AANA Federal Government Affairs
HOTLINE
Number 2008-07 -- Week of Monday, March 17, 2008
 
 
 
In This Issue:
* House and Senate Approve Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolutions
* AANA Requests Federal Meetings on Hepatitis Outbreak Issues
* 130+ Representatives Sign Letter for Nurse Workforce Funding Boost
* FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approving Sugammadex
* Sunshine Act Sets to Force Disclosure of Gifts to Physicians
* Amendments

 
 
>> House and Senate Approve Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolutions

 
On Thursday (March 13th), the House and Senate approved similar $3 trillion
fiscal year 2009 budget resolutions that would increase spending for
healthcare and other domestic programs and "would torpedo hundreds of
billions of dollars in tax cuts won by President Bush" (Houston Chronicle,
3/14).  A 10.6% Medicare Part B reimbursement cut for CRNAs and physicians
is scheduled to take effect on July 1st unless Congress acts to reverse it.
The AANA is working with Congress to help ensure that future budgets
allocate funds to ensure that future reimbursements are not cut. 
 
The House budget resolution, which passed on a 212-207 vote, exceeds the
amount that Bush requested for discretionary domestic spending by $25.4
billion, and the Senate budget resolution, which passed on a 51-44 vote,
exceeds the amount that he requested by $21.8 billion (CQ Today, 3/13). In
addition, both budget resolutions do not include $196 billion in spending
reductions for Medicare and Medicaid that Bush has requested (Houston
Chronicle, 3/13).  The House budget resolution directs the House Ways and
Means Committee to report a reconciliation bill that over six years would
produce $750 million in savings from mandatory programs, most likely from
Medicare (CQ Today, 3/13).  Democratic presidential candidates Senators
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL) and presumptive Republican
nominee Sen. John McCain (AZ) returned to Washington to vote on the Senate
budget resolution.
 
Read more, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5617903.html
 
Also see, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5616797.html
 
Visit the Senate Budget Committee, http://www.senate.gov/~budget/
 
Visit the House Budget Committee, http://www.house.gov/budget_democrats/
 
Visit the House Ways & Means Committee, http://waysandmeans.house.gov/
 
View the bill, http://thomas.loc.gov
Click "Bill Number"
Enter "H.Con.Res 312"
Enter "S.Con.Res.70"
 
 
 

>> AANA Requests Federal Meetings on Hepatitis Outbreak Issues

 
AANA President Wanda Wilson CRNA, PhD, MSN, today requested meetings with
high-level federal health agency officials to focus additional attention on
the infection control and prevention issues raised by outbreaks of Hepatitis
C acquired in Nevada and New York healthcare facilities.
 
"Wide-scale public notices for Hepatitis C testing, and regional impacts on
patients' access to needed healthcare, both underscore that even limited
noncompliance with common infection control standards and guidelines poses
tremendous human and financial cost," Wilson wrote. "These developments (in
New York and Nevada) warrant our collaboration."
 
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie
Gerberding, stated March 3, "Our concern is that this could represent the
tip of an iceberg and we need to be much more aggressive about alerting
clinicians about how improper this practice is," she said, "but also
continuing to invest in our ability to detect these needles in a haystack at
the state level so we recognize when there has been a bad practice and
patients can be alerted and tested."
 
In her letter, Wilson stated that following a 2002 Hepatitis C outbreak in
Oklahoma, the AANA commissioned a survey that found 3 percent of
anesthesiologists and 1 percent of nurse anesthetists, nurses, other
physicians, and oral surgeons reported reusing needles and syringes, in
violation of AANA standards of practice and infection control guidelines.
Noting that AANA had then widely distributed its findings among healthcare
organizations and government agencies, she said in a statement March 6,
"Perhaps if the issue had been given more attention at the time, we wouldn't
be revisiting it again today."
 
 
 

>>130+ Representatives Sign Letter for Nurse Workforce Funding Boost

 
As of March 14, over 130 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed
a bipartisan letter circulated by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Steven
Latourette (R-OH) urging House appropriators to boost federal funding for
nursing workforce development to $200 million for FY 2009.  The AANA had
urged nurse anesthesia educational program directors, faculty and students
to contact their U.S. Representatives in support of the letter, which is
part of the AANA's 2009 strategy to reverse an Administration proposal to
eliminate all funding for Title 8 Advanced Education Nursing.
 
Shortly, AANA's Washington office anticipates Senators will begin
circulating a similar letter.  At the time that letter is released for
circulation, nurse anesthesia educators and students will be prompted by
AANA to contact their Senators to sign the letter to boost nurse educational
program funding.

 
 
 
>> FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approving Sugammadex

 
The Food and Drug Administration's Anesthetics and Life Support Drugs
Advisory Committee voted unanimously March 11 to recommend approval for the
selective relaxant binding agent sugammadex, meaning that the drug may come
available for CRNAs to administer in the clinical setting in the near future.
 
An FDA staff memo described the decision the panel was to make at
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/08/briefing/2008-4346b1-01-FDA.pdf .
The panel is made up of a roster as follows
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/08/roster/2008-4346r1-committee.pdf.
The drug, a product of Schering-Plough's Organon division, would be marketed
under the name Bridion, the company reports. 
 
 
 

>> Sunshine Act Sets to Force Disclosure of Gifts to Physicians

 
On Thursday (March 13th), Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Pete
Stark (D-CA) have introduced Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2008 (HR
5605) that would require pharmaceutical and medical device companies to
disclose to the public any gifts or payments to physicians valued at $25 or
more.  Companion legislation in the Senate (S 2029) is sponsored by Senators
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) (CQ HealthBeat, 3/14).  Under the
bill, companies with at least $100 million in annual revenue would be
required each quarter to disclose gifts or payments exceeding $25 in value,
and the information would then be posted on a website.  Companies would have
to disclose any gifts or payments made "directly, indirectly, through an
agent, subsidiary or other third party."  In addition, companies would have
to disclose payments for continuing medical education programs (American
Health Line, 9/7/07).  In a statement, DeFazio and Stark said, "This bill
will provide much needed transparency into the increasingly corrosive
relationship between the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and
American physicians."
 
View the bill, http://thomas.loc.gov
Click "Bill Number"
Enter "HR 5605"
Enter "S 2029"
 

 
 
>> Amendments

 
* The House and Senate will not be in session this week.  Both the
             House and the Senate will be taking Easter recess over the next two weeks.
             Both chambers are scheduled to gavel on Monday, March 31st.
 
*          Stay Informed about the Nevada Hepatitis Outbreak.  An outbreak of
            hepatitis has been linked to an outpatient center near Las Vegas, NV. The
            AANA is closely monitoring and acting upon the situation.  More details are
            available for AANA members on the AANA Website (http://www.aana.com).
 
* How's Your NPI?  In addition to the resources available to CRNAs at
            www.aana.com <http://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.  Newly updated information about
            reliably using your NPI is posted by theMedicare agency at
            http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/SE0725.pdf .
 
* Make Plans NOW to Attend the AANA Mid Year Assembly!  This year the
            AANA Mid Year Assembly will be held April 13th-16th in Washington, DC. And,
            for the first time, the CRNA-PAC is hosting its Sunday evening fundraiser in
            Presidential style - with a twilight tour of President Washington's Mount
            Vernon estate and dinner at the historic Mount Vernon Inn.  Tickets are $200
            per person and are selling fast, with proceeds to benefit CRNA-PAC.  For
            more information visit the AANA website at http://www.aana.com.  See what
            AANA will be advocating at MYA'08 by clicking here.
 
* Mount Vernon Night at Mid Year Assembly!!!  If you haven't bought
            tickets for Mount Vernon on Sunday, April 16th, at Mid Year Assembly, make
            sure you check the registration form when registering for MYA.
 
* Federal Political Directors (FPDs) NOW is the time to schedule your
            meetings for Mid Year Assembly.  Federal Political Directors should now be
            contacting the appropriate offices to schedule appointments with their
            Members of Congress, and their staff, for the upcoming Mid Year Assembly.
            Any questions, please contact AANA Political Affairs Manager Shari Dexter,
            sdexter@aanadc.com. 
 
* Where are the major U.S. Presidential candidates on healthcare
            issues?  The Kaiser Family Foundation has combed their websites, statements
            and speeches and posted it all on www.health08.org.   
 
* Make a statement to back CRNA-PAC!  The AANA's CRNA-PAC is a
            separate fund, supported by AANA members' voluntary contributions, that
            builds AANA and CRNAs' strength in Washington by supporting legislators
            friendly and influential to CRNAs' federal policy issues. For more
            information, see www.aana.com/crnapac.aspx, or email info@aanadc.com if you
            have any questions.
 
* AANA DC has Moved.  As of December 1st, 2007, our new street address
            is 25 Massachusetts Ave., NW., Suite 550, Washington, DC 20001.  Our
            telephone, fax number, and email addresses remain the same. 
 
* 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.  C 2008 American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists.