Dear AANA Member:

Because of your interest in nurse anesthesia policy issues, I have selected you to contact your U.S. Senator(s) today about an issue of critical importance to our profession.

The issue: Prohibition on Discrimination Against Healthcare Providers by Licensure. In the interest of advancing the nurse anesthesia profession, the AANA and CRNAs support measures that prevent health plans from discriminating against a full class of providers solely on the basis of licensure. Discrimination by licensure hinders patients’ access to the quality healthcare that CRNAs provide (click here to see the AANA statement to Capitol Hill).

The challenge: What do we need Congress to do in order to ensure access to providers like CRNAs? In the next few days, the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee will mark up the Affordable Health Choices Act, a major health reform bill. We are working with the Patients’ Access to Responsible Care Alliance (PARCA), a coalition of colleagues from the health care professional community, to request an amendment to the legislation that would add language prohibiting discrimination against providers based on licensure (click here to view the PARCA Coalition Letter to Capitol Hill).

We request that health reform legislation include provisions that would prevent health plans from discriminating against classes of healthcare providers with respect to plan participation, indemnification, and reimbursement based on the type of health provider, and the professional’s licensure or certification.

Our coalition colleagues are asking thousands of their members to send messages to Capitol Hill on this issue. Now it’s our turn for CRNAs to make our voices heard. Ask your Senator(s) on the HELP Committee to support provider non-discrimination language so we can better serve our patients.

Contact Your Senator(s) on the Senate HELP Committee TODAY.

Click here to take action by email and let your Senator(s) on the HELP Committee know they need to support our patients by safeguarding against harmful practices by limiting payments based on licensure!

For all you do for our great profession, thank you.

Sincerely,

Jackie S. Rowles, CRNA, MBA, MA, FAAPM