LEGISLATIVE CONNECTION

INA Meets with Leadership

On Tuesday, January 16, LaVone Sopher, Jan Neal, Chris McCallum, Linda Goeldner and Deanna McCallum met with legislative leadership and the Governor to discuss the INA legislative priorities.

The meeting with the Governor focused most of the discussion on the nursing shortage/staffing concerns and the number of vacancies at some hospitals in the state. The efforts of the Iowa Council of Nurses (ICON) were reported; especially that a survey of employers was underway to determine the demand and supply of nurses in the state. It was pointed out to the Governor that there was no state support for a registered nurses tracking system in Iowa. There is one for physicians, pharmacists, dentists, physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners administered by the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Discussion also occurred on efforts for increasing the availability of mental health and substance abuse services in Iowa.

Legislative leaders contacted were Senate President, Mary Kramer, Senate Majority Leader Stu Iverson, Senate Minority Leader, Mike Gronstal, House Minority Leader Dick Myers. INA has three legislative issues: 1) Health Care Funding: All tobacco settlements funds to be used for health care; 2) RN and LPN pronouncement of death be legalized in the Code; and 3) No support for legal recognition of direct-entry midwives. ( "Direct-entry" midwives are not registered nurses and do not have the six year educational preparation and required years of clinical experience as registered nurses to become certified nurse midwives (CNMs) entering practice today.)

Also explained were the public policy priorities (issues of importance which are not top, state legislative priorities or are concerns with state agencies, payors of health services or Congress.) 1) Quality of Care Issues: a. Reduction of patient errors and adverse incidents; b. nursing shortage task force data collection; 2) Insurance parity in mental health and substance abuse services; 3) End-of-Life issues; 4) Challenges to Advanced Practice Nursing; 5) Domestic Abuse; 6) Patient Restraint and Seclusion; 7) Insurance Review Practices; 8) Privacy of Health Records; and 9) Medicare Solvency.

RN/LPN Pronouncement of Death

INA has as a legislative priority to assure in the Nurse Practice Act and elsewhere in the Code of Iowa that it is legal for a registered nurse and licensed practical nurse to pronounce a person dead in a hospital, nursing facility, home health agency or hospice. This was initiated at the direction of the INA House of Delegates from a resolution brought forward by Janelle Nielson, Director of Nursing, Myrtue Memorial Hospital, Harlan and Janice Brown, Director of Nursing, Clarinda Regional Health Center, Clarinda. This clarifies that when the RN or LPN notes the heart beat and respiration have ceased, they can pronounce the person deceased and call the funeral home to get the body without calling the physician to come to the location of the individual.

INA staff has received initial favorable response. Senator Gene Maddox, (West Des Moines) and Representative Chuck Larson (Cedar Rapids) have agreed to have the bill introduced into the Senate and House Judiciary Committees as study bills for consideration.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT?

Every nurse in Iowa is being asked to make a contact with your representative, senator and Governor about a health issue of interest to them before the state legislature. INA asks nurses to "voice their interests" by calling and leaving a message at the

Contacts can also be made by using the websites:

www.state.ia.us/governor/ On the "Office of Governor" page, go to "Desk Tops" on left side and hit "Comments", this brings up the "Comments Desk" and #3 is the email hot button.

www.legis.state.ia.us On the "Welcome to the Iowa General Assembly" page, go to "Members", then "Find Your Legislator" and you can type in your street address, city and zip code to get to your Congressional and state senator and representative names, phone numbers and email addresses.

Please also write a letter to the local newspaper editor about a nursing or patient care issue of your choice.

Please remember to include your credentials of "RN" so that we make the voice of nursing strong in Iowa!

CHILD/ADULT ABUSE DISCUSSIONS

The Legislature has been discussing the Governor/Lt. Governor’s request to spend $5.2 million to hire 98 additional social workers and 45 supervisors in order to reduce caseloads and to reduce all forms of abuse in Iowa. The Republican leadership and committee chairs have stated that they do not think that throwing more money at the problem will solve the issue. They rank the action behind education and better training of caseworkers, increased community involvement, better reporting of abuse, and improved access to physicians with expertise in child-abuse cases. INA has learned that there have been no calls to the Governor’s office about the situation of child abuse in Iowa this week. The largest number of calls around the opening of the legislative session continues to be about dove hunting. Please make a contact on this issue!

BILLS INTRODUCED OF INTEREST TO NURSING

HF 36 HEALTH WORKER BREAKS (Wise) Requires that health care facilities workers be given two 15 minute breaks besides meal breaks for eight consecutive hours of work, and one 15 minute break for over two but less than eight hours of work. (Human Resources)

HF 57 MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY FOR CHILDREN (Grundberg) Makes children under the age of nineteen presumptively eligible for Medicaid assistance. Directs the DHS to provide medical services to those presumptively qualified for one year. (Human Resources)

HF 58 INDIGENT CARE HOSPITALS (Grundberg) Allows hospitals under contract with University Hospitals to provide care to indigent individuals. (Human Resources)

HF 60 ABORTION REPORTING (Alons) Requires health care providers to report induced and spontaneous abortions and to report the method used for induced abortions. (Human Resources)

HSB 6 FIP DRUG TESTS (Human Resources) Requires persons who participate in the Family Investment Program (FIP) to agree to drug testing to establish eligibility and to random testing while in the program. Requires anyone who tests positive to participate in a substance abuse treatment plan. Makes persons who test positive three or more times, or who refuse to participate in the substance abuse treatment plan, ineligible for FIP benefits. Prohibits the use of positive tests in criminal prosecutions.

Hoverstein (C), Tymeson, Kreiman

SSB 1003 WORKERS’ COMP CHANGES (Business & Labor; Companion to HSB 5) Requires limited liability partnerships be treated the same as partnerships and limited liability companies for the purpose of the workers’ compensation law. Allows lump sum payments to workers if the worker and the employer agree to such a payment. Makes the employer responsible for all reasonable costs associated with medical care provided at the employer’s direction. Allows the eight work hours needed for a day of incapacity to be accumulated over three days. Prohibits the denial of benefits by an insurance plan because of the employer’s liability is unresolved. Contains other provisions.

McKibben (C), Freeman, Dearden

HSB 7 WORKERS’ COMP (Labor) Makes Workers’ Compensation law applicable to exempt household, casual, and agricultural employees unless the insurance policy specifically excludes them from coverage. Makes Limited Liability Partnership treatment the same as partnerships and limited liability companies for workers’ comp purposes. Makes employer responsible for reasonable medical costs for medical services chosen by the employer. Allows for lump-sum payments in contested case settlement. Prohibits insurance plans from denying payment of weekly compensation because of the employer’s liability is unresolved.
Horbach (C), Hoffman, Smith (See SSB 1003)

HCR 5 NATIONAL HEART FAILURE WEEK (Boddicker) Promotes the National Heart Failure Awareness Week.

HF 67 HEALTHY AND WELL KIDS (Osterhaus) Requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules requiring all school districts to provide application forms for Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa Program for all children in grade K-12. (Commerce)

SF 39 DISTANCE LEARNING (Boettger) Directs Iowa Public Television to study how to develop a K-12 video schedule to encourage distance learning over the ICN. (Education)

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