The American Nurses Association has put out a statement urging lawmakers to support new home healthcare legislation, saying the bill would ensure better patient access to care and remove barriers for nurses as qualified providers.
The “Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2011” (H.R. 2267), introduced by U.S. Reps. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., would allow advanced practice registered nurses to sign home health plans of care and certify Medicare patients for the home health benefit.
Schwartz and Walden noted the legislation would especially be useful in rural or underserved areas where physicians might be scarce.
“This legislation will improve access to care,” ANA President Karen A. Daley, RN, PhD, MPH, FAAN, said in a news release. “APRNs are a vital source of care with the education and training to facilitate home health plans of care. In order to meet our nation’s healthcare needs, an integrated, national healthcare workforce that optimizes utilization of all qualified providers must be put into action.”
The ANA noted that Medicare has recognized the autonomous practice of APRNs, who now coordinate the majority of skilled care to home health patients, for nearly two decades. However, the ANA said, a “quirk” in Medicare law has prevented APRNs from having the authority to sign home health plans of care and certify Medicare patients for the home health benefit.
“These delays in access to home health services inconvenience patients and their families and can result in increased cost to the Medicare system when patients are unnecessarily left in more expensive institutional settings,” the ANA wrote in the news release. “The Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act would address these problems by specifically allowing APRNs and physician assistants to certify home health services.”
For more information about the ANA’s work on the home healthcare issue, including a companion bill in the Senate, visit http://www.rnaction.org/homehealth.
The “Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2011” (H.R. 2267), introduced by U.S. Reps. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., would allow advanced practice registered nurses to sign home health plans of care and certify Medicare patients for the home health benefit.
Schwartz and Walden noted the legislation would especially be useful in rural or underserved areas where physicians might be scarce.
“This legislation will improve access to care,” ANA President Karen A. Daley, RN, PhD, MPH, FAAN, said in a news release. “APRNs are a vital source of care with the education and training to facilitate home health plans of care. In order to meet our nation’s healthcare needs, an integrated, national healthcare workforce that optimizes utilization of all qualified providers must be put into action.”
The ANA noted that Medicare has recognized the autonomous practice of APRNs, who now coordinate the majority of skilled care to home health patients, for nearly two decades. However, the ANA said, a “quirk” in Medicare law has prevented APRNs from having the authority to sign home health plans of care and certify Medicare patients for the home health benefit.
“These delays in access to home health services inconvenience patients and their families and can result in increased cost to the Medicare system when patients are unnecessarily left in more expensive institutional settings,” the ANA wrote in the news release. “The Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act would address these problems by specifically allowing APRNs and physician assistants to certify home health services.”
For more information about the ANA’s work on the home healthcare issue, including a companion bill in the Senate, visit http://www.rnaction.org/homehealth.
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