Health Outlook in DC – Jan 9-13

  

Monday, January 9 – the National Press Club holds a Newsmaker Luncheon address by HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on the consequences of potential Affordable Care Act repeal

The National Academy of Sciences holds an embargoed release, “Accounting for Social Risk Factors in Medicare Payment“

Tuesday, January 10 – The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Harvard Global Health Institute hold a symposium on “Pandemic Preparedness in the Next – Administration“

CDC Director Tom Frieden and Indian Health Service Principal Deputy Director Mary Smith hold an embargoed briefing, to discuss a new Vital Signs report on “What approaches from the Indian Health Service can be applied to other populations to reduce kidney failure and prevent diabetes deaths?”

Tuesday and Wednesday, the EPA will review the draft Biologically Based Dose-Response Model for perchlorate in drinking water and a draft model report, “Biologically Based Dose-Response Models for the Effect of Perchlorate on Thyroid Hormones in the Infant, Breast Feeding Mother, Pregnant Mother, and Fetus: Model Development, Revision, and Preliminary Dose-Response Analyses”

Thursday, January 12 – the NIH holds a meeting of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

The Office of Representative Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, hosts a briefing on “Physician Assisted Suicide: Dangers for U.S. Health Care”

Thursday and Friday, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health holds a meeting of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee

Friday, January 13 – AEI, the Pacific Buisness Group on Health, and the Center for Health Policy at Brookings hold a discussion on “Fixing Health Care: Practical Lessons from Business Leaders“ – ANA will be attending this meeting.

The NIH holds a meeting of the NIH Clinical Center Research Hospital Board

The NIH holds a meeting of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

 

Help ANA fight for CRNAs to have full practice authority in the VHA — Deadline for comments is Friday, January 13th!

  

There is still time to fight for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) inclusion in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) final rule during its second public comment period which ends this Friday, January 13. Help us advocate for CRNAs by clicking here to customize and submit a pre-written comment letter which will be sent directly to the VA.

Since its announcement on December 13th, ANA has been highlighting the VA’s groundbreaking rule which would allow nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse-midwives to work independently without physician supervision in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). As the nation’s largest employer of nurses, this rule will allow APRNs full practice authority regardless of state or local law restrictions, but excluded over 900 CRNAs currently employed by the VA. While we commend VA Secretary McDonald and Under Secretary Shulkin for taking this critical step to ensure our nation’s Veterans receive the high quality health care they have earned and deserve, we continue to stress our extreme disappointed that the VA failed to extend full practice authority to CRNAs. Check out ANA’s press release for more background.

ANA has written a letter to the VA urging them to implement and include CRNAs in its final rule. ANA is also co-signing comment letters with the Nursing Community and APRN coalition to aggressively fight for CRNA inclusion in the VA’s final rule. Please join us in advocating for CRNAs by submitting a personal comment letter by Friday, January 13th.

Tips and tricks for visiting your Senator’s office

  

Letters and phone calls can make a huge difference on Capitol Hill. But to really make Congress understand what nurses see every day on the job, a face-to-face meeting with a lawmaker or their staff is hard to beat. An office visit shows them the human face of your profession and your patients.

Here’s a quick guide to planning your office visit.

How to set up your meeting:

• Pick a day during the week of January 16th when you could stop by your Senator’s local office.

• Pick which of your two U.S. Senators you’re going to meet with. You should choose whichever Senator you prefer.

• Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senator’s office. Tell the staffer you’d like to request a meeting with the staff at your nearest district office about health care – the staffer you speak with can tell you where the closest office is. You probably don’t need to make an appointment, but it’s helpful to make one so you can be sure a knowledgeable staffer will be available.

• Fill out this form to let us know when you’ve set up your visit.

Once you’ve scheduled a date and time:

• Do a little homework and figure out where your Representative stands on repealing the Affordable Care Act. You can often find press releases on their websites. Don’t forget: ANA staff is here to help! Feel free to reach out to us in the comments below.

• Jot down a couple notes about how you’ll introduce yourself – your background in nursing, what kind of patients you see or what classes you teach. The staffers you meet will be grateful to have a little context.

• Decide what YOUR number-one worry is about healthcare in America. Is it providing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions? Is it making sure young people can stay on their parents’ health insurance? Is it lifetime coverage caps, or something else entirely? For more ideas and background, check out the rest of the Capitol Beat blog, and be sure to read this letter we sent to the incoming Trump administration about ANA’s principles for any changes made to our health care system. You don’t have to speak to every issue, just what’s important to you personally.

• Remember, you’ll be meeting with staffers who probably don’t know the ins and outs of healthcare as well as you do. Be ready for them to ask you to explain technical terms.

Last but not least, make sure you thank the staffer for their time and attention!

Any questions, concerns, or clarifications? Let us know in the comments!