AANA Applauds Bipartisan Support for Key Nursing Workforce Legislation, Supporting Patient Access to Anesthesiology Services

Rosemont, Ill. — Today, in a major win for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and the entire nursing community, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee marked up the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act and moved the bill to the full Senate for consideration. In addition to moving the Title VIII Nursing Workforce bill, the committee also advanced both the National Nursing Workforce Center Act and the Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction Act as amendments to Title VIII, both of which the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) has supported. AANA applauds this important movement and thanks Sens. Bill Cassidy (R) and Bernie Sanders (I) for their leadership and support to move this important legislation forward.

AANA has been at the forefront of efforts to support reauthorization of Title VIII programs, working in close coordination with all 65 members of the Nursing Community Coalition and the leadership of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). This is an important step forward in helping to protect the nursing workforce, and to expand the critical pipeline of CRNAs and other nurses and to protect these important programs.

“CRNAs are critical to ensuring that people across the country have access to anesthesia and related care. Whether in rural and underserved communities, or for our armed forces and veterans, we cannot meet the needs of patients without CRNAs and the support that Title VIII programs provide”, said AANA President Jeff Molter, MSN, MBA, CRNA. “We applaud the HELP committee for moving this important these important priorities forward in a bipartisan manner and thank Senators Jeff Merkley, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Lisa Murkowski for their continued leadership on these issues.”

Title VIII reauthorization previously passed out of the Energy & Commerce Health subcommittee with unanimous support. AANA encourages the House and Senate to act quickly to pass this legislation and move it to the President’s desk for his signature.