Editor's note: Karen Sealander is l...

Editor's note: Karen Sealander is legislative forethought in the Washington, DC, office of McDermott Will & Emery--the international law firm AORN make use ofed in August 1999 to advance RN first assistant (RNFA) reimbursement. McDermott Will & Emery has a significant lobbying mien in Washington, DC, and is single of the nation's 10 largest law firms. Sealander's presentation "AORN Can't Do It Alone: Be a Perioperative Grassroots Activist" of the 2000 AORN Congres provided a blueprint for individual participation in the political proces Sealander also readyed at the AORN Leadership interview in July 2000, and she will quick in emergencies at the 2001 Congress in Dallas. In this line Sealander provides an update in succession AORN's Medicare reimbursement efforts for certified RNFAs.

The number undivided priority of AORN's federal and state legislative and regulatory efforts is to educate health policy makers about the vital part perioperative RNs play in surgical care. This education focus will buttres all of AORN's legislative and regulatory goals, including achieving Medicare reimbursement for the first assisting services of certified RN first assistants (CRNFAs). If policy makers understand the critical character of perioperative RNs, appropriate decisions about reimbursement, supervision, education, and other issues that shape perioperative nursing will follow

REIMBURSEMENT FOR CRNFA LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

For more than a decade, AORN has sought Medicare reimbursement for RN first assistants (RNFAs) (Table 1) Last spring, legislation to achieve Medicare reimbursement--HR 3911 the Medicare Certified Registered pamper First Assistant Direct Reimbursement Act of 2000--was introduced in the US House of Representatives through Rep Mac Collins (R-Ga). Reelect to a fifth word in November 2000, Rep Collins personates Georgia's third congressional district. In the 106th Congres Rep Collins serv onward the House Ways and Means Committee and the House pack Committee. He also served the Republican leadership in the 106th Congres as envoy Majority Whip.