Advocacy Updates: Q4 2024

Although the November election took attention away from Washington, D.C., for a good majority of Q4, the Advocacy team stayed busy by hosting a webinar for AMSN members, taking part in the Nursing Community Coalition’s strategic planning session, and continuing to monitor, review, and act upon federal policy relating to medical-surgical nurses. These efforts helped round out a busy and full year!

General Updates

AMSN Advocacy Year in Review

Our efforts this year were guided by the strategic plan that AMSN’s Legislative Committee developed in early 2024 to advocate for the interests of AMSN and its members. The plan sought to focus specifically on establishing and enhancing stakeholder relationships, engaging AMSN members in advocacy, and focusing on issues pertinent to medical-surgical nurses on Capitol Hill. In doing so, AMSN was able to make a difference in the following ways:

• Increased participation in the Nurse Community Coalition,  a coalition of 60+ nursing groups.
• Launched a Congressional grassroots effort for nurse workforce funding.
• Engaged AMSN regional leaders to strengthen advocacy communication.
• Signed Coalition letters seeking funding for nursing grants and research.
• Hosted a virtual Congressional Advocacy Week for AMSN leaders.
• Hosted a membership webinar on advocacy strategies.

AMSN 2024 Advocacy Webinar

In November, AMSN’s Government Relations team joined AMSN’s Legislative Committee chairs, Trish West, DNP, MSN, CMSRN, PCCN, CEN, NEA-BC, and Mike Upton, DNP, APRN, AGCNS-BC, NEA-BC, to present a webinar on AMSN’s advocacy program. The webinar, available to all AMSN members via AMSN’s Advocacy page, also highlighted the importance of developing and using advocacy skills applicable to all levels and styles of advocacy.

Voices from the Legislative Committee

Charla B. Johnson, DNP, RN, NI-BC, ONC, FNAON on Advocating for Health Equity

Advocacy is part of a nurse’s core function for their patients, for their workplace, as well for the communities where they live. Advocacy begins at the foot of the patient’s bed and continues to the steps of the Capitol. As nurses, pursuing health equity (HE) for ourselves and for our patients can be challenging. This pursuit is a complex quest, riddled with competing care and regulatory priorities. As nurses, we may not appreciate the necessity of capturing patient information directed at health-related social needs (HRSN) as part of advocacy but HE is impacted by SDOH. Individuals with HRSNs have worse health outcomes and our role as nurses is to improve outcomes.

For hospitals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have made health equity a priority from regulatory mandates as part of the Inpatient Quality Reporting. CMS has mandated hospitals to attest to their commitment to HE as evidenced by implementing elements in five domains: strategic planning, data collection, data analysis, quality improvement, and leadership engagement. These elements or measures are efforts to motivate hospitals to review and prioritize equitable care.

As a nurse, you are integral in meeting the data collection requirement for social determinants of health (SDOH) through screening and addressing the patients who have HRSNs by connecting them to community referrals. This data can be effectively used by stratifying by zip code, race, ethnicity, and language to identify where the greatest disparities lie in the communities you provide care.

Legislative advocacy directed at policy is a next level intentional skill for nurses to develop to advance the profession and healthcare. As nurses, advocacy can be a tool to both inform and influence social policies to improve public health. SDOH collection is key at the individual, community, and national level to understand the direction of social policies and to impact system change.

Looking to Next Year and Beyond

The upcoming year will usher in a new Executive Administration and a new Congress that will bring about changes to, and enhance discussions about, healthcare in the United States. Nurses, especially medical-surgical nurses, will feel these changes and have a role in these discussions. The work the AMSN Advocacy team performed in 2024 sets up AMSN well for having an active voice in discussions and decisions that take place on the federal level, and subsequently, the state and local levels.

To help promote AMSN as a commendable presence within the nursing industry, as well as a subject-matter expert, AMSN recently joined other members of the Nursing Community Coalition in a letter of introduction to the incoming Executive Administration.

AMSN Endorsed Bills

FY 2025 Nurse-Related Appropriations Requests

This letter to House and Senate Leadership requests funding for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.

Congressional Year-End Priorities for Nurses

This letter to Congressional Leadership and members of Congress asks that Congress pass legislation that directly affects future nursing workforce before the 118th Congress (2023-2024) adjourns in December.

Support for the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act (H.R.3428/S.1633)

This letter joins the many voices advocating for veterans' affairs during the remainder of the 118th Congress by encouraging Congress to pass the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act.