NURS FPX 4065 Assessment 3

NURS FPX 4065 Assessment 3 Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX4065 Patient-Centered Care Coordination

Prof. Name:

Date

Ethical and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Hello, my name is ______. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my insights with you today. I currently serve as a care coordinator at the Longevity Center. This organization is committed to supporting individuals with mental health conditions through a blend of education, therapeutic services, and access to essential healthcare resources.

Agenda

This presentation explores the ethical and policy considerations that shape mental health care coordination at the Longevity Center. It emphasizes the value of multidisciplinary care teams, highlights crucial policies such as the Baker Act and HIPAA, and examines the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics. Furthermore, it addresses ethical challenges such as equitable access, cultural responsiveness, and systemic disparities. A strong focus is placed on collaborative community partnerships and sustainable approaches that enhance mental health care outcomes.

Significance of Care Coordination in Chronic Disease Management

Effective care coordination is a cornerstone of managing chronic mental health conditions at the Longevity Center. It ensures that individuals receive timely, comprehensive, and integrated services across diverse care domains. Patients with serious mental illnesses often require collaboration between psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and community-based organizations.

When care becomes fragmented, patients are at risk of experiencing worsening symptoms, frequent relapses, and increased healthcare expenditures (Bury et al., 2022). Within Florida, approximately 2.8 million adults are affected by mental disorders, and in 2021, nearly 41% reported symptoms of depression (National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], n.d.). These statistics underscore the urgent need for well-structured care coordination strategies that improve treatment accessibility and enhance health outcomes at the Longevity Center.

Governmental Policies’ Effect on Care Coordination

The coordination of mental health services at the Longevity Center is shaped significantly by state and federal policies.

Policy/Act	Purpose	Impact on Care Coordination
Baker Act (Florida Mental Health Act)	Provides emergency psychiatric intervention and safeguards patient rights during crises	Establishes legal standards for involuntary evaluation while protecting human dignity (Florida Department of Children and Families, 2024)
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)	Protects patient health information	Ensures privacy while allowing secure sharing of data among healthcare teams to facilitate coordinated care (Subbian et al., 2021)
Value-Based Care Models	Encourages preventive and patient-centered interventions	Promotes efficiency and early intervention while reducing long-term healthcare costs (Pincus & Fleet, 2022)

Recent policy reforms in Florida have also emphasized integrated behavioral health systems and value-driven care delivery. Community organizations such as NAMI Florida complement these efforts by offering peer support, education, and patient navigation, thereby bridging clinical care with social support systems.

Ethical Questions or Dilemmas for Care Coordination

National Policy Provision

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands access, improves service quality, and promotes cost regulation. However, tensions arise when standardized protocols conflict with individualized patient needs. For instance:

Question: How do standardized care pathways create ethical dilemmas? Answer: They can undermine patient autonomy when cost-driven models prioritize efficiency over personalized treatment, particularly in complex psychiatric cases (Braun et al., 2023).

State Provision Policy

Florida’s Medicaid behavioral health initiatives strive to provide affordable mental health services for vulnerable groups. Yet, ethical issues surface due to:

Delays in access
Limited specialist availability
Administrative hurdles

These challenges compromise beneficence, as patients with serious conditions often face exacerbated symptoms before receiving adequate care (Patel et al., 2025).

Local Provision Policy

Community-based programs, including those by NAMI Florida, offer free screenings, peer counseling, and educational resources.

Question: What ethical challenge arises in local mental health services? Answer: Resource allocation remains a pressing concern. Limited capacity and inconsistent funding raise fairness issues when certain populations are excluded from essential services (Braun et al., 2023).

Impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses

The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses provides essential ethical guidance for professionals at the Longevity Center.

Provision	Focus	Application in Care Coordination
Provision 2	Nurse’s commitment to the patient	Advocates for dignity, respect, and patient-centered approaches
Provision 8	Collaboration for social justice	Encourages teamwork to reduce disparities and protect human rights (ANA, 2025)

Ethical principles such as beneficence, justice, autonomy, and non-maleficence remain central. By applying these standards, nurses at the Longevity Center ensure fairness, safeguard patient rights, and strengthen long-term care adherence.

At the Longevity Center, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) significantly influence mental health outcomes. These include:

Economic stability (income insecurity, job loss)
Housing security (unstable housing or homelessness)
Access to transportation (delays in reaching appointments)
Health literacy (patients’ ability to understand treatment options)

Ethically, these barriers compromise the principle of justice, as they hinder equitable access. Nurses are called upon by the ANA Code of Ethics to acknowledge and address systemic inequities by tailoring care to each individual’s unique circumstances (ANA, 2025).

Recommendations for Support and Collaboration

To strengthen ethical care coordination, collaboration with community organizations is crucial.

NAMI Florida provides peer support, family education, and advocacy services.
Mental Health Association of Central Florida (MHACF) delivers housing support, affordable counseling, and patient navigation (MHACF, 2025).

By engaging in advocacy, cultural sensitivity training, and interprofessional collaboration, nurses can overcome institutional barriers and ensure that care remains patient-centered.

Conclusion

Ethical and policy-driven care coordination plays a vital role in improving outcomes for individuals with mental health conditions at the Longevity Center. Guided by the ANA Code of Ethics and strengthened by partnerships with organizations like NAMI Florida and MHACF, nurses can mitigate systemic inequities and foster culturally responsive care. Through these approaches, long-term improvements in psychological well-being and equity in access to services can be achieved.

References

ANA. (2025). Code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses Association. https://codeofethics.ana.org/home

Braun, E., Scholten, M., & Vollmann, J. (2023). Assisted suicide and the discrimination argument: Can people with mental illness fulfill beneficence‐ and autonomy‐based eligibility criteria? Bioethics, 38(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13243

Bury, D., Hendrick, D., Smith, T., Metcalf, J., & Drake, R. E. (2022). The psychiatric nurse care coordinator on a multi-disciplinary, community mental health treatment team. Community Mental Health Journal, 58(7), 1354–1360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-00945-7