The American Nurses Foundation (the foundation), the philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association today announced that Graig R. Eastin has been selected and appointed as Executive Director of the foundation.

Read the full press release here.

Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MHA, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FADLN as Senior Vice President Equity and Engagement for ANA Enterprise and she will become a member of the Senior Leadership Team effective immediately.

The Senior Vice President, Equity and Engagement will be charged with developing and executing additional strategies to enhance ANA's efforts, participation and commitment in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Accessibility (DEIBA) space. This role is both internally and externally focused and coordinates DEIBA efforts across the enterprise with an additional focus on workforce development initiatives to address the future of nursing.

Katie is recognized globally as an industry thought leader with numerous publications, keynotes, interviews, and speaking engagements.  DEIBA is at the core of everything Katie does, and she was a key contributor in shaping the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing and ANA's Racial Reckoning Statement.

In her previous role, Katie was formerly Senior Director of Nursing Programs with responsibilities for nursing practice and work environment and the Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation program at ANA. She also served in the role of System Chief Nursing Officer for the University of Maryland Capital Region Health and Senior VP and Chief Nursing Officer for Union Hospital of Cecil County, MD where she led her team to their second ANCC Pathway to Excellence designation and won the coveted annual ANCC Pathway to Excellence award in 2017.

This role will report to Jackie Hilton, our Chief People and Culture Officer. I am excited to work with Katie and for the new paths we will be forging together, as we continue the journey of creating space and new opportunities for all nurses.

Angela Beddoe Appointed as CEO of the ANA Enterprise

On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors announced the appointment of Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Angela Beddoe as the CEO of the ANA Enterprise, effective August 5, 2024. Ms. Beddoe will continue to provide leadership for ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the American Nurses Foundation (the Foundation).

Read the full announcement here. To see a breakdown of departments and ANA Leadership, check out the latest ANA Organization Chart on C/SNA Essentials.

More information on ANA's work and advocacy this year to address workplace violence is found in the press release which is now live on Nursing World: www.nursingworld.org/news/news-releases/2024/...

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Resources include Nursing Research Grants, Reimagining Nursing Initiative, Well-Being Initiative, Help Nurses Serve Smaller Communities, and Help Nurses Beat Burnout.

INA's Esther Huston was quoted in an article titled "Iowans spar on proposed SNAP and Medicaid changes that could cut thousands of recipients" on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. INA is proud of you for representing INA public policy interests so well, Esther! Thank you!

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Using this anonymous link, please tell INA what we can do for you, what we can improve upon, and what you are looking for out of your membership. We are looking for full and open honesty from members, so don't be shy in sharing your truth. The Board of Directors genuinely wants to hear from you. This survey will be open and available to members indefinitely.

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Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, the new president of the American Nurses Association, also weighed in. "The accusation that personnel at once-accredited nursing schools allegedly participated in this scheme is simply deplorable. These unlawful and unethical acts disparage the reputation of actual nurses everywhere who have rightfully earned [their titles] through their education, hard work, dedication and time."

The false degrees and transcripts were issued by three once-accredited and now-shuttered nursing schools in South Florida: Palm Beach School of Nursing, Sacred Heart International Institute, and Sienna College.

The alleged co-conspirators reportedly made $114 million from the scheme, which dates back to 2016, according to several news reports. Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.

Most LPN programs charge $10,000 to $15,000 to complete a program, Robert Rosseter, a spokesperson for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), told Medscape Medical News.

None were AACN members, and none were accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, which is AACN's autonomous accrediting agency, Rosseter said. AACN membership is voluntary and is open to schools offering baccalaureate or higher degrees, he explained.

"What is disturbing about this investigation is that there are over 7600 people around the country with fraudulent nursing credentials who are potentially in critical health care roles treating patients," Chad Yarbrough, acting special agent in charge for the FBI in Miami, said in the federal justice department release.

"Operation Nightingale" Based on Tip

The federal action, dubbed "Operation Nightingale" after the nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, began in 2019. It was based on a tip related to a case in Maryland, according to Nurse.org.

That case ensnared Palm Beach School of Nursing owner Johanah Napoleon, who reportedly was selling fake degrees for $6000 to $18000 each to two individuals in Maryland and Virginia. Napoleon was charged in 2021 and eventually pled guilty. The Florida Board of Nursing shut down the Palm Beach school in 2017 owing to its students' low passing rate on the national licensing exam.

Two participants in the bigger scheme who had also worked with Napoleon, Geralda Adrien and Woosvelt Predestin, were indicted in 2021. Adrien owned private education companies for people who at aspired to be nurses, and Predestin was an employee. They were sentenced to 27 months in prison last year and helped the federal officials build the larger case.

The 25 individuals who were charged January 25 operated in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida.

In the scheme involving Siena College, some of the individuals acted as recruiters to direct nurses who were looking for employment to the school, where they allegedly would then pay for an RN or LPN/VN degree. The recipients of the false documents then used them to obtain jobs, including at a hospital in Georgia and a Veterans Affairs medical center in Maryland, according to one indictment. The president of Siena and her co-conspirators sold more than 2000 fake diplomas, according to charging documents.

At the Palm Beach College of Nursing, individuals at various nursing prep and education programs allegedly helped others obtain fake degrees and transcripts, which were then used to pass RN and LPN/VN licensing exams in states that included Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, according to the indictment.

Some individuals then secured employment with a nursing home in Ohio, a home health agency for pediatric patients in Massachusetts, and skilled nursing facilities in New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors allege that the president of Sacred Heart International Institute and two other co-conspirators sold 588 fake diplomas.

The FBI said that some of the aspiring nurses who were talked into buying the degrees were LPNs who wanted to become RNs and that most of those lured into the scheme were from South Florida's Haitian American immigrant community, Nurse.org reported.

Telehealth rules in Chapters 6 and 7 became effective on June 22, 2022, and the purpose is to provide guidance to licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and APRNs on the practitioner provider relationship, consent to telehealth visits, the use of technology, record keeping, and follow-up care. In essence, the rules provide additional guidance on the effective and safe use of telehealth technology.

According to the literature, telehealth is the use of digital information and communication technologies to access health care services remotely and manage the health care of a patient (ATA, 2019; Kruse et al., 2017; NONPF, 2018). Technologies can include computers and mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. This may be technology the patient use from home.

In addition, a nurse or other health care professional may provide telehealth from a primary care office or federally qualified health center, such as in rural areas. Telehealth can also be technology that the health care provider uses to improve or support health care services.

Per Iowa Administrative Code, Chapter 7.9(5), Prior to providing services through telehealth, the licensee shall first establish a practitioner-patient relationship. A practitioner-patient relationship is established when:

- The person with a health-related matter seeks assistance from the licensee

- The licensee agrees to provide services

- The person agrees to be treated, or the person’s legal guardian or legal representative agrees to the person’s being treated, by the licensee regardless of whether there has been a previous in-person encounter between the licensee and the person.

In addition, a practitioner-patient relationship can be established through an in-person encounter, consultation with another licensee or health care provider, or telehealth encounter. Some services may be provided through telehealth without first establishing a practitioner-patient relationship in the following settings or circumstances:

- Institutional settings

- Licensed or certified nursing facilities, residential care facilities, intermediate care facilities, assisted living facilities, and hospice settings

- In response to an emergency or disaster

- Informal consultations with another health care provider performed by a licensee outside of the context of a contractual relationship, or on an irregular or infrequent basis, without the expectation or exchange of direct or indirect compensation

- Episodic consultations by a specialist located in another jurisdiction who provides consultation services upon request to a licensee

- A substitute licensee acting on behalf and at the designation of an absent licensee or other health care provider in the same specialty on an on-call or cross-coverage basis; -· when a sexually transmitted disease has been diagnosed in a patient, a licensee prescribes or dispenses antibiotics to the patient’s named sexual partner(s) for the treatment of the sexually transmitted disease as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A licensee who provides services through telehealth shall be held to the same standard of care as is applicable to in-person settings. A licensee shall not perform any service via telehealth unless the same standard of care can be achieved as if the service was performed in person. Prior to initiating contact with a patient for the purpose of providing services to the patient using telehealth, a licensee shall:

- Review the patient’s history and all relevant medical records

- Determine as to each unique patient encounter whether the licensee will be able to provide the same standard of care using telehealth as would be provided if the services were provided in person.

Additionally, prior to providing services via telehealth, the licensee shall obtain consent from the patient, or the patient’s legal guardian or legal representative, to receive services via telehealth.

Lastly, a licensee who provides services through telehealth to a patient physically located in Iowa must be licensed by the Iowa board of nursing. A licensee who provides services through telehealth to a patient physically located in another state shall be subject to the laws and jurisdiction of the state where the patient is physically located.

Telehealth rules and regulations may be reviewed in the following web links:

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/05-18-2022.655.6.4.pdf

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/05-18-2022.655.7.9.pdf

References:

American Telemedicine Association. (ATA). (2019). Telehealth basics. Retrieved from https://www.americantelemed.org/resource/why-telemedicine/.

Iowa Administrative Code. (IAC). (2022). 6.4(152) Telehealth. Retrieved from https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/05-18-2022.655.6.4.pdf

Iowa Administrative Code. (IAC). (2022). 7.9(152) Standards of practice for telehealth. Retrieved from https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/05-18-2022.655.7.9.pdf

Kruse C. S., Krowski N., Rodriguez B., Tran L., Vela J., Brooks M. (2017). Telehealth and patient satisfaction: A systematic review and narrative analysis. BMJ Open, 7, e016242.