Healthcare Trends 2016: A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide

In 2015, nurse practitioners celebrated their 50th anniversary, the Affordable Care Act turned five, and the healthcare technology industry continued to boom. Healthcare providers are on the front lines of immense innovation and growth.

Nurse practitioners welcome great change in the form of skyrocketing salaries and increased autonomy. Healthcare reform, while still in its infancy, is turning arcane delivery philosophies into unprecedented care models that improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. The medical technology industry, now worth billions of dollars, continues to develop ever-shocking inventions that were in the realm of science fiction only a few years ago.

This article explores 21 health care trends (listed below) to watch for in 2016 that impact nurse practitioners, healthcare reform, and of course, health technology. Each trend is discussed in detail in my article on The NP Education Blog. 

Nurse Practitioner-Specific Trends

1. Changing  demographics
2. “Non-nurse” nurse practitioners
3. Doctor of Nursing Practice 
4. More autonomy and independent practice 
5. Skyrocketing NP salaries 
6. NP faculty shortages 
7. Increased job demand

Healthcare Reform Trends

1. Integrated care
2. Empowered patients
3. Wellness & employee health
4. Bundled payments
5. ICD-10
6. Greater accountability 
7. Population health

Medical Technology Trends

1. Electronic medical records
2. Mobile health
3. The cloud
4. Telemedicine
5. Ingestibles, Implantables, & Sensors 
6. Decision support
7. The Internet of things 

Continue reading my article on the Nurse Practitioner School blog, and be sure to check out their other useful NP School resources including a great chart comparing nursing doctorate degrees and a page explaining the difference between a RN and NP.