Value Care, Value Nurses

The Health Care Crisis

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The United States is facing a nationwide health care crisis. Recent federal predictions show that by 2015, one in every five U.S. dollars that Americans spend will be used for health care, and the nation's annual health care spending will total more than $4 trillion. In 2003, 45 million Americans lacked health insurance. More than seven out of 10 people without insurance have at least one full-time worker at home.

The scope of the crisis is reaching record proportions and touches the lives of Americans from all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, education, employment, or age.

At a time when more patients are struggling to access the health care they need, nurses—the central providers of patient care—are leaving the bedside. The average patient is attended to by a nurse for 6.3 hours every day.

Dedicated, professional nurses are critical to improving the quality of patient care in America and reducing health care costs. By helping attract more nurses back into the profession, families nationwide will benefit.


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