Nursing Community Coalition Urges Congress to Protect Veterans’ Access to Quality Anesthesia Care

ROSEMONT, Ill. – In a letter to Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) voiced strong opposition to the erroneously named “Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act of 2023,” emphasizing the potential negative impact the bill could have on veterans’ health and their continuity of care.

The proposed legislation would impose unnecessary and unjustifiable restrictions on Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), adversely impacting the healthcare of our nation’s veterans. The NCC points out that even the VA, in testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee on September 19, 2023, acknowledged that CRNAs can safely provide anesthesia care autonomously.

“Together we recognize how vital removing barriers to practice and increasing access to the high-quality care our nation’s nurses and APRNs [advanced practice registered nurses], including our Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), are for the patient and the entire health care system,” the letter stated.

The NCC represents a diverse cross-section of the nursing profession, including Registered Nurses (RNs), APRNs, nurse leaders, boards of nursing, students, faculty, and researchers. The letter emphasizes that full practice authority of CRNAs is not a novel concept, with other federal healthcare systems, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force, already utilizing it.

“CRNAs play a crucial role in providing anesthesia services across the entire care continuum, bringing essential support and expertise to their patients, especially within the VA,”  said AANA President Dru Riddle, PhD, DNP, CRNA, FAAN .“Removing barriers to care, including removal of burdensome supervision requirements, is not controversial and is supported by many organizations such as the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, which recommends that all APRNs, including CRNAs should practice to the full extent of their education and training.”