ANA Testifies in DC – UEVHPA
On November 19th, the ANA testified before a joint hearing of the District of Columbia’s Committees on Health and Public Safety & Judiciary in support of 18-71, the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act of (UEVHPA) 2009. The primary goal of this Act is to recognize the licenses of out of state health care professionals, enabling licensees to cross state lines to volunteer their services during a declared emergency or disaster. The Act has been introduced in a number of states and adopted by ten thus far: Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Utah.
Although 50 states have adopted the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (”EMAC”) which provides for the interstate recognition of licenses held by professionals responding to disasters and emergencies, the Compact does not effectively handle the surge capacity required to deliver health services during emergencies. This is in part due to the limitations as to whom the Compact applies and the complicated process of entering into mutual aid agreements. EMAC’s limitations were witnessed when very few private sector volunteers were able to be deployed to the Gulf Coast during Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Deployment under EMAC is also complicated by the lack of clarity regarding the application of jurisdictional and legal rules to volunteers. A number of concerned organizations (including the ANA) joined forces with the Uniform Law Commission to address these issues, resulting in a model act.
There are several legal and ethical issues facing nurses while practicing during a disaster. Nurses are delivering care under altered circumstances and the nurses’ liability protection may only extend to the employment setting, regardless of whether the nurse carries professional liability coverage in addition to that of the employers’. As such, the model act has undergone some amendments to address liability protection as well as workers compensation language should a health care professional experience an injury while volunteering. Please note, however, not all states have incorporated all provisions of the model act into their bills.
Passing UEVHPA legislation is intended to fill the gap, so that in the future, health practitioners will be quickly deployed to health care facilities and disaster relief organizations according to clear and well-understood rules that will both meet the needs of volunteers and relief agencies and provide an effective framework to ensure the delivery of high quality care to disaster victims.
To access ANA’s white paper on disaster preparedness or learn about nurses rights during a declared emergency, visit here.
To learn more about the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act (UEVHPA), and track state legislative activity, visit the website of the Uniform Law Commission.
Janet Haebler, MSN, RN
Tags: Emergency Management Assistance Compact ("EMAC"), November-December 2009, testimony, Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act of (UEVHPA) 2009
