Evolution of Care and Nursing: Moving With the Patients

Health care costs are growing exponentially. They will continue to erode disposable income, especially among those most in need of health care-the poor and elderly. As the baby boomer generation ages, we will see dramatic growth in health care spending, which will influence the health care market in new ways. Increased government intervention and technological advancements will only further this shift. Factors driving the need for health care transformation include fragmentation, access problems, unsustainable costs, suboptimal outcomes, and disparities of care. Nurses now have more tools (ie, mHealth, telemedicine, and electronic health records) that they can use to provide assistance to their practices outside of acute care settings. These realities are all contributors to an evolving trend: retail health.