NAHN supports the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed amendment to permit full practice authority of all VA advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)

NAHN supports the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed amendment to permit full practice authority of all VA advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)

NAHN Members - On behalf of the Policy Committee please consider writing your own letter or comment in support for APRN full practice authority at the VA, found here. The NAHN Board approved a policy statement on this issue on April 27 which can be found here: http://nahnnet.org/docs/National_Association_of_Hispanic_Nurses_Position_Paper_on_APRN.pdf

In addition, NAHN issued a comment letter through the official comment portal. The Policy Committee encourages NAHN members to join nearly 50,000 people who have submitted comments using the same portal. Copy and paste the portal link: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=VA-2016-VHA-0011-0001

Comments must be received no later than July 25, 2016!

Here is the text of NAHN's comment letter which may help you summarize key points you can reference when creating your own comments.

The National Association of Hispanic Nurses represents the interests of over 200,000 Hispanic nurses nationwide, including advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), students, and affiliate members. Our mission is to advance the health of all communities and in particular, the health in Hispanic communities through educational, professional, and leadership opportunities for Hispanic nurses.

There are 1.2 million Hispanic veterans of the U.S. armed forces. According to the National Center of Veterans Analysis and Statistics, the percentage of Hispanic veterans is expected to double by 2040 (from 6.0% to 11.4%). We are proud to have published our own position statement, supporting state, federal, and organizational policies and regulations that allow APRNs to practice to the full extent of their education and training, to assist in meeting the current and future health care needs of consumers, to ultimately decrease disparities and improve the nation's health. Our full statement can be found here.

We are writing to support the proposed rule [RIN: 2900-AP44 - Proposed Rule - Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (81 Fed. Reg. 33155, May 25, 2016)] which takes an important step in allowing our nation's veterans direct access to high quality health care delivered by APRNs (nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse midwives).

As you know, over 6,000 APRNs currently provide a full range of services to our veterans in the VHA. Implementation of this rule would expand access to high quality health care and improve the VA's capacity to provide timely, effective and efficient care that they have earned.

In particular, we are pleased that this rule:

- Is based on careful study and stakeholder engagement. In particular, the proposed rule implements the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences to remove scope of-practice barriers.

-Is consistent with other efforts to improve access to high value patient-centered care, including the Indian Health Service. The VA notes that the proposed changes in this rulemaking would not be "completely novel or unexpected to the general public or other Federal entities that provide health care services to beneficiaries."

- Recognizes that supervision requirements are unnecessary and costly. The FTC and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute have noted that unsubstantiated supervision increases health care costs and may exacerbate existing and projected health care workforce shortages.

-Includes each of the four APRN roles.

Thank you for moving forward with implementing this rule. It is past time that APRNs be allowed to provide safe, high quality health care that our nation's veterans deserve.

National Association of Hispanic Nurses
1500 Sunday Drive, Suite 102
Raleigh, NC 27607
919-573-5443
www.nahnnet.org