Advancing High Value Transitional Care

Addressing the health care needs of older adults coping with multiple conditions and their family caregivers in a person- and family-centered, safe, effective, efficient, equitable, and timely manner will be a major issue confronting America's health care system for the foreseeable future. This article describes the efforts of a multidisciplinary team to create a path from system fragmentation to integration for this vulnerable population through the design, testing, and translation of the Transitional Care Model (TCM). The TCM is a nurse-led, team-based care delivery system innovation that is designed to increase alignment of the care system with the preferences, needs, and values of high-risk individuals and their family caregivers and achieve higher-quality outcomes while reducing health care costs. A rigorous body of evidence reinforces a tremendous opportunity to address the urgent need for higher-value health care, through widespread implementation of the TCM for chronically ill older adults. Capitalizing on this opportunity will require the investment, commitment, and support of nursing and its leadership.