Policy

Academy Policy Priorities 2021-2022

The American Academy of Nursing releases its Policy Priorities for 2021-2022. These priorities include Advancing Health Equity and Championing Wellness; Promoting Innovation and Sustainability; and Reducing Patient, Provider, and System Burden. Learn more.

Policy

The American Academy of Nursing serves the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge.

Academy Policy Actions

Position Statements

Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention

The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) has long supported policies to reduce firearm violence in the United States. Firearm violence, from suicides to mass shootings, is an epidemic in the United States, and as such, a public health approach to addressing the causes and risk factors leading to violence is necessary to safeguard the health of the nation. The Academy’s position was built on current research, national statistics, and evidence-based recommendations.

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2021 Policy Dialogue Meeting Proceedings

Hosted by the Informatics and Technology Expert Panel in Collaboration with the Expert Panels on Environmental and Public Health; Health Equity; and Building Health Care System Excellence, this dialogue featured a discussion on addressing global infectious disease challenges with thought leaders on health informatics, technology, and global public health. These experts summarized the lessons learned in response to COVID-19 pandemic so far and proposals to improve Health IT infrastructure and reporting so that public health and infectious disease responses can be more efficient.
 
Hosted by the Expert Panel on Aging, this dialogue focused on the critical and growing role that family caregivers play in providing care to older adults. Experts examined the policies at the federal, state, and health system levels that support family caregivers and identified opportunities for nursing leadership to champion health equity and quality outcomes for patients as well as their caregivers.
 
Hosted by the Building Health Care System Excellence Expert Panel in Collaboration with the Expert Panels on Palliative and End of Life Care; Military and Veterans Health; and Acute and Critical Care, this dialogue featured thought-provoking discussion about policy issues associated with the complexity of healthcare systems and their resulting burdens through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leading experts discussed the innovations implemented during the pandemic as well as the policy initiatives introduced to address health care solutions needed in the post-pandemic world.

Latest Policy News

  • December 21: The Academy, along with forty-seven members of the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC), joined a letter thanking Congressional leaders for introducing the National Nursing Workforce Center Act of 2022 (H.R.8817/S.4844). This legislation would offer an important step forward to gather additional data on needs within the nursing workforce. Read more. 
  • December 2: The Academy, along with sixty-one members of the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC), joined a letter urging Congress to pass top legislative priorities addressing the needs of nursing education, practice, and research before the end of the 117th Congress. Read more.

  

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Recent Expert Panel Publications

Learn More About the Expert Panels

Advancing Health Equity and Championing Wellness

  • April 28: The Academy, along with 287 other organizations, signed onto a letter to House and Senate Appropriations leaders requesting $60 million in funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct public health research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention. Read more.
  • April 18: The Academy, along with 64 other health care organizations, signed onto letters to House and Senate appropriations leaders requesting $310 million for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. This funding level would be an increase of $68.5 million above FY 2022 enacted, helping OSH to respond to high rates of e-cigarette use among youth and the continuing impacts of tobacco use. Read the House and Senate letters.
  • April 4: The Academy sent a letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in support of S.3799, the Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics Act (PREVENT Pandemics Act). The Academy letter highlights that the PREVENT Pandemics Act includes many of the recommendations the Academy put forth in comments submitted in June 2020. Read more.

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Promoting Innovation and Sustainability

  • April 25: The Academy along with forty-eight members of the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) signed onto a letter urging Congress to take action to make waivers permanent beyond this Public Health Emergency (PHE). Waivers have allowed nurses to practice to the top of their licensure and have expanded telehealth coverage throughout the pandemic. Read more.
  • April 11: The Academy along with fifty-seven members of the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) signed onto letters to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies requesting $530 million for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs and $210 million for the National Institute of Nursing Research for fiscal year (FY) 2023. Read the House and Senate letters.
  • March 23: The Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science (CANS) and the Academy sent a letter to the NIH regarding the Center for Scientific Review’s (CSR) draft strategic plan for 2022 - 2027. Read more.

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Reducing Patient, Provider & System Burden

  • March 28: The Academy signed on to an amicus brief along with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Medical Association (AMA), and other health care organizations challenging the state of Montana's efforts to ban access to safe reproductive care. Read more.
  • November 4, 2021: The Academy, along with 11 other nursing organizations, signed on to comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra regarding the HHS Draft Strategic Plan for FY 2022-2026. 

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