Newswise — “I commend the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee for acting today on a bipartisan basis to allow the Veterans Healthcare Administration to promote Veterans access to quality healthcare provided by all advanced practice registered nurses, including Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). By passing S 1203 and its provisions of the ‘Frontlines to Lifelines Act’ (S 297, Kirk, R-IL) without language that would have disrupted the VHA from recognizing CRNAs to their Full Practice Authority, the Committee is letting the VHA do the job it needs to do to protect and advance Veterans’ access to quality healthcare.
“Recent testimony before Congress has underscored that Veteran wait times for healthcare are increasing. As the VHA implements the Choice Act, more Veterans are seeking healthcare through VHA. Letting CRNAs and other APRNs serve to their Full Practice Authority is a common-sense solution to our Veterans problem of access to care. Supported by Veterans, Veterans organizations, AARP, nursing organizations and many members of Congress, consistent with recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, eliminating costly barriers to care by APRNs is a solution whose time has come.”
AANA President Sharon Pearce, CRNA, MSN
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