Developing nurse practitioner associated metrics for outcomes assessment.

As nurse practitioners (NPs) assume an increasing role in providing care to hospitalized patients, measuring the impact of their care on patient outcomes and quality of care measures becomes a necessary component of performance evaluation. Developing metrics that relate to quality of care measures as well as patient outcomes based on the specific practices of an NP can help to specifically identify the impact of NP care in hospital and ambulatory care settings. New opportunities have arisen for highlighting NP outcomes that can be used to structure NP-associated metrics including the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program and the Joint Commission's practice evaluation standards. This manuscript discusses the use of NP-associated metrics for assessing the outcomes of NP care on patient care as well as on quality of care measures.