NR 451 WEEK 7 DISCUSSION, HEALTH FEDERAL BILLS IN CONGRESS

NR 451 WEEK 7 DISCUSSION, HEALTH FEDERAL BILLS IN CONGRESS After looking over a few health-related bills, I chose H.R. 315: Improving Access to Maternity Care Act to focus on and discuss. This bill was introduced January 5, 2017, passed in the House January 9, 2017 and is currently pending in the Senate. If this bill becomes a law, it will allocate more healthcare professionals for maternity care to areas with shortages. It finds facilities that participate in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), which “places health care professionals who participate in their Loan Repayment Program, which requires a two-year commitment, in areas where HRSA finds health professional shortages” (GovT, 2017). It does this through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) which compiles data from primary care facilities to find the shortage areas but will be specifically focused on maternity care. This bill could potentially impact professional nursing practice standards by providing a larger workforce for maternity care so that graduate-level prepared RNs may “provide leadership in the coordination of interprofessional health care for integrated delivery of healthcare consumer services to achieve safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered, and equitable care” (ANA, 2015, p. 63). If it doesn’t pass, then the shortage for maternity care will remain if not become worse. I live in a fairly rural area with only one hospital in about a sixty-mile radius. We’re currently experiencing a very large shortage for maternity healthcare providers, so that’s why I picked this bill. Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), people are spending $1,000 more per person, per year on medical care (Skinner and Chandra, 2016) and that money could definitely be used for maternity care where I live. If this bill passes, it could impact my own nursing practice by possibly increasing the shortage RNs since more openings will be available for advanced practice RNs and more of my peers could return to school to further their education and careers; especially since after obtaining these graduate degrees and agreeing to a two-year contract, many of the clinics participate in the NHSC which will pay off a large portion, if not all, of the provider’s student loan debt. Mann, Gordon, and Macleod stated that, “today’s health care professionals must function in complex and changing health care systems, continuously refresh and update their knowledge and skills, and frame and solve complex patient and healthcare problems. Preparing professionals who possess these capabilities is correspondingly complex” (2009, pp. 595-596). This bill could really assist with providing these qualified health care professionals that are needed. References American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (3rd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author. GovT. (2017). H.R. 315 — 115th Congress: Improving access to maternity care act. Retrieved from Mann, K., Gordon, J., and Macleod, A. (2009). Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: A systematic review. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 14(4), 595-–621. doi:10.1007/s10459-007-9090-2. Skinner, J., & Amitabh, C. (2016). The past and future of the Affordable Care Act. JAMA, 316(5), 497-499. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10158.