FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/June 27, 1997 First Lady Praises Nation's Nurses for Improving Patient CareHillary Clinton Urges RNs to Continue Alerting Consumers to Health Care's Dangers Washington, DC -- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton credited
the nation's nurses today with much of the progress made in the past few
years in improving the quality of health care, while at the same time cautioning
them to remain vigilant in alerting consumers to the potential Catherine Dodd, Executive Director of ANA/California and ANA-PAC Chair, introduces Hillary Rodham Clinton (center) seated next to Dr. Beverly Malone, ANA President (left) "Thank you for putting the interests of nursing and your patients first,"Clinton stated to the more than 300 attendees. "Your voices matter so much...nurses are on the frontlines of health care. You see what happens when health care decisions are made not on the basis of what's good for patients but on what's good for the bottom line." Clinton expressed gratitude for nursing's support of health care reform and noted that while the proposal failed in 1994, much progress has been made in expanding health care coverage for the nation's citizens, particularly children. "Your work has been paying off over the past several years--we're changing the climate," Clinton asserted. She acknowledged nursing's strong role in the passage of last year's Health Care Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (the Kassebaum-Kennedy legislation) and Mothers and Newborns Protection Act (requiring minimum hospital maternity stay coverage). She applauded provisions of the budget reconciliation bills, passed by both the House and Senate yesterday, extending the Community Nursing Organization (CNO) program and providing direct Medicare reimbursement payments to all nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. CNOs are pilot managed care programs operated by nurses that offer a package of Medicare benefits. Preliminary data indicate that these programs, which have been operating in four states since 1994, deliver high-quality, cost-effective health care. The proposed two-year extension will enable the programs to develop sufficient experience for a full and fair evaluation of this nurse-managed coordinated care model. In addition to championing the CNOs, the ANA has worked tirelessly over the past several years to secure direct Medicare reimbursement for services provided by advanced practice registered nurses regardless of geographic or practice setting. "This is a real victory for all of you," Clinton stated. "This recognizes nurses as the independent, autonomous force that you are within the health care profession." Clinton also noted nursing's role in advancing health care insurance coverage for children and applauded the inclusion of $16 billion for uninsured children in the budget legislation. Pointing out that this amount would cover only half of the nation's uninsured children, she indicated that President Clinton will support efforts in the Senate to increase the tobacco tax to fund coverage for all children. Despite the progress made toward guaranteeing access to and improving the quality of care, Clinton extolled the nursing profession to continue alerting the public to the health care changes that threaten the safety and quality of patient care. She specifically criticized the trend in hospitals nationwide of cutting costs by reducing nurse staffing and replacing registered nurses with unlicensed personnel. "I believe [these things] will have an adverse effect on the care patients receive," she stated. Clinton's words echoed the ANA's long-held position that the care provided in hospitals today is deteriorating, due to an increased focus on the bottom line at the expense of adequate and appropriate nurse staffing. In fact, at a media briefing last month, the ANA released research findings providing hard evidence that patient outcomes are directly related to nursing staff numbers. Cincinnati resident Jack Strunk underscored these findings by sharing the shock and anger he felt when his wife died after a routine hysterectomy because the unlicensed hospital aides assigned to her post-operative care failed to notice an internal infection, something that a registered nurse would have identified. Predicting that changes in the health care industry will escalate the number of patients being denied treatment and will increase the interference in the provider-patient relationship, Clinton said, "We cannot permit the marketplace to be the sole determinant of what happens to the health care [patients] receive.
"The voices of nurses will be
heard even more Furthermore, she praised nurses' growing political activism and increased participation in health policy making. She urged nurses to encourage their colleagues to become politically active, underscoring the relationship between politics and professionalism. The ANA-PAC has raised more than one million dollars in each of the last two election cycles, 1993-1994 and 1995-1996. It endorsed more than 250 candidates for office last year, including four nurses. Two of them--incumbent Eddie Bernice Johnson, RN, (D-TX) and newcomer Carolyn McCarthy, LPN, (D-NY)--were elected. Overall, 76 percent of the ANA-PAC endorsed candidates won their races. Much of the ANA-PAC's success is due to individual nurses who make major financial gifts to the political action committee. Those who contributed more than $250 in the current cycle were honored at today's luncheon.
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dangers
in health care restructuring. Clinton spoke to members of the American
Nurses Association (ANA) at a luncheon honoring donors to the ANA-Political
Action Committee (ANA-PAC) at the association's annual House of Delegates
meeting.
