On April 12, 2011, the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nation’s largest nursing organization, was proud to join Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs, a coalition of hospitals, providers, patient advocates, employers and state and federal officials dedicated to creating a safer, higher quality health care system.
We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law on March 23, 2010. Although the Act is very long and complex, like many federal laws, the details are left up to federal agencies and departments – as well as the States – which must issue rules and other decisions to actually carry out its policies and create its programs. In addition, many ACA provisions build upon, change, or add to federal programs that are already in existence — especially Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program). Here is an update on what has been happening in federal agencies and departments, in recent actions to carry out the goals and provisions of ACA. To view ANA comments on these and other regulatory issues, please visit our website at http://www.nursingworld.org/comments.
A new resource is available for Advanced Practice RNs (APRNs) who care for Medicare patients. “Medicare Information for Advanced Practice Nurses and Physician Assistants” is now available as a booklet from the Medicare Learning Network.® It contains information about required qualifications, coverage criteria, billing, and payment for Medicare services furnished by APRNs, as well as physician assistants and anesthesiologist assistants.
The American Medical Association (AMA) 2010 interim House of Delegates meeting was held November 6-9, 2010 in San Diego, with ANA Government Affairs staff the only official observers from the nursing community. The AORN (Association of periOperative Registered Nurses), CGFNS (Council of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) and NCSBN (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) could not attend. The 541 credentialed delegates, from state and specialty medical societies, considered over 125 resolutions and reports.
On October 7, a joint workshop on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) was held by the Federal Trade Commission, CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and Office of Inspector General, Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS). Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act encourages groups of providers to create ACOs to manage and coordinate care for Medicare beneficiaries, and receive payments for cutting costs & meeting performance standards (to be set by HHS). Section 3021 authorizes HHS to test whether ACOs improve quality and reduce costs.
This summer we saw a flurry of activity within agencies of the Obama Administration to produce rules implementing many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These were in addition to, or sometimes included within, the standing framework of Medicare payment system updates which must be updated by regulation on an annual basis. While ACA’s programs and changes will be phased in over a period of years, with completion in 2014, federal health agencies have wasted no time hammering out the details. Numerous proposed rules, and even some interim final rules, have been issued – many with comment periods shorter than the customary 30 to 60 days from publication in the Federal Register. ANA’s Department of Government Affairs is teaming up with content experts in Nursing Practice and Policy to bring the nursing perspective to this process through written comments and meetings with agency officials. In addition, ANA’s National Center for Nursing Quality has continued to advocate for adoption of nursing-sensitive care measures in quality reporting by hospitals, while the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health has been busy working to create a healthier environment for nurses and patients.
