ON CAPITOL HILL
Title VIII Reauthorization Passes Senate Committee. This week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) approved legislation to reauthorize the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs through Fiscal Year 2030. These programs aim to strengthen the nursing workforce pipeline through critical investments in nursing education, practice, and retention, including scholarships and loan repayment plans. The committee also approved amendments encompassing policies based on two other American Nurse Association (ANA)-endorsed bills. The Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction Act (S.3707) would fund grants to help nursing schools pay faculty more competitively, while the National Nursing Workforce Center Act (S.1482) would enhance support for state nursing workforce centers to improve data collection, workforce planning, and strategies to recruit and retain nurses. ANA continues to work with allies on Capitol Hill and the nursing community to advance these nursing priorities through the next phase of the legislative process.
Also on the Hill This Week. The Senate HELP Committee advanced during their executive session additional legislation to support the health workforce. The EMPOWER for Health Act (S.4110) would reauthorize and enhance health workforce programs under Title VII of the Public Health Services Act, while the Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act (S.380) would expand federal grants to support workforce training, equipment, and telehealth for hospitals and providers that lack dedicated obstetric services. Across Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act (H.R. 3514) which would streamline prior authorization in Medicare Advantage by requiring electronic prior authorization, increasing transparency, and establishing standards to ensure seniors receive timely access to medically necessary care.
AT THE AGENCIES
AI Provisions Under Review. In recent weeks, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published annual Medicare payment rules for hospital outpatient departments and practitioners. These rules include provisions related to artificial intelligence (AI)-related technologies, as the agency grapples with how to reimburse for use of emerging technology that is currently integrated into facilities and patient care. ANA staff are closely reviewing the provisions of the rules and will submit comments highlighting the need for guardrails and other considerations that capture the nursing perspective. ANA issued a statement outlining its ongoing work on AI policy, which is focused on ensuring that healthcare policy and payment decisions reflect the full value of nursing care and safeguard the role of professional nursing judgment, and where ANA is represented in the current process.
ANA Shares Concerns Over Medicaid SDP Proposed Rule. This week, ANA submitted comments to CMS on the proposed rule governing Medicaid state-directed payments (SDPs). While the rule largely implements SDP-related provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), CMS also proposes additional policies that would further restrict these payments and affect provider reimbursement rates. SDPs allow states to direct certain payments within Medicaid managed care to support value-based reforms, strengthen access to care, and enhance provider reimbursement.
In its comments, ANA expressed concern that the proposed restrictions would limit states’ ability to target payments to advance public health priorities and address workforce and access challenges. ANA also urged CMS not to finalize provisions that would require states to cap targeted payment rates for providers who are not reimbursed at the full Medicare rate. The association has long opposed this policy because it perpetuates inequitable reimbursement for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), despite the essential healthcare services they provide to patients. In addition to submitting its own comments, ANA also signed onto three coalition letters expressing similar concerns about the proposed rule—from the Partnership for Medicaid, the Mental Health Liaison Group, and America’s Essential Hospitals, the latter focusing on the proposed rule’s impact on value-based care.
ANA Provides Comments on Healthy People 2030. Last week, ANA submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on proposed Healthy People 2030 objectives, urging a comprehensive approach to improving access to mental health care, supporting child development, and addressing screen time among young children. ANA strongly endorsed a new objective to reduce delays in obtaining mental health care due to cost, while emphasizing the need to address provider shortages, expand telehealth, remove barriers to APRN practice, strengthen network adequacy requirements, and improve federal data collection on mental health access and outcomes. ANA also highlighted the critical role of school nurses in promoting school readiness, attendance, and academic success, recommending expanded access to school nursing services. In response to HHS’s request for information on screen time, ANA encouraged refining data collection and measurement efforts to better reflect the links between screen use, mental health, social isolation, and community factors, while recognizing nurses and APRNs as key partners in educating families and promoting healthy behaviors.
ELECTION HUB
On Tuesday, Arizona held its primary election. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) secured the Republican nomination to challenging incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) in the gubernatorial race. In Rep. Biggs’ open House seat, Republican law enforcement officer Mark Lamb will face Democrat Elizabeth Lee, a nurse, in November. In the open 1st congressional district vacated by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) who had also run for governor, former Arizona Cardinals player Jay Feeley won the Republican primary, and former state representative Amish Shah won the Democratic primary.
Upcoming Primaries. Several states will hold primaries in the coming weeks (with voter registration deadlines):
- July 28: Georgia special election (7/6), South Dakota runoff (7/13)
- August 4: Kansas (7/14), Michigan (8/4), Missouri (7/8), Virginia (7/24), Washington (8/4)
- August 6: Tennessee (7/7)
- August 8: Hawaii (7/29)
- August 11: Alabama special election (7/27), Connecticut (7/24), Minnesota (7/21), Vermont (8/11), Wisconsin (8/11)
- August 18: Alaska (7/19), Florida (7/20), Wyoming (8/3)