Capitol Update, brought to you by the American Nurses Association
Capitol Update, a legislative newsletter for nurses
Volume 6/Issue Number 4 April 30, 2008
Article Photo Bill to Block Medicaid Regulations Passes House, Poised for Senate Vote

On April 23, the House passed the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008 (H.R. 5613), ANA-supported legislation that would place a moratorium on seven controversial Medicaid regulations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. The 349-62 vote demonstrates bipartisan concern about the effect of the regulations on providers and beneficiaries, and gives the bill more than the two-thirds majority necessary to override President Bush's veto threat. The bill has now been "fast-tracked" for a Senate vote the week of April 29.
52 Senators Sign Letter in Support of Increased Nursing Workforce Development Funding

In mid March, Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME), circulated a letter in the U.S. Senate supporting $200 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 appropriations for the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs. A bipartisan group of 52 Senators signed the final Mikulski/Collins dear colleague letter, which was delivered to the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 4.
ANA Fights for Inclusion of Nurse Practitioners in Medical Homes

The Senate Finance Committee has been developing legislation to expand the Medicare Medical Home Demonstration Project-a concept designed to reward primary care providers (PCPs) for providing ongoing care and coordination of care, particularly for complex patients. The current definition of Medical homes includes only "board certified physicians." ANA is working with other nursing organizations to ensure that nurse practitioners are included in any expansion of Medical Homes.
Troops to Nurse Teachers Act Introduced in the House and Senate

On April 23, Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH) introduced a House companion bill to S. 2705, the Troops to Nurse Teachers (TNT) Act. The ANA-supported TNT bills would address the nurse faculty shortage by developing partnerships between the military and civilian schools of nursing in which Nurse Corps Officers from specific stages of their career would serve as nurse educators. The goal of TNT is to help domestic schools of nursing expand their capacity in order to meet the growing demand for civilian and military nurses.

ANA Advocates for RN Representative on HHS

As you may have already seen in Nursing World, ANA President Rebecca Patton recently wrote to the Secretary of HHS, regarding the failure to appoint a nurse to serve on the Advisory Committee on Healthy People 2020. President Patton declared that "the failure to appoint a representative from the single-largest health profession - which is at the forefront of health promotion and disease prevention - represents a failure to recognize both the crucial role that nurses play as well as the need to integrate nurses into any health promotion and disease objectives and plans, and sends the wrong message to the nursing and public health communities." ANA has urged its members to contact HHS to name an RN to the panel.
MedPAC Wrap-up

ANA staff attended the April 2008 meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, where MedPAC recommended that nurse practitioners be eligible for additional compensation as primary care providers and for serving as "medical homes" in a Medicare pilot project. Medical homes have been limited to physicians in many federal and local programs, including the current Medicare Medical Home Demonstration Project for complex patients. While the medical home concept is still evolving, it's widely recognized as an important policy initiative to improve quality of patient care while decreasing costs. So this is an important step in recognizing the valuable contribution of NPs who are primary care providers. Several other topics of interest to the nursing community were also discussed at the meeting, which are summarized in the full article.

The Carrot or the Stick: Legislating nurses to come to work during a disaster

Nurses are held to a social policy statement that obligates us to help when needed, including during a disaster. However, in order to ensure nurses and other healthcare workers come to work during a disaster, some state legislatures have crafted legislation that create penalties - some quite harsh - if nurses or other licensed workers refuse to show up to work if called upon. This is troubling to ANA, which advocates for incentives, assurances, and an emphasis on professional duty as means of encouraging healthcare workers to serve in disaster situations.
Copyright 2008, American Nurses Association
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Save the Date! ANA Lobby Day on Capitol Hill -- Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The ANA Government Affairs Department is coordinating a Lobby Day on Capitol Hill to kick off the upcoming House of Delegates meeting.
ANA-PAC's Congressional Endorsement Process

With election season in full gear, and several primaries already recorded in history, ANA's Government Affairs team wanted to make sure our members know the in's and out's of the ANA-PAC's endorsement process.
ANA-PAC Events Coming to the House of Delegates

ANA-PAC has several events planned for Delegates to relax and rejuvenate, mingle and hobnob, and step and stretch at the House of Delegates June 24-27th. For more information please contact Angela.Song@ana.org.

Annual TNA Legislative Summit

Approximately 1100 nurses and student nurses assembled at the War Memorial Auditorium in Memphis on Wednesday, April 2nd for the annual Tennessee Nurses Association Legislative Summit. Janet Haebler, MSN RN, Associate Director for ANA State Government Affairs was one of the speakers to address this energetic group. She provided a briefing on the national perspective of legislation impacting nursing, reviewing federal and state initiatives.
Washington Leads in Addressing Toxic Toys

Washington State takes the lead in promoting safer toys. Earlier this month, Governor Chris Gregoire signed into law the Children's Safe Products Act (HB 2647). "The new legislation", which goes into effect July 1, 2009, "is a victory in reducing toxic exposure through toys and children's products and giving parents the necessary information to choose safer products for their children" said Judy Huntington, MN, RN, Executive Director of the Washington State Nurses Association.
ANA signs letter urging promotion for USPHS Chief Nursing Officer.

On April 15 ANA joined a dozen other Nursing and Public Health Organizations and two former Public Health Service Chief Nurse Officers in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt urging him to upgrade the position of the PHS Chief Nurse Officer to a two-star ranking. The letter urged the Secretary, who can take such action unilaterally without the approval of Congress, to act now, by promoting the current PHS Chief Nurse Officer, Carol Romano.
Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 Closer to Enactment

On April 24, 2008, the Senate passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). This amended version of H.R. 493 (which was passed by the House of Representatives on April 25, 2007 by a vote of 420-3) was approved by unanimous consent. Now the House must take up the measure again and adopt it before it can be sent to President Bush to sign the measure into law.
Hospital Compare Website

On March 28, the Department of Health and Human Services launched its updated Hospital Compare website, created by the Hospital Quality Alliance, a public-private partnership of health care providers and government agencies. After discharge, randomly selected Medicare patients complete a 27-question survey, which is then reported through 10 measures such as communication with doctors and nurses, staff responsiveness, hospital cleanliness, and an overall rating.