As a result of recent and anticipated changes related to health care
reform, community/public health nurses are in a position to assist the
U.S. health care system in the transition from a disease-oriented
system to a health-oriented system. Costs of caring for the sick
account for the majority of escalating health care dollars, which
increased from 5.7% of the gross domestic product in 1965 to 17.9% in
2010 (National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS], 2013). Alarmingly,
national annual health care expenditures reached $2.6 trillion in 2010,
or an astonishing $8400 per person.