AANA Federal Government Affairs
HOTLINE
Number 2007-13 -- Week of Monday, July 16, 2007


In This Issue:


* Senate Committee Reaches Deal on SCHIP
* Full Committee Approves Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Legislation
* Nursing Applicants Consistently Turned Away From Schools
* Mid-Career Professionals Turn to Nursing
* Are You Reporting Quality Measures?
* Amendments




>> Senate Committee Reaches Deal on SCHIP


On Friday (July 13th), members of the Senate Finance Committee finalized a bipartisan agreement on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization that would increase five-year funding for the program from $25 billion to $60 billion (New York Times, 7/14). The AANA is monitoring the legislation to ensure that it is not used as a “vehicle” to add provisions harmful to CRNAs. SCHIP expires on September 30th, meaning that several states will have no money to run the program in their state after that date without the reauthorization. The plan, negotiated by committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and committee members Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), would increase the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1 to fund an expansion of SCHIP (New York Times, 7/14). On Saturday (July 14th), White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said that President Bush’s senior advisers “will certainly recommend a veto of this proposal. And there is no question that the president would veto it” (New York Times, 7/15). Under the bipartisan plan, children in families with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) would be eligible for the program. The group of senators said that the 6.6 million children currently enrolled in SCHIP would continue to receive benefits under the plan, and an additional 3.3 million uninsured children could be enrolled in the program. States that provide SCHIP to children in families with incomes higher than 300% of the poverty level would receive lower Medicaid matching payments for those children. The plan also would prevent the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from approving additional waivers that allow states to enroll adults in SCHIP (CQ HealthBeat, 7/13). The committee is expected to begin mark up of the legislation on Tuesday (July 17th) evening and is expected to work well into the night (CongressDaily, 7/16).

Read more, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/washington/14health.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1184593591-XYQdgHzwpCXHCyDQyyCiXw&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Also see, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/washington/15child.html

Visit the Senate Finance Committee, http://www.senate.gov/~finance/




>> Full Committee Approves Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Legislation


On Wednesday (July 11th), the House Appropriations Committee approved a $607 billion fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill. The bill includes $151.5 billion in discretionary funds, exceeding FY 2007 discretionary spending by $7 billion and topping President Bush’s FY 2008 spending request by $10.6 billion (CQ Today, 7/11). Nurse anesthesia schools around the country apply for funds appropriated by Congress to help educate future nurse anesthetists and strengthen CRNA educational programs.

The President’s 2008 budget proposed “zeroing-out” any money for advanced nursing education. The AANA and CRNAs have been working throughout 2007 to restore these important funds. With the panel’s restoration of current levels the bill sent to the full House would provide roughly $57 million for CRNAs and other advanced practice nursing programs, and $165 million in total for nursing education, up from the President’s original 2008 budget request of $105 million and last year’s appropriation of nearly $150 million.

The House is expected to debate the bill later this week.

Visit the House Appropriations Committee, http://appropriations.house.gov/

Visit the House Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee, http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml




>> Nursing Applicants Consistently Turned Away from Schools


On Monday (July 9th), the Orlando Sentinel released a report from the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PWC) Health Research Institute stating that despite a growing shortage of nurses nationwide, the number of applicants denied admission to nursing schools has increased sixfold since 2002 because of a lack of instructors. The report, called “What Works: Healing the Healthcare Staffing Shortage,” also found that by 2010, the number of registered nurses (RNs) in the US will begin to decline, a situation that has not occurred for decades. The report found that half of all new nurses leave their first job within two years, also noting that every 1% increase in nurse turnover costs a hospital about $300,000 annually. The report found that the nurse work force “in general is dissatisfied” for three primary reasons: excessive paperwork, heavy workloads and inadequate staffing (Orlando Sentinel, 7/10). Bill Dracos, director of PWC’s Health Advisory Practice, said that nationally, “despite the growing importance of nurses in the healthcare continuum, there is a lack of broad-reaching financial incentives to bolster nursing education.” He added, “Hospitals receive significant federal funding for medical education, but they are not similarly subsidized for training nurses” (Dallas Morning News, 7/10). The report also found that the number of doctors in the US will continue to increase but that there are “serious misdistributions of physicians by specialty and geography.” Doctors who complete their residency training are more likely to pursue higher-paying specialties than primary care, while 20% of US residents live in places with a primary care shortage, the report found (Orlando Sentinel, 7/10). Deedie Root, managing director of PWC's Health Advisory Practice, said, “Unfilled positions and continuous turnover of staff are stressing the financial and cultural fabric of healthcare organizations” (Dallas Morning News, 7/10).

Read more, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-HEALTHWORKERS_10bus.ART0.State.Edition1.36da38a.html

View the report, http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/674D1E79A678A0428525730D006B74A9




>> Mid-Career Professionals Turn to Nursing


On Monday (July 9th), the Boston Globe examined how a “small but growing number of mid-career professionals” are choosing to enter the nursing field as a second career, a trend that could help “mitigate the widespread nursing shortage facing” the nation. Currently, there are more than 116,000 unfilled nursing positions across the US, and that number is expected to increase to 340,000 by 2020. Nursing education officials say that hundreds of professionals nationwide in their 30s or older have begun to enter nursing school. In 2006, 12,347 students with bachelor’s degrees in other fields were enrolled in second-degree nursing programs at both the bachelor’s and master’s level, up from 6,860 in 2003, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Peter Buerhaus, a nursing professor at Vanderbilt University, attributes the growing interest to recent nurse wage increases, widespread job openings and patriotism in the wake of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, “all the extra interest has created a logjam at nursing schools across the country, where demand for slots is increasing far faster than the availability. In addition, hospitals’ availability to train student nurses is limited, Carmela Townsend, academic coordinator at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, said. Buerhaus said the nursing shortage is “still a big problem, but it's getting better” (Boston Globe, 7/9).

Read more, http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/07/09/nurse_midlife/

Visit the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, http://www.aacn.nche.edu/




>> Are You Reporting Quality Measures?

An article describing how CRNAs can take advantage of the Medicare agency’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) program and become eligible for certain bonus payments from Medicare billings has been posted on the front page of www.aana.com.

According to AANA Anesthesia Payment Advisory Panel member Lee Broadston, “At the request and involvement of AANA, an act of Congress enacted late 2006 ensures that the Medicare agency includes Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality reporting systems. As you may already be aware, CRNAs have been included in the quality reporting measurement incentive program offered by Medicare/CMS entitled “Physician Quality Reporting Initiative,” or PQRI. PQRI has established various quality measurements within many aspects of the delivery of healthcare services and asks that CRNAs consider reporting to achieve the one quality measurement that is related to anesthesia administration at this time.”

See www.aana.com for more information!




>> Amendments


The House and Senate will be in session this week. Both the House and the Senate will be in session this week with the House considering the 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations (HR 2641). Meanwhile, the Senate will continue work on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (HR 1585), sent over from the House.

Have you asked your U.S. Representative to cosponsor HR 1932? You should have received a CRNAdvocacy Alert from AANA President Terry Wicks CRNA MHS asking you to take action. Check your email inbox!

How’s Your NPI? In addition to the resources available to CRNAs at www.aana.com, the Medicare agency has posted extensive information on applying for, testing, and using your NPI at www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/. Healthcare professionals can apply for the NPI online at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov.

Make Sure You Register for a Night in the West! This event at AANA Annual Meeting in Denver benefits your CRNA-PAC! See your AANA Annual Meeting registration information for more details. Any questions about CRNA-PAC, please see http://www.aana.com/crnapac.aspx, or contact AANA Political Affairs Manager Shari Dexter sdexter@aanadc.com.

Make Plans NOW to Visit with Your Legislators Over the August Recess! The August recess is an excellent time to visit with your legislator at home. Members will be working from their district offices during the break giving you a fantastic opportunity to get face time with your Representative and Senators!

For up-to-date Congressional floor & committee schedule information, see http://thomas.loc.gov/.




>> For More Information


The AANA Federal Government Affairs Hotline is published for the nurse anesthetist members of AANA each week Congress is in session by the AANA Office of Federal Government Affairs, Washington DC, 202-484-8400, info@aanadc.com, Frank Purcell, Senior Director. © 2007 American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.