Advanced Practice Nurses
Key to a Reformed U.S. Health Care System
ANA believes strongly that Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are one of the keys to solving America’s health care crisis. We outlined the need for advanced practice nurse autonomous care delivery in Nursing's Agenda for Health Care Reform, and our current health reform backgrounders and advocacy efforts address the important role APRNs must play in a reformed health system.
APRN Consensus Model and Endorsing Organizations
The Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification & Education (APRN Consensus Model) has been endorsed by 41 nursing organizations. The APRN Consensus Mode defines advanced practice registered nurse practice, describes the APRN regulatory model, identifies the titles to be used, defines specialty, describes the emergence of new roles and population foci, and presents strategies for implementation. Visit the APRN Consensus Model Toolkit and see the latest list of endorsing organizations.
Protecting Your Scope of Practice
ANA is a founding member of the Coalition for Patients’ Rights (from Resources/Links below). This group is fighting the AMA's recent Scope of Practice initiative, which is attempting to limit the scope of practice for advanced practice registered nurses and other licensed professionals. Read about this important issue in the July/August 2006 American Nurse (page 5).
Ensuring You Get Paid Directly
ANA worked hard to ensure that APRNs received direct reimbursement for your services from Medicaid and Medicare; and today we are working just as hard to see that coverage is expanded by Medicaid, so that more APRN services are recognized. Additional information is available on the Advanced Practice Medicaid Reimbursement page.
Protecting Your Rights at the State Level
ANA, working together with our Constituent Member (State) Associations, helped remove geographic and practice setting limitations for APRNs. We are still working state by state to ensure that state laws affecting Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are both fair and consistent across the country, and that your scope of practice is not unfairly limited.
Proving Your Value
ANA ensured that nursing services, including thereby Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, are included in cost-benefits analyses by launching the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. NDNQI concretely shows how nurses’ expertise and interventions count, by increasing the quality of patient care, leading to better patient outcomes, and saving money. More than 1000 hospitals have signed up to contribute data to NDNQI, and we continue to add to the list of nursing sensitive indicators.
Read about it in the Nov/Dec 2006 American Nurse.
For more information go to the NDNQI section.
Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Video
ANA provides a link to download a new video explaining the MLN and its benefits to Fee-For-Service healthcare providers. The video is available for download on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Web site. This video, approximately seven minutes in length, is suitable for self instruction or for use during provider education events. To download the video, see Resources/Links below.
Education You Can Use
ANA’s publishing arm, Nursesbooks.org, has made sure that measurement criteria specific to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses is included in our foundational Standards of Practice books. We also print a number of other books specific to APRNs. See a list at: www.nursesbooks.org from Resources/Links below.
ANA also recognizes that you need CE hours to maintain your certification and/or license. ANA members have access to free online CE. Login and select CE in the Members Only Section.
Saving You Money
ANA guarantees that our list of benefits available to you as a member includes a number of benefits particularly important to APRNs: a significant discount on ANCC certification exams, access to the risk management discount of 10% on the liability insurance so necessary to your practice, and discounts on books that relate specifically to APRNs, your practice and your career. Get more information on your membership discounts and benefits.
In many ways large and small, ANA is continuously working to promote and protect Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. Look through our Web site for issues which matter to you.