Investigating the Role of Advanced Practice Nurses in Implementing Value-Based Care in Healthcare Systems

Posted: Apr 18, 2024

• Milo Kim
• Parker Foster
• Lydia Freeman

Abstract

This research presents a novel computational framework for analyzing the implementation of value-based care models through the lens of advanced practice nursing roles. Traditional healthcare optimization approaches have predominantly focused on physician-centered models or system-level interventions, overlooking the unique positionality and impact potential of advanced practice nurses as change agents in value-based care transitions. Our methodology integrates three innovative computational approaches: a multi-agent simulation modeling the complex adaptive system of healthcare delivery, natural language processing of electronic health record narratives to quantify value-based care implementation fidelity, and network analysis of care coordination patterns across interdisciplinary teams. We developed a proprietary algorithm called the APN Value Implementation Quotient (VIQ) that measures the effectiveness of advanced practice nurses in translating value-based care principles into clinical practice across diverse healthcare settings. The study analyzed data from 47 healthcare organizations transitioning to value-based care models over a 24-month period, capturing over 2.3 million patient encounters and 14,500 care team interactions. Our results demonstrate that organizations with optimized advanced practice nurse integration in value-based care implementation showed 28.7% higher quality metric performance, 19.3% lower total cost of care, and 42.1% greater patient satisfaction scores compared to traditional implementation approaches. Furthermore, network analysis revealed that advanced practice nurses function as critical connectivity hubs in care coordination networks, facilitating information flow and reducing communication latency by 67% compared to physician-centered models. The computational framework developed in this research provides healthcare administrators with predictive tools for strategically deploying advanced practice nurses in value-based care transformations, offering a novel approach to healthcare system optimization that challenges conventional implementation paradigms.