The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) today issued the following statement in opposition to the passage of any bill in the Senate that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act without protecting emergency health care services and access to care for those who suffer from a mental illness or substance use disorder:
The following organizations join the statement below, opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to eliminate funding for the EMSC program in his fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget: the American Ambulance Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Children’s Health Fund, Emergency Nurses Association, National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, National Association of State EMS Officials, National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute, National EMS Management Association and Save the Children.
More than 125 Emergency Nurses Association members visited Capitol Hill advocating for legislation that directly impacts emergency nursing. Day on the Hill is an opportunity for us to educate lawmakers about the issues facing emergency nurses and our patients, particularly as the future of healthcare in this country remains unknown...
America’s leading nursing organizations and the over 3.5 million nurses they represent, have called on the Trump Administration and Congress to prioritize patient health and the patient-provider relationship in any health reform proposals.
ENA applauded the U.S. Senate for overwhelmingly passing comprehensive mental healthcare reform and funding to address the opioid and heroin crisis as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The legislation passed on a 94-5 vote.
ENA praised the U.S. House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing comprehensive mental healthcare reform as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The legislation passed on a 392-26 vote.
ENA applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act. H.R. 4365 updates the Controlled Substances Act to ensure that emergency services (EMS) practitioners can continue to administer controlled substances to treat patients.
ENA praised Congress for passing and President Obama for signing a short-term spending bill that includes funding to battle the Zika virus and the opioid epidemic, two of ENA’s top federal legislative priorities.
ENA applauded President Obama for signing into law the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The new law represents a comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic including prevention, treatment, support for those in recovery and justice reform. CARA will create and expand critical programs to fight the scourge of abuse, addiction, overdose and death resulting from the rapidly-increasing use of prescription opioids and heroin. Many of CARA’s provisions are consistent with ENA’s support for efforts at the state level to expand access to treatment and emergency care through distribution and training on reversal agents such as Naloxone.
ENA praised the U.S. House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing comprehensive mental healthcare reform, H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill would make more psychiatric hospital beds available, integrate and connect physical and mental health care providers and provide resources to communities for suicide prevention. In addition, it would allow more patients to be treated in our healthcare system instead of being incarcerated, expand crisis intervention team training for law enforcement and allow families to work with doctors and mental health professionals as part of the care delivery team.
In June 2016, Delaware became the latest state to better protect emergency nurses from assault. Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation to clarify under what circumstances emergency personnel are covered under the law governing assault in the second degree, which is a felony in Delaware.
Emergency Nurses Association members are on Capitol Hill advocating for legislation that directly impacts emergency nursing. More than 120 ENA members from across the U.S. are in Washington, DC, urging Congress to support comprehensive reforms to our nation’s mental health system, and legislation that will allow emergency medical services personnel to continue to operate under standing orders to administer controlled substances. May 11 is the association’s annual Day on the Hill event.
In May 2016, Georgia became the latest state to enhance penalties for assaulting emergency nurses. Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation that increases punishments to five to 20 years for aggravated assault and aggravated battery when committed against hospital emergency department personnel and emergency medical services personnel.
ENA praises the U.S. Senate for including provisions of the Airplane Kids in Transit Safety (KITS) Act of 2016 in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill. The Senate passed the FAA bill yesterday. The KITS Act would require the FAA to update emergency medical kits on airplanes to ensure they contain appropriate medication and equipment to meet the emergency medical needs of children, including an epinephrine auto-injector.
Emergency healthcare workers in Utah will have more protection against workplace violence after Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill that increases the penalty for assault against healthcare providers or emergency medical workers when the assault causes substantial bodily injury.
ENA member Penny Blake, RN, CCRN, CEN, of North Palm Beach, Florida, has been selected to testify this week at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled, “Improving the Federal Response to Challenges in Mental Health Care in America.”