Outlook for nurses It s hard to tell exactly how the changes in the industry will shake out in the long term as far as job security and prospects for nurses, said Connie Little, MS, RN, senior vice president at the California Association for Health Services at Home. She s still seeing a lot of home health recruitment ads in publications. At the same time, it s possible that trends in nursing employment of the last several years hospitals downsizing and home health agencies growing may be changing, she said. Some agencies are switching from paying nurses per visit to paying them on salary, St. Pierre said. Since the incentives for more visits to each patient have been taken away, agencies will focus on more efficient and effective care, she said.
Every visit has to count.
Staff will have to be more adept at teaching people to help themselves. Rural Technology Cows, computers and continuing education. These smaller agencies are the ones most likely to be owned by nurses, St. Pierre said. Shawne Carter McGibbon, JD, assistant chief counsel for advocacy at the Small Business Administration, has urged Congress and the Health Care Financing Administration to change the Balanced Budget Act provisions that are hurting the 80 to 85 percent of home health agencies considered small businesses. We can t throw the baby out with the bathwater.