Wolters Kluwer Health has released the 2026 edition of Lippincott’s annual FutureCare Nursing report, based on responses from chief nursing officers (CNOs) in the United States who oversee care model programs across the healthcare continuum. The respondents identified patient outcomes at 87%, nurse competency at 87%, and recruitment and retention at 83% as leading key performance indicators for assessing care models such as home healthcare, virtual nursing, and telehealth.
The healthcare organizations are moving beyond experimentation with nursing care models and are evaluating those models through outcomes, workforce indicators, and operational performance.
The report compared 2025 planned launches, care models currently in action, and 2026 planned launches across seven categories. It listed home healthcare at 71%, 41%, and 42%; float pools at 68%, 45%, and 38%; virtual nursing at 66%, 53%, and 34%; telehealth at 66%, 69%, and 24%; multidisciplinary care at 61%, 84%, and 17%; collaborative care at 81%, 81%, and 10%; and team-based care at 74%, 75%, and 7%.
The release revealed that respondents reported measurable positive effects from care models in several areas, including patient outcomes at 87%, nurse competencies at 87%, interdisciplinary collaboration at 83%, recruitment and retention at 83%, operational efficiency at 82%, culture change at 82%, workflow streamlining at 81%, financial management at 81%, and nurse burnout and well-being at 75%.
Among patient outcomes, 47% of respondents reported a very positive effect. The report also revealed that nearly 90% of respondents planned to use care models to help attract new talent.
According to the survey, the four nursing roles most sought for 2026 were telehealth nurses at 68%, virtual nurses at 52%, internal float pool nurses at 44%, and home health nurse coordinators at 40%. The survey was conducted by Regina Corso Consulting and included 150 senior nursing leaders at hospitals and health systems across the United States.
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