FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/March 22, 1996 CONTACT: Sara Foer [202-651-7023]; Joan Meehan [202-651-7020] American Nurses Association Praises President Clinton's FY 1997 Proposed BudgetProposal Calls for Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Reimbursement and Priority Funding for Primary Care Medicine, Public Health Training, and Nursing EducationWASHINGTON, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) today praised President Clinton's Fiscal Year 1997 proposed budget, a spending blueprint that, through a combination of tax and spending cuts, is designed to balance the federal budget by the year 2002. In particular, the ANA applauded the administration for including a provision to provide direct Medicare reimbursement to all nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists and for demonstrating priority funding for primary care medicine, public health training, and nursing education practice initiatives. This provision, which was incorporated into the budget plan following several meetings between ANA and The White House, represents the first time that any President's budget has contained an advanced practice registered nurse reimbursement provision. The President has assured ANA that his Administration will work with Congress to achieve enactment of this provision. ANA is also working closely with Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-SD), Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), Representatives Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY), and other Congressional leaders on this proposal. "Advanced practice registered nurses, such as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, deliver timely, cost-effective, quality health care, especially to chronically underserved populations, such as the poor, elderly, and those in rural areas," said ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN. "We commend President Clinton for recognizing the contributions of professional nursing to the health and welfare of our citizens and for acknowledging nursing as a valuable national resource as reflected in his proposed 1997 budget," said Betts. The advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) is an umbrella term for a registered nurse who has completed advanced educational and clinical practice requirements beyond the 2-4 years of basic nursing education necessary for all RNs. APRNs include nurse practitioners (NPs), certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), and clinical nurse specialists (CNSs). CRNA and CNM services are already covered by Medicare Part B; whereas, NP and CNS reimbursement is currently limited to designated rural areas. Another laudable component of the FY 1997 budget is the funding of health professions programs. While the FY 1997 budget of $366 million is $21 million less than proposed in FY 1996, the funding among the health professions training programs has been redistributed, with the nursing education practice initiative slated to receive $14 million above that proposed in FY 1996. The nursing program combines six programs into three activities focused on basic nurse training, advanced practice registered nurse training, and work force diversity. "Adequate funding for nursing education is critical to ensure that an appropriate supply of well-educated professionals is available to meet the nation's diverse health care needs today and in the future," said Betts. Formally sent to Congress on March 19, the President's $1.65 trillion proposed budget for FY 1997, a nearly 2000-page set of documents, is aimed at balancing the budget within seven years by cutting "unnecessary and lower priority expenditures and closing corporate tax loopholes," while at the same time offering nearly $100 billion in tax cuts for middle-income Americans and small businesses and boosting incentives for education, training, and environmental clean-up. The FY 1997 proposed budget also contains plans to reform the welfare system, to reduce Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, and to increase the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour. Administration projections call for $124 billion in Medicare savings and $59 billion in Medicaid savings between 1996 and 2002, as well as $40 billion in savings to be achieved through welfare reform. ANA urges caution in implementing restructuring and downsizing throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs, which announced a 1997 RIF of 10,000 workers, including some physicians and nurses. ANA maintains that much of the restructuring that has already occurred in private sector hospitals has compromised safety and quality of patient care and the delivery of health care services, and warns against replicating those problems in VA hospitals. In December, ANA commended President Clinton for his veto of the Republican budget plan, citing concern that the GOP's proposed deep cuts in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending would have a negative impact on the availability and quality of health care, which currently faces an apparent deterioration as hospitals reduce staff, especially registered nurses, in an effort to curb costs.
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