Measures: Descriptive statistics were analyzed for variables related to general knowledge and perception of the ACA and for the extent of involvement in activities related to the implementation of the ACA. Qualitative analysis was conducted on free text comments to two open-ended questions about current and future PHNs involvement in the ACA.
Results: Approximately 45% of PHNs reported changes in their daily work due to the ACA. PHNs reported being very or somewhat involved in these activities of the ACA: integration of primary care and public health (62%), provision of clinical preventive services (60.3%), care coordination (55.4%), patient navigation (55.3%), establishment of private-public partnerships (55.3%), population health strategies (53.6%), population health data assessment and analysis (53.8%), community health assessments (49%), involvement in medical homes (37.8%), provision of maternal and child health home visiting services (32.1%), and involvement in Accountable Care Organizations (29.2%).
Conclusion: PHNs are making substantial contributions to implementation of the ACA.
Keywords: Affordable Care Act; care coordination; public health nursing practice.
© 2016 The Authors. Public Health Nursing Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Schaffer MA, Keller LO, Reckinger D. Schaffer MA, et al. Public Health Nurs. 2015 Nov-Dec;32(6):711-20. doi: 10.1111/phn.12191. Epub 2015 Mar 26. Public Health Nurs. 2015. PMID: 25808923
Martinez RN, Gordon EJ, Tully S, Silva A, Tarlov E, French DD, Huo Z, Smith BM, Gordon HS, Stroupe KT. Martinez RN, et al. Mil Med. 2017 May;182(5):e1715-e1723. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-16-00354. Mil Med. 2017. PMID: 29087916
Harmon M, Joyce BL, Johnson RGH, Hicks V, Brown-Schott N, Pilling L, Collinge R, Brownrigg V. Harmon M, et al. Public Health Nurs. 2020 Jul;37(4):581-595. doi: 10.1111/phn.12716. Epub 2020 Apr 16. Public Health Nurs. 2020. PMID: 32297371
Yeh YP. Yeh YP. Hu Li Za Zhi. 2014 Jun;61(3):5-13. doi: 10.6224/JN.61.3.5. Hu Li Za Zhi. 2014. PMID: 24899553 Review. Chinese.
Manchikanti L, Caraway DL, Parr AT, Fellows B, Hirsch JA. Manchikanti L, et al. Pain Physician. 2011 Jan-Feb;14(1):E35-67. Pain Physician. 2011. PMID: 21267047 Review.
Chintamaneni S, Yatham P, Stumbar S. Chintamaneni S, et al. Cureus. 2023 Aug 14;15(8):e43456. doi: 10.7759/cureus.43456. eCollection 2023 Aug. Cureus. 2023. PMID: 37711922 Free PMC article. Review.
Kuo CP, Hsieh PL, Chen HM, Yang SY, Hsiao YL, Wang SL. Kuo CP, et al. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Aug 4;9(8):993. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9080993. Healthcare (Basel). 2021. PMID: 34442131 Free PMC article.
Valverde PA, Calhoun E, Esparza A, Wells KJ, Risendal BC. Valverde PA, et al. Transl Behav Med. 2018 May 23;8(3):456-467. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibx080. Transl Behav Med. 2018. PMID: 29800405 Free PMC article.