| It's no secret that nurses are undervalued in healthcare, but how do nursing executives figure out how to pay them? As health systems and hospitals take a closer look at the bottom line, they're forced to deal with an age-old issue: Very few organizations budget nurse pay as its own line item. Has the time come for healthcare to directly reimburse nurses as they would physicians? In this week's lead story, we take a look at how the healthcare industry is addressing nurse payment and some of the options being considered, including direct reimbursement and redesigning nursing metrics to better determine ROI. | 