Policy/Regulation Fact Sheet

As a professional nurse, you are expected to apply your expertise to patient care. On occasion, you will also be expected to share that expertise.

With evolving technology and continuous changes to regulations designed to keep up these changes, there is usually a need to share information and expertise to inform colleagues, leadership, patients, and other stakeholders.

In this Assignment, you will study a recent nursing informatics-related healthcare policy, and you will share the relevant details via a fact sheet designed to inform and educate.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources on healthcare policy and regulatory/legislative topics related to health and nursing informatics.


• Consider the role of the nurse informaticist in relation to a healthcare organization’s compliance with various policies and regulations, such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).


• Research and select one health or nursing informatics policy (within the past 5 years) or regulation for further study.

The Assignment: (2 page)

Create a 2-page fact sheet that your healthcare organization could hypothetically use to explain the health or nursing informatics policy/regulation you selected. Your fact sheet should address the following:

• Briefly and generally explain the policy or regulation you selected.


• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on system implementation.


• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on clinical care, patient/provider interactions, and workflow.


• Highlight organizational policies and procedures that are/will be in place at your healthcare organization to address the policy or regulation you selected. Be specific.

Learning Resources

Required Readings

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 8, “Legislative Aspects of Nursing Informatics: HITECH and HIPAA” (pp. 145–166)

American Association of Nurse Practitioners. (2018). MACRA/MIPS: The transition from fee-for-service to quality-based reimbursement. Retrieved from https://www.aanp.org/legislation-regulation/federal-legislation/macra-s-quality-payment-program 

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (n.d.). MACRA. Retrieved January 18, 2019, from https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/value-based-programs/macra-mips-and-apms/macra-mips-and-apms.html

HealthIT.gov. (2018a). Health IT legislation. Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/topic/laws-regulation-and-policy/health-it-legislation

HealthIT.gov. (2018b). Meaningful use and MACRA. Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/topic/meaningful-use-and-macra/meaningful-use-and-macra

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Laws & regulations. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.hhs.gov/regulations/index.html

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics & Population Health Analytics: Privacy, Security, and Ethics [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.