Pappas Receives Award for His Commitment to Increasing Access to Health Care, Supporting Nurses
This week Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) received the National Health Leadership Award from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) for his advocacy on behalf of nurses, as well as his support for increasing access to health care, expanded tuition assistance for aspiring nurses, and the bipartisan Improving Care and Access to Nurses (I CAN) Act.
The bipartisan I CAN Act would increase health care access, improve quality of care, and lower costs by removing the remaining barriers imposed by the federal government in the Medicare and Medicaid programs that prevent Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) from practicing the full scope of their education and clinical training to the level that is approved in the state where they practice.
“Nurses in New Hampshire and across the country continue to answer the call and serve our communities and provide patients with the highest level of care,” said Congressman Pappas. “I’m committed to continuing to support their work in Congress by strengthening nursing workforce development, increasing tuition assistance for aspiring nurses, and more. Passing the I CAN Act would allow nurses to provide care in settings consistent with their training and ensure those services are covered by Medicaid, increasing health care access, reducing wait times, and lowering costs. I’m honored to receive this award and will continue to advocate for our CRNAs and all health care workers.”
“Through his leadership, Representative Pappas continues to be a champion for patients’ access, including veterans, to healthcare,” said AANA President Jan Setnor, MSN, CRNA, Col. (Ret), USAFR, NC. “He understands the important role CRNAs play in delivering quality, safe anesthesia care and has taken a leadership role on critical healthcare issues. Patients and veterans are unable to access timely anesthesia care. Representative Pappas knows care can’t wait and it is time to cut the red tape.”
BACKGROUND:
APRNs are nurses prepared at the master's or doctoral level to provide primary, acute, chronic, and specialty care to patients of all ages and backgrounds, in all settings. Their qualifications enable them to treat and diagnose illnesses, advise the public on health issues, manage chronic disease, order and interpret diagnostic tests, prescribe medication, and direct non-pharmacologic treatments for their patients. Over 40 years of vigorous, peer-reviewed research has verified the safety, quality, satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness of APRN care. This has led the National Academy of Sciences to call for the removal of laws, regulations, and policies that prevent APRNs from providing the full scope of health care services they are educated and trained to provide.
Currently, several federal statutes and regulations, as well as certain state practice acts and institutional rules, require physician oversight and limit APRN practice. These barriers reduce access to care, create disruptions in care, increase the cost of care, and undermine efforts to improve the quality of care. Specifically, the I CAN Act would remove remaining barriers in the Medicare and Medicaid programs that prevent APRNs from practicing to the full extent of their education and clinical training. Importantly, this bill does not expand scope of practice or impede upon state law. Rather, the bill would simply ensure that the federal government honors state laws, including New Hampshire state law, ensuring that Medicare and Medicaid patients living in states where nurses have already been granted full practice authority are permitted to choose to seek care from a nurse practitioner.