Governmental Affairs

ASPAN Governmental Affairs Committee Report For Midyear Board of Directors Meeting  2001 - 2002

Gena Near, BSN, RN, CPAN, Chair

The Governmental Affairs Committee has been actively working so that ASPAN will be its members' primary resource for education and knowledge exchange worldwide.  Governmental Affairs related articles have been submitted and published in Breathline and in component newsletters which are reliable and improve the body of knowledge (Strategic Plan # A5).

The committee has increased monitoring by component and national members regarding legislative issues and pending legislation.  Component members are educated and bills, laws, and hot issues to address and speak to have been identified via monthly updates.  This bulleted information is available for component leaders to use with their legislatures.  We have identified ourselves as resource persons within ASPAN to help members understand what they are reading on the Web or in newspapers regarding legislation.  The committee chair plans to attend NIWI in March 2002 (Strategic Plan # B1).

Members of the Health Care Policy SWT promoted standards of perianesthesia practice to legislators and regulatory agencies by writing letters to the AMA, JCAHO, AHA, and AAAHC that introduced ASPAN as a leader and expert in nursing practice in office based practice related to consumers undergoing surgery or procedures that have analgesia/sedation/anesthesia.  This SWT also sent 2000 Standards of Perianesthesia Nursing Practice to the before mentioned agencies.  This SWT increased recognition and credibility in order to be invited to sit at more significant state and national anesthesia public policy meetings by sending information to legislators from each component president to introduce the regional leaders, and to inform senators and representatives of the valuable resource of perianesthesia nurses (Strategic Plan # B3 and B5).

The Governmental Affairs Committee has information packets available for components and members (Strategic Plan # B5).

For the first time ever, we have established a Governmental Affairs "page" on ASPAN's Web site to educate members about the legislative process, develop a communication network, provide monthly updates, and provide alerts on important legislative/policy issues.  We hope to see increasing "hits" at this site (Strategic Plan # B5).

Legislative and regulatory policies tracked throughout the year so far included:

·                     S. 27 "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2001"

·                     H.R. 822 "Medicare Certified Registered Nurse First Assistant Direct Reimbursement Act of 2001"

·                     H.R. 716 "To provide for a study of anesthesia services furnished under the Medicare Program, and to expand arrangements under which certified registered nurse anesthetists may furnish such services"

·                     H.R. 630 "Teaching Children To Save Lives Act"

·                     H.R. 118 "Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Improvement Act of 2001"

·                     H.R. 16 "National Health Insurance Act"

·                     H.J. RES. 38 "Disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services on December 28, 2000, relating to standards for privacy of individually identifiable health information"

·                     H. CON. RES. 99 "Directing Congress to enact legislation by October 2004 that provides access to comprehensive health care for all Americans"

·                     H.R. 1033 "States' Right To Innovate In Health Care Act of 2001"

·                     H.R. 162 "Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Amendments of 2001"

·                     S. 6/H.R. 526 "Patients' Bill of Rights Act"

·                     S. CON. RES. 11 "A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress to fully use the powers of the Federal Government to enhance the science base required to more fully develop the field of health promotion and disease prevention, and to explore how strategies can be developed to integrate lifestyle improvement programs into national policy, our health care system, schools, workplaces, families, and communities"

·                     S. 575 "Hospital Length of Stay Act 2001"

·                     H. J. RES. 35 "Disapproving the rule of the OSHA relating to ergonomics"

·                     H. R. 1644 "To amend title 18, US Code, to prohibit cloning"

·                     H. R. 2172 "To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the cloning of humans, and for other purposes"

·                     S. 1052 "A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to protect consumers in managed care plans and other health coverage"

·                     S. 839/H. R. 1556 "The American Hospital Preservation Act"

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·                     Violence Protections For Health Care Workers

·                      Nursing Shortage

·                     Informatics

·                     Nursing Employment and Education Development (NEED) Act

·                     ANA House of Delegates Update

·                     United American Nurses/AFL-CIO

·                     Code of Ethics

·                     Call To The Profession

·                     Duplicative Paperwork

·                     Nurses' Role In Organ Donation

·                     Corrections Nursing

·                     Discrimination In The Military

·                     Global Issues

·                     Support For Professional Practice

·                     Back Injuries

·                     Whistleblower Protection

·                     Appropriations Bills