AORN's legislative priorities have been revised for 2004 - Health Policy Issues

AORN Journal,  Feb, 2004  by Burke Beu

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AORN's Legislative Committee is charged each year with reviewing and revising, as necessary, the Association's statement of legislative priorities. Any recommended changes to the priorities are forwarded to the Board of Directors for approval.

In August 2002, the Committee revised and expanded the legislative priorities to include general nursing issues that have an impact on perioperative nurses. Funding for the federal Nurse Reinvestment Act, participation in the Americans for Nursing Shortage Relief coalition, and monitoring of patient safety legislation were added to the priorities at that time. In addition, the priority pertaining to surgical assistive personnel was revised with specific language that says although AORN supports registration and certification of assistive personnel, it opposes licensure of assistive personnel in the OR. The August 2002 review resulted in a list of legislative priorities divided into four sections with a total of 13 bullet-point statements.

Although those legislative priorities were more comprehensive and more pertinent to the various needs of AORN's diverse membership, they did not function successfully as calls to action. Many members commented that a more concise statement of priorities would be helpful, both for heightening their personal awareness of AORN's agenda as well as for communicating the agenda to elected officials during grassroots lobbying efforts. In particular, attendees at the 2003 Lobby Day event in Washington, DC, noted their difficulty in getting members of Congress to understand the legislative priorities in the short time available during Capitol Hill visits.

When Legislative Committee chair Joan Butera, RN, BSN, CNOR, CRNFA, was in the nation's capital for Lobby Day, she spoke with the Committee cochairs and Government Affairs staff members about ideas for revising the priorities. Their discussion focused on a revision that would maintain the priority content, allow for a statement regarding emerging issues, and establish a mnemonic format that would appeal to members. When the same group met again at the July AORN Leadership Conference in Denver, they decided to use the acronym KEYS for the legislative priorities. The acronym refers to the first letter in four call-to-action sentences, and each sentence is followed by a descriptive paragraph detailing a public policy objective (Table 1).

The Legislative Committee met by conference call on Aug 25, 2003, and unanimously recommended the revision. The AORN Board of Directors approved the revised legislative priorities in November.

NOTES ON THE REVISIONS

The letter K, which represents the first call to action in the 2004 legislative priorities, comes from Keep the RN in the OR! This theme has been a primary focus of AORN's advocacy efforts for many years. The follow-up paragraph to this sentence specifically mentions state and federal laws that require an RN as a circulating nurse in the OR. This call to action demonstrates the Board's commitment to supporting proactive lobbying for such legislation so that circulating laws eventually will be adopted in all 50 states.

The second call to action, which addresses the topic of assistive personnel, is represented by the letter E. The follow-up paragraph for the Enforce and protect scope of practice! call to action is a compilation of the point-by-point statements from previous versions of the legislative priorities. Although the text includes new language acknowledging the important role of assistive personnel the call to action asserts the purpose of this priority--enforcing and protecting the perioperative RN's scope of practice.

The third letter in the KEYS acronym--Y--stands for Yes to collaboration! This call to action incorporates the theme of relationship-building, which the Board of Directors has identified as part of AORN's strategic plan. President Betty Shultz will highlight unity as a theme for the 2004 Congress in San Diego, and AORN is actively pursuing opportunities to interact with other specialty nursing organizations and associations that represent colleagues in the perioperative arena. From a public policy perspective, this approach can strengthen AORN's advocacy efforts through mutual cooperation with other groups who have similar legislative interests.

The revised list of legislative priorities closes with a summary. Represented by the letter S, the State and federal legislation for RN first assistant (RNFA) reimbursement and emerging issues! call to action includes possible state and federal legislation for reimbursement of RNFAs and a declaration of AORN's openness to emerging issues. Topics that the Legislative Committee is considering include federal overtime regulations, health care reforms, and patient safety proposals, as well as various bills pertaining to medical liability.

SPREAD THE WORD

AORN is communicating the revised legislative priorities to members through various mechanisms, including this article. Attendees at AORN Congress are encouraged to visit the Government Affairs booth in the Resource Center for copies of the legislative priorities and additional promotional items. According to Butera, the Legislative Committee is eager for member feedback and participation.