The House of Representatives cleared a major hurdle in the battle for comprehensive health care reform! Where does health care reform go from here? What can be expected in the next few weeks? We hope many of your questions concerning health care reform are answered here!
On September 15, ANA Board Member and nurse practitioner Mary Maryland, PhD, MSN, APN, BC, testified on behalf of ANA before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing on “The Urgent Need for Health Insurance Reform.”
On September 9, 2009, President Obama called on Congress to work together to pass meaningful health care reform. The following day, over 60 ANA nurses stood with the President at the White House to show ANA’s continued support for his efforts. Once again, President Obama showed his commitment to the nursing profession and their importance in the health care reform fight.
ANA hosted the tenth annual lobbyist meeting Wednesday, September 16 through 18th in Washington, DC in which 32 constituent member associations (CMAs) were represented: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CO, CT, DE, GA, IL, IA, KS, LA, MA, MD, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NJ, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WI. During the meeting, attendees engaged in rich conversations about the political environment within their respective states and legislative successes and challenges surrounding a number of nursing and health care issues.
Medicare policies touch the lives of many of our patients, and reimbursement issues directly or indirectly affect financial compensation for many staff RNs and advanced practice RNs. Many APRNs are enrolled as Medicare providers, and are directly reimbursed for caring for Medicare patients. ANA GOVA staff had the opportunity recently to advocate for nurses and patients at recent meetings of MedPAC, and the RUC and CPT committees.
The American Nurses Association launched a new Web site dedicated to safe patient handling intended to help reach ANA’s goals of eliminating manual patient handling in health care facilities and creating a safer work environment.
