High-value care for older adults with complex care needs: Leveraging nurses as innovators

Our health care system is facing unprecedented and complex challenges in caring for older adults and their families. A paradigm shift is needed that recognizes new roles and competencies for nurses to play a leadership role in the design and implementation of high value care models.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a series of recommendations for leveraging nurses to generate innovative tools and solutions for the delivery of value-based care for older adults living with complex health and social needs and their families.

These recommendations were generated by a Think-Tank of national experts based on review of current evidence and focus groups with older adults.

The generated recommendations focus on positioning nurses to assume leadership roles in implementing evidence-based care models, preparing nurses to serve as health innovators and catalysts of system transformation, and fostering system-level infrastructure that leverages the contributions of nurses for current and emerging roles.

Nurses as innovators can address the challenges in providing high quality care for older adults with complex needs and their families. System-level infrastructure, including resources for training and implementation of well-established programs, is necessary to leverage the contributions of nurses and facilitate innovative approaches to care.