Name
Capella University
NURS-FPX4065 Patient-Centered Care Coordination
Prof. Name
Date
Hello, I am __________. I am privileged to present today on the ethical and policy considerations influencing mental health care coordination. I currently serve as a care coordinator at Longevity Center, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals with mental health conditions through education, guidance, and access to essential care services.
This presentation explores the ethical and policy factors that shape mental health care coordination at Longevity Center. Key points include:
Care coordination is vital for managing mental health conditions effectively at Longevity Center. It ensures timely and appropriate interventions across various care domains. Adults with mental illnesses often receive services from multiple healthcare professionals and community organizations (Bury et al., 2022).
When care is fragmented or inconsistent, patients may experience worsening symptoms, repeated crises, and increased healthcare costs. In Florida, approximately 2,889,000 adults are affected by mental disorders, and in 2021, 40.9% of adults reported symptoms of depression (National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], n.d.). Effective care coordination improves access to comprehensive mental health support and enhances overall patient outcomes at Longevity Center.
The coordination of mental health care at Longevity Center is guided by both state and federal policies. Table 1 summarizes key policies influencing care.
| Policy | Purpose | Relevance to Care Coordination | Ethical Considerations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Act (Florida Mental Health Act) | Provides crisis intervention and psychiatric hospitalization guidelines | Ensures legal protections for patients during acute psychiatric episodes | Patient autonomy, right to informed consent |
| HIPAA | Protects health information privacy | Allows secure sharing of patient data among providers | Confidentiality, beneficence |
| ACA (Affordable Care Act) | Expands access, enhances quality, controls costs | Supports integrated mental health care | Balancing cost-effectiveness with individualized care |
| Florida Medicaid Behavioral Health Programs | Provides coordinated care to low-income populations | Expands services for underserved groups | Justice, equitable access, beneficence |
Recent policy reforms, such as integrated behavioral health systems and value-based care models, encourage early intervention and preventive strategies. Community organizations, including NAMI Florida, complement clinical care by providing education, peer support, and navigation services (Pincus & Fleet, 2022).
The ACA enhances access to care and promotes integrated mental health services at Longevity Center. Ethical challenges arise when cost-saving measures conflict with patient-centered, individualized care (Braun et al., 2023). Mental health care requires personalization due to variability in patient needs, yet standardized care pathways may limit autonomy and tailored interventions.
Florida’s Medicaid behavioral health programs aim to coordinate mental health services for low-income and underserved populations. Ethical concerns include delays in care, restricted specialist access, and administrative hurdles that compromise care quality (Patel et al., 2025). Provider shortages and complex managed care protocols intensify fragmentation, highlighting disparities between Medicaid recipients and privately insured patients.
Local community mental health programs enhance wellness through education and support networks. Organizations like NAMI Florida provide screenings, counseling, and peer support (NAMI Florida, 2025). Ethical challenges emerge when demand exceeds available resources, creating issues of justice and fairness in resource allocation. Inconsistent funding contributes to fragmented service delivery and eroded public trust.
The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses provides a framework for ethically sound mental health care at Longevity Center. Key provisions include:
These principles—beneficence, justice, non-maleficence, and autonomy—guide nurses in making decisions that foster trust, fairness, and patient safety (Braun et al., 2023). Upholding these standards improves long-term care planning and treatment adherence.
Disparities in mental health outcomes at Longevity Center are influenced by Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), including economic stability, health literacy, transportation access, and housing security. Patients often face food insecurity, limited provider availability, lack of insurance, and transportation barriers. These factors compromise justice and equitable access. Nurses are ethically required to address systemic inequities and tailor care to individual social and cultural contexts (ANA, 2025).
Ethical policies encourage nurses to drive change through collaboration, community engagement, and policy advocacy. Community partners such as NAMI Florida and the Mental Health Association of Central Florida (MHACF) provide peer counseling, education, housing support, and affordable care resources (MHACF, 2025). Nurses must advocate for culturally sensitive practices and overcome institutional barriers, fulfilling their ethical responsibility to deliver person-centered care.
Ethical and policy-driven care coordination is crucial for addressing mental health challenges at Longevity Center. Nurses, guided by the ANA Code of Ethics and supported by organizations like NAMI Florida and MHACF, can mitigate systemic barriers and promote equitable mental health services. Integrating culturally sensitive interventions and supporting policy reforms ensures sustainable improvements in patient care.
ANA. (2025). Code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses Association. https://codeofethics.ana.org/home
Braun, E., Scholten, M., & Vollmann, J. (2023). Assisted suicide and the discrimination argument: Can people with mental illness fulfill beneficence‐ and autonomy‐based eligibility criteria? Bioethics, 38(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13243
Bury, D., Hendrick, D., Smith, T., Metcalf, J., & Drake, R. E. (2022). The psychiatric nurse care coordinator on a multi-disciplinary, community mental health treatment team. Community Mental Health Journal, 58(7), 1354–1360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-00945-7
Florida Department of Children and Families. (2024). Baker act | Florida DCF. https://www.myflfamilies.com/crisis-services/baker-act
MHACF. (2025). About us. Mental Health Association of Central Florida. https://mhacf.org/learn-more/
NAMI Florida. (2025). Mission. National Alliance on Mental Illness Florida. https://namiflorida.org/about-nami-florida/mission/
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Mental health in Florida. https://www.nami.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FloridaStateFactSheet.pdf
Patel, R., Baser, O., Waters, H. C., Huang, D., Morrissey, L., Rodchenko, K., & Samayoa, G. (2025). Open access to antipsychotics in state medicaid programs: Effect on healthcare resource utilization and costs among patients with serious mental illness. Journal of Health Economics and Outcomes Research, 12(1), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.36469/001c.137909
Pincus, H. A., & Fleet, A. (2022). Value-based payment and behavioral health. JAMA Psychiatry, 80(1), 6–8. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3538
Subbian, V., Galvin, H. K., Petersen, C., & Solomonides, A. (2021). Ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) in mental health informatics. In Health Informatics (pp. 479–503). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70558-9_18
