Health Care Finance, Economics, and Policy for Nurses: A Foundational Guide

by Betty Rambur PhD RN FAAN (Author)

This succinct, engaging text for graduate and undergraduate nursing programs distills the complexities of health care finance, economics, and policy into a highly accessible resource that can be applied to any practice setting. It presents economic and financial dynamics in healthcare as a precursor to policy and advocacy in nurses. The second edition adds graduate-level considerations and is updated to reflect our current political and legislative landscape.

Real-life illustrations support foundational concepts and interactive quizzes reinforce information. Faculty resources include PowerPoint slides, a test bank, comprehensive review questions, and a sample syllabus.

New to the Second Edition:

New chapter on early lessons from COVID-19
Adds graduate-level considerations to content
Updated to reflect current political and legislative landscape
Expands payment section to include advanced practice roles
Includes updated information on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and Supreme Court deliberations

Key Features:

Presents complex concepts in easy-to-understand language
Addresses policy and payment competencies that align with nursing program accreditation criteria
Breaks down complex financial principles to educate nurses with no prior understanding of health care finance
Includes practical, accessible real-life examples to help make sense of complex health care systems
Provides interactive quizzes so readers can test knowledge
Includes a step-by-step, skill-building guide to enhancing professional influence through participation on governing boards

About the Author
Betty Rambur, PhD, RN, FAANis the Routhier Endowed Chair for Practice and professor of nursing at University of Rhode Island. Formerly professor of nursing and health policy at the University of Vermont (UVM), from 2000 to 2009 she served as an academic dean at UVM. In this role, she led the merger of the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences to establish the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

These experiences have built on Dr. Rambur's substantive leadership history in health policy and finance. From 1991 to 1995, she led the statewide health financing reform effort in North Dakota. In August 2013, Dr. Rambur was appointed to Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board by Vermont's Governor Peter Shumlin and served in that role until 2017. The five-member Green Mountain Care Board is a quasi-judicial body. It oversees Vermont's financing, payment, and delivery reform and holds board regulatory, innovation, and evaluation authority. In May 2020, Dr. Rambur was appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)* by the U.S Comptroller General, Eugene Louis Dodaro, Director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. This nonpartisan group advises the U.S. Congress on issues of Medicare and is widely considered to be widely influential.

An RN, Dr. Rambur received her MS and PhD in nursing from Rush University in Chicago, Illinois, Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate from University of North Dakota, and baccalaureate degree from University of Mary, Bismarck, ND, where she also served as Department Chair. She maintains an active research program focused on health services, quality, workforce, waste and cost reduction, and ethics. She has led or participated in research, education, and public service grants exceeding $2 million, is the author of about 60 published articles, and has made numerous invited presentations on her research, health care economics and policy, and leadership development. In 2007, her research was honored by Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Rambur is also an accomplished teacher in both classroom and online venues. In May 2013, she received the UVM Graduate Student Senate Excellence in Teaching Award, and in November 2013, she received the prestigious Sloan Consortium Excellence in Online Teaching and Learning Award. Her teaching expertise includes the organization, finance, and policy of health care, payment reform, and evidence-based practice.