Craven & Ober Policy Strategists, LLC Referenced in RWJ/IOM Report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change Advancing Health" 
Craven & Ober Policy Strategists, LLC quoted in landmark report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” authored by the Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
With more than 3 million members, the nursing profession is the largest segment of the nation’s health care workforce. Working on the front lines of patient care, nurses can play a vital role in helping realize the objectives set forth in the federal 2010 Affordable Care Act, legislation that represents the broadest health care overhaul since the 1965 creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. A number of barriers prevent nurses from being able to respond effectively to rapidly changing health care settings and an evolving health care system. These barriers need to be overcome to ensure that nurses are well- positioned to lead change and advance health. In 2008, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the IOM launched a two-year initiative to respond to the need to assess and transform the nursing profession. The IOM appointed the Committee on the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the IOM, with the purpose of producing a report that would make recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.i
The Report notes, “The United States is at an important crossroads as health care reforms are being carried out and the system begins to change. The possibility of strengthening the largest component of the health care workforce—nurses—to become partners and leaders in improving the delivery of care and the health care system as a whole inspired the IOM to partner with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in creating the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the IOM. In this partnership, the IOM and RWJF were in agreement that accessible, high-quality care cannot be achieved without exceptional nursing care and leadership”, Harvey V. Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D. President, Institute of Medicine, October 2010. The United States has the opportunity to transform its health care system, and nurses can and should play a fundamental role in this transformation. However, the power to improve the current regulatory, business, and organizational conditions does not rest solely with nurses; government, businesses, health care organizations, professional associations, and the insurance industry all must play a role. Through its deliberations, the Committee on the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing reviewed recent policy changes enacted during Massachusetts’ health care reform since 2006. Craven & Ober Policy Strategists, LLC policy successes on behalf of NPs are specifically referenced in relation to the Report’s Chapters on Nurses and Access to Care; The Need for Patient-Centered Care and Provider Choice; Outdated Policies of Insurance Companies and in the report summary.
The report calls for multisector support and interprofessional collaboration. In this sense, it calls on all health professionals and health care decision makers to work with nurses to make the changes needed for a more accessible, cost-effective, and high quality health care system. The Committee also developed four key messages upon release of the October 5, 2010 report:
- Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training.
- Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.
- Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.
- Effective workforce planning and policy making require better data collection and information infrastructure.
Since its foundation 40 years ago, the IOM has produced many reports echoing the theme of high-quality, safe, effective, evidence-based, and patient-centered care. The present report expands on this theme by addressing the critical role of nursing. It demonstrates that achieving a successful health care system in the future rests on the future of nursing.
Other notable authors to this report included: Barbara J. Safriet, Lewis and Clark Law School; Christine A. Tanner of Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing; Donald M. Berwick, formerly of Institute for Healthcare Improvement and now Director of CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and Linda H. Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
This study was supported by Contract No. 65815 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
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