NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 2 Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Greetings, everyone. I am  ______, a care coordinator at Lodi community care center. Today’s presentation concerns the ethical and policy factors influencing care coordination within community settings. As representatives of various homeless shelters, this presentation is essential for you all as it will highlight the concept of care coordination, governmental policies affecting care coordination, ethical considerations, and health policies tailored for the homeless population to maintain their continuum of care. Lastly, the impact of the nursing code of ethics will be discussed. 

What is Care Coordination? 

Moving ahead in our presentation, let us dig into the concept of care coordination. Care coordination is strategic patient/population care planning and appropriate dissemination of protected health information. It is an approach used to provide patient/population-centered care to assess and accomplish the health needs of concerned individuals (Karam et al., 2021). There are various ethical considerations and health policies which influence care coordination. Let us discuss some of them ahead. 

Governmental Policies Affecting the Care Coordination

Several governmental policies significantly promote the health and safety of vulnerable populations, especially homeless people. These policies under federal/state level government assist homeless shelters to follow the standards of practices defined by the policies regarding healthcare accessibility and safety of the concerned population. 

1. The Affordable Care Act (ACA): The primary focus of ACA is to expand healthcare insurance to make health services accessible for every individual along with improve care coordination by effective allocation of resources, innovating new care models, such as Accountable Care Organizations, and enhancing collaboration among the team, patients/population, and the governmental bodies (Isola & Reddivari, 2022). Medicaid expansion under the ACA provides healthcare coverage to homeless individuals who receive primary care and preventive services, medical care, mental health support services, and treatment for various diseases. 
2. Housing First Policy: The Housing First approach, supported by government policies, provides early access to permanent and independent housing with minimal subsidies. This vital act prioritizes providing stable housing to homeless individuals (Tsai, 2020). This policy aims to provide a safer and more stable environment for the concerned population so that their primary health concerns can be addressed effectively. This policy minimizes the environmental barriers to care coordination arising from unstable street living and confirms safety for every individual. 

NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 2 Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Care coordinators are vital in effectively implementing these policies within and outside homeless shelters to ensure that the homeless population receives equitable healthcare opportunities and their safety is protected. Next, in our presentation, we will discuss the policies that raise ethical dilemmas in coordinated care. 

Ethical Dilemmas for Care Coordination 

Despite the positive impacts of the policies on care coordination, some ethical issues may arise during the implementation of these policies. The four major principles of ethics are – autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. These principles generally apply in all circumstances, especially in the healthcare domain. 

One significant ethical issue in the healthcare sector is data protection – privacy, security, and confidentiality. Care coordination, especially in homeless shelters, involves collecting and sharing persons’ protected health and sensitive information. Several ethical questions arise related to the privacy and confidentiality of this information. According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it is imperative to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive information and only share it with authorized personnel upon receiving consent from the individuals (Moore & Frye, 2019).

Balancing the importance of effective care coordination with protecting individual privacy rights is crucial and may raise ethical dilemmas for healthcare providers. Another ethical dilemma is the criminalization of homelessness. Several cities and states in the U.S. have employed policies that criminalize behaviors like sleeping on the streets and trespassing. Such policies raise ethical questions about an individual’s dignity (Rankin, 2019). These policies may impose legal implications and arrests for homeless people, raising eth