Passage of this year-end legislation is extremely welcome as our nation’s nurses on the frontline of this pandemic need additional support.
We are pleased to see an increase in funding for Title VIII programs and the National Institute of Nursing Research, as these are critical programs for the profession and our country. ANA is also pleased to see more funding for COVID-19 vaccines and testing. We will continue to work with Congress and the incoming Administration as the nation’s nursing workforce will play a critical role in education and administration of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to the public.
In addition, the Strategic National Stockpile will receive critical funding to ensure it is stocked, and incoming Administration officials will now provide a monthly report to appropriators on the inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators. This is a critical provision to ensure that the shortages and reuse of PPE experienced this past year never happens again.
ANA also applauds Congress on finding a solution to end surprise billing. Specifically, we are pleased to see inclusion of the provider nondiscrimination implementation provision, which will ensure that patients have access to quality care regardless of where they live by requiring insurers to treat providers fairly and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of provider type.
We thank Congress and the Administration for the new and supplementary support and relief this bill will provide to our nation’s nurses. However, we believe more must be done as we continue working to combat this pandemic. We welcome the opportunity to help ensure there is a robust public health infrastructure in place and our frontline health care workers have access to the PPE they need to keep themselves and their patients safe. We look forward to working with the 117th Congress and the incoming Administration in 2021 to ensure nurses have the resources and support needed to meet care demands and help end this pandemic.
