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FANA Post Winter Meeting Update

As part of FANA’s Winter Meeting, 40 CRNAs and 37 SRNAs participated in FANA CRNA Lobby Days, January 29 – 31, 2012, in Tallahassee. The attendees personally met with over 70 legislators and staff. The objectives of these meetings were to educate and inform the legislators about FANA’s message.

FANA’s 2012 Legislative Message:

• CRNAS increase access to care, while providing safe, cost effective, streamlined anesthesia service.
• Emphasized recent studies acknowledging safety and affordability of CRNAs
  • The Lewin Group Study, Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Anesthesia Providers Click here to view.
  • Research Triangle Institute study, No Harm Found When Nurse Anesthetists Work Without Supervision By Physicians. Click here to view.
• Emphasized the new Air Force Policy, which recognizes full scope of nurse anesthesia practice. This new policy is in line with other branches of U.S. military services, and further allows a CRNA or anesthesiologist to be named as Chief of Anesthesia. Click here to view.

BILL TO WATCH

HB 1329 Insurance Billing and Payment - Out of Network providers (Balance Billing)

How this affects your practice.

CRNAs must sometimes bill patients for anesthesia services because they are not able to contract with the patient’s health care insurers or managed care plans, or participate as in-network providers.  FANA believes these bills should be amended to provide an exception if a provider has not been offered a reasonable opportunity with a health insurer or managed care plan.

To help fight bills like these that may impact your practice, you must support your FANA PAC.