Subject: Legislative Alert to All AORN Members: Immediate Action
Required!
Date: 25 Jun 2003 21:01:02 -0700
Please contact your U.S. Senators today! Urge them to support the
Chambliss nursing amendment to the Senate Medicare bill that is on the
Senate floor right now!
Ask your two U.S. Senators to support the Chambliss nursing amendment to S. 1, the Senate's Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act.
This Amendment would establish a demonstration project that would provide Medicare coverage of the surgical first assisting services of
CRNFAs. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) plans to introduce the amendment on the Senate Floor as soon as today.
AORN members have been working for years to achieve direct Medicare reimbursement for CRNFAs. While AORN urged Senator Chambliss to introduce an amendment for CRNFA reimbursement across the nation, budgetary constraints led him to offer a five-state, three-year demonstration project. Truly, this amendment is one of our best opportunities to advance CRNFA Medicare reimbursement. Once the House and Senate have passed their respective Medicare bills - which is expected this week - House and Senate negotiators will reconcile the differences between the two bills in July. At that time, we will press for expansion of the demonstration project. But, we need to get a
CRNFA provision to the conference table! (We are also working on the
House side, but we need your help in the Senate.) President Bush has challenged Congress to send him a Medicare bill soon, and this highprofile bill is an ideal vehicle for AORN to advance our goal! We are not likely to see another Medicare bill in the near-term future.
Contact your U.S. Senators today! Identify yourself as a registered nurse from the state and urge that your Senators support the Chambliss nursing amendment. Please help communicate AORN's message:
* Support the Chambliss nursing amendment to S. 1, the Prescription
Drug and Medicare Improvement Act.
* The amendment would establish a five-state, three-year demonstration project for direct Medicare reimbursement of certain operating room nurses, those who are Certified Registered Nurse First Assistants
(CRNFAs).
* Right now, Medicare will pay physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists for first assisting at surgery, but Medicare won't pay the Certified Registered Nurse First
Assistant (CRNFA), even though the CRNFA has extensive experience, education, and expertise in first assisting.
* Third-party payors in states across the country reimburse registered nurse first assistants for their surgical first assisting services. In fact, ten states (Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington state, and West Virginia) require third-party reimbursement.
* The American Hospital Association reports a "growing, critical workforce shortage" of nurses. Indeed, hospital vacancy rates for

registered nurses (RNs) exceed 10%. There is widespread acknowledgement that nurse recruitment, retention, and development must be improved. This proposal seeks to appropriately recognize the contribution of this highly skilled operating room nurse, the CRNFA, as an important step toward enhancing the profession of nursing in general.
* CRNFAs would be reimbursed at 13.6% of the surgeon's fee for their first assisting services, the same as the non-physician providers of this service who are currently reimbursed. Physicians who first assist receive 16% of the surgeon's fee. Use of CRNFAs is a high quality yet cost-effective alternative for the nation's health care delivery system.
Who are the two U.S. Senators for your state? Find out by visiting www.senate.gov and using the state-by-state listing on the homepage of the Senate web site. Individual web sites contain specific contact information, or if you know who your Senator is, you can call the
Senate switchboard (202-225-3121) to be connected to his or her office.
Contact your Senators today by placing a phone call, faxing a letter, or e-mailing a message. Please share with AORN copies of any letters sent. If per chance you are planning to be in Washington, DC this week, please visit with your home state Senators on Capitol Hill. Many nurses are attending the ANA convention in the nation's capital this week. If you'll be there, or if you know someone who will be there, please make a point of visiting with the Senators from your state in their Washington offices! If you have any questions about how to schedule a visit with your Senator, contact Burke Beu at 800-755-2676, ext. 233 for assistance.
Contact your U.S. Senators today! Support the Chambliss amendment to
S. 1, the Senate Medicare bill!
The two folks you may specifically ask for are:
Senator Warner's office...J.K. Robinson
Senator Allen's office...... Robert Turner