Capitol Update, brought to you by the American Nurses Association
Capitol Update, a legislative newsletter for nurses
Volume 3/Issue 6 June 30, 2005
Article Photo House Defeats Amendment to Protect Nurses from Biohazards

On June 23, the House of Representatives narrowly voted down an ANA-endorsed amendment that would have restored respirator protections for health care workers. The amendment, which was sponsored by Reps. Major Owens (D-NY), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), and Lois Capps, RN (D-CA) lost by five votes. It would have changed the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act (Labor, HHS; H.R. 3010) to restore respirator fit-testing requirements enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). ANA supported the Owens amendment because the annual fit-testing requirement is needed to ensure that health care workers are adequately protected from airborne biohazards.
House Votes to Trim Nurse Education Funding

On Friday, June 24, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act (Labor, HHS; H.R. 3010). The bill contains a cut of just under $1 million for the nursing workforce development programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), bringing FY 2006 funding to $150 million. ANA is disappointed that the House bill fails to allocate the funding needed to address the growing nursing shortage, and we are working to education the Senate about the need to invest in nursing education, recruitment, and retention. You can help in this effort! Contact your Senator about funding for nursing workforce development.
APRN Medicaid Bill Introduced

On May 26, 2005, Reps. John Olver (D-MA), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Lois Capps, RN (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH) introduced the Medicaid Advanced Practice Nurses and Physician Assistants Access Act of 2005 (H.R. 2716). This ANA-endorsed legislation would remove barriers that keep advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) from participating fully in state Medicaid Programs.
SHARE Act Reintroduced

Senators John Corzine (D-NJ) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced the Safe Health Care Reporting Act of 2005 (S. 948) on April 28, 2005. Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced an identical bill in the House (H.R. 2006) on May 13. ANA has endorsed these bills which are designed to encourage State licensing boards, hospitals and other health care entities to identify and discipline health care professionals who engage in unprofessional behavior. The SHARE Act also protects registered nurses from unwarranted investigations, and provides whistleblower protections to those who report conduct that could harm patients.
ANA Supports Bills to Address Growing Problem of Antibiotic-Resistant Disease

Antibiotic-resistant disease is a growing problem in the United States, particularly for the aged, children, those who have recently undergone surgery, and those with compromised immune systems. This resistance to antibiotics threatens nurses' ability to successfully treat patients with bacterial infections, posing a risk to the patients, nurses and their families. Mounting evidence shows that extensive use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture is an important contributor to this problem.

PPS Rules for Long Term Care Updated

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule that updates prospective payment rates for skilled nursing facilities for fiscal year (FY) 2006. The rule, published in the May 19th Federal Register, refines the payments in a way that will result in Medicare payments to nursing homes that are about the same as the FY 2005 rates. CMS will revise the current resource utilization groups (RUGs) by adding nine new groups to the current 44 RUG categories for a total of 53 RUGs. Of special interest to ANA is a restrictive provision included in the proposed rule that will impact the certifications/recertifications performed by nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists providing services in skilled nursing facilities.

The Council of State Governments Spring Meeting

State governors, legislators, state officials and representatives of other CSG affiliated organizations met in Lake Tahoe June 5 - 8 for the Council of State Governments (CSG) 2005 Spring National Committee and Task Force Meeting. American Nurses Association (ANA) staff also participated in the meeting which brought together participants from all over the county to share ideas for developing policy resolutions for problems common in their states.
copyright 2005, American Nurses Association
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Early Preview of 2006 House Races

As you may remember, last month in Capitol Update Political News, we profiled some of the competitive and open seats currently held by Democrats. This month we are jumping to the other side of the aisle to illustrate both the open and competitive Republican seats.
ANA-PAC Events at the ANA House of Delegates

ANA-PAC hosted a round of well attended events at the ANA House of Delegates in 2005 and launched two aggressive new funding campaigns. The popular events included a tell-all 2006 campaign lunch briefing for high donors, a roast of the ANA-PAC Treasurer Mary Behrens, and a political grilling featuring the comedy of the Capitol Steps. Together the three events in a single day, coupled with a state fundraising challenge and Race for the Million campaign, helped raise nearly $68K for the PAC before the weekend concluded.

Rachel Conant Joins the ANA Government Affairs Team

Greetings ANA! My name is Rachel Conant and I am one of the new Political Action Specialists with ANA. I am happy to be here and ready to go! I look forward to working with all of you as we gear up for the 2006 mid-term elections. If you have any questions about our political and grassroots initiatives, please feel free to contact me at rconant@ana.org.
State Nurses Associations Move ANA's Nationwide State Legislative Agenda on Staffing and Work place initiatives

Kudos to both the Illinois Nurses Association and the Texas Nurses Associations for their recent successes in moving forward on staffing and workplace legislation. Both initiatives are part of ANA's Nationwide State Legislative Agenda on Staffing where state nurses associations coordinate the enactment of legislation across the nation that is of importance to nurses and their patients.
Amendment in Support of Access to Medical Marijuana Defeated in the House

On June 14, the House defeated an amendment by Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) that would have blocked funds from being used to prevent the use of medicinal marijuana in 10 states that legally permit it.
AMA 2005 House of Delegates Meet in Chicago

Delegates to the American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates moved through an ambitious agenda at their June 19-22 annual meeting in Chicago, IL. Delegates took action on a wide range of healthcare and policy issues. They also heard from the AMA's new president J. Edward Hill, MD, a family physician from Tupelo, MS who during his inauguration speech praised medicine's efforts to enhance patient safety in hospitals, to advocate for patient safety legislation and to find new ways to cover the nation's uninsured. Dr. Hill said AMA must continue to focus on medical liability reform and reversing Medicare payment cuts -which remain major items on the AMA advocacy agenda- while reaching beyond those issues to improve health care in the United States. Pay for performance, direct to consumer advertising, balance billing, and reimbursement issues were among the hot topics that generated much discussion during the reference committee hearings.
Medicare Prescription Drug Program Resources

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have announced the availability of a number of educational resources targeted for health care providers on issues related to Medicare Part D, the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medlearn/drugcoverage.asp. This web page contains links to information and resources for health care professionals, beneficiary-focused information and resources, and CMS' main MMA web page.