AANA Midyear Assembly Review

Midyear Assembly: A Student's Perspective
by Zach Langton

The week at Mid Year Assembly April 19-22 in Washington D.C. carried the intensity of an immersion course in national health policy. It appears very likely that a substantive health care reform bill is forthcoming this year. There are three major committees that will write and rewrite healthcare policy. The Ways and Means Committee is responsible for Medicare issues, the Appropriations Committee deals with the appropriation/appointment of monies, and finally the Energy and Commerce Committee that has a subcommittee on health. Presently the committees are conducting hearings, inviting expert witness to testify on their specific issues and recommendations for healthcare reform. After these hearings a bill will be written in May or June and introduced to the houses where it will go through lots of hoops to get passed, rewritten and re-passed likely in July or August. The final bill is anticipated to be ready for president Obama around September and then given to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) who will finalize the language that dictates the details of how it is enforced and enacted starting January 2010. Although this is an ambitious time line, healthcare is on the front of people’s minds and politicians are committed to the imminent nature of this forthcoming bill.

Every point of this timeline is critical. Language can be included, excluded or changed at any point along the way that affects CRNAs and we must be ready to catch it and respond. An important goal for national healthcare reform is that it includes non-discriminatory language that will not place artificial limits to CRNA practice and reimbursement. Thankfully the AANA has an excellent team of lobbyists in the DC office that are watching policy development to catch language or policy changes that threaten our profession. It is our responsibility to respond with letters and/or calls to our representatives when the AANA sends an alert and communicate to our representatives how they can support us. Without getting their attention, our representatives have so much going on they won’t catch the changes, even if they are supportive of CRNA practice. We were told this on more than one occasion by Health Legislative Aids and by members of Congress themselves. Furthermore, the opinion of members of a Congressperson’s constituency are important. If your representative is on one of the previously mentioned committees, your voice can have very meaningful impact.

An important crossroad is coming in national health care reform. Everyone who provides and receives health care will be effected. Those who speak up will be heard. Please stay informed. Your involvement could make a significant difference in the future of our practice.