The camouflaged home health clinical nurse specialist

Home health clinical nurse specialists are camouflaged. The contributions that they make to the home health specialty are stymied and often are invisible to individuals outside of the specialty. Their role is less developed and is less implemented than in other nursing specialties. There are impediments to role development, including difficulties in defining the clinical base of the specialty, the independence and consultative nature of all home health nursing practice despite differences in educational backgrounds or levels of practice, and regulatory and reimbursement restrictions. Responsibilities and qualifications of the home health clinical nurse specialist are presented. The author suggests that these nurses review and sign Medicare Plan of Treatment insurance forms (instead of physicians), because most of home healthcare is nursing care dealing with functional abilities rather than medical care.