CMSA Board of Director and Vice Chair of the Public Policy Committee

On Thursday, October 26, 2006 CMSA’s Board of Director’s (BOD) met in Washington, DC for the first day of their annual fall BOD meeting. This site was chosen, as expanding our organization’s visibility in Health Policy is one of our strategic goals.

The meeting began with a Legislative briefing presented by Howard Burde. He is a frequent speaker on health law topics and a former deputy general counsel to Governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker. He discussed current Health Policy issues of interest to the Congress: cost, quality and access to services. With a new delegation of congressmen due to arrive and begin working on new legislation, he advised us how to get our message across to them. We were encouraged to offer ways Case Managers could partner with them to improve quality, and expand access to services, while keeping healthcare costs in check. Reportedly, Outsourcing is a major trend to watch. Many businesses, such as Aetna Healthcare, are having portions of their work completed in foreign lands. He encouraged us to discuss our individual practice, to offer case studies and give examples of ways we can improve health outcomes.

We divided into groups and worked on “Talking Points” to coordinate our activity for the afternoon. For our initial visit, we decided to focus on educating the lawmakers with an awareness of who are case managers, what case management provides, and ways we can offer positive approaches to improve healthcare delivery. We identified some primary problems we face in healthcare: patient safety, costs spiraling out of control, an aging society with complex care needs, and fragmented and specialized care, which is chaotic and inefficient.

The New England delegation had appointments in the offices of Senators Kennedy and Kerry. Since it was a week before the elections, most Congressional members were in their states campaigning and were not in Washington. We met with their legislative aides. This was actually fortunate for us, as they both were available to spend an hour with us. We brought them copies of our Standard of Practice and a handout with information about CMSA, called CMSA Legislative Backgrounder. This included our Mission and Vision Statements, a definition of Case Management, Populations we serve, and Statistics of our Membership. We discussed our concerns over Multi-State Licensure Issues and our Case Management Adherence Guidelines (CMAG). We encouraged them to contact us as a resource to assist them in drafting new laws. We explained the value of our partnership at the table with them to draft new legislation to bridge the gap in our current system, toward improving quality and containing and/or decreasing costs in healthcare delivery.

That evening we all met to debrief and share all that we learned at each meeting. The most exciting thing for me was to see the enthusiasm of the BOD with their accomplishments! Everyone loved the experience! They found it very easy to educate others about a topic that is near and dear to each of us: Case Management. They all spoke of how nervous they were initially, but once they got to talk about a subject they were comfortable with, it was simple! We developed a draft for future CMSA interventions. The National office sent each office visited a copy of our CMAG notebook and another copy of our Standards of Practice in a follow up package. Each BOD member also sent a handwritten note thanking each aid for their time and interest in learning about the professional practice of Case Management.

As a result of the positive experience, the BOD endorsed having the Capital Hill Lobbying Day experience an annual part of their fall business meeting. Additionally, it was also suggested that we needed to change the name of the Legislative Committee to the Public Policy Committee to be in line with the way we need to work/be perceived by others in our initiatives.

The recommendation for a name change for the committee was voted on /accepted by the committee members in November. I would encourage all to go to CMSA‘s online Community of Practice (CoP) for members to be able to communicate with Council members on issues, questions, discussion, and share resources including articles, websites, etc. This is a great way to stay informed. Your organization is committed to enhancing and advancing the practice of Case Management. Public policy affects all of us. We have only just begun!

2006 Nurse in Washington Internship

Otherwise known as NIWI, this year's program took place March 11 - 15 in Washington, DC. Over 100 nurses from a variety of professional backgrounds joined together over a four-day period. NIWI provides an learning opportunity to influence health care through the legislative and regulatory process.  Health policy experts and government officials share their experience and expertise. Participants network with other nurses and visit members of Congress.

Many professional organizations offer scholarship support to their respective members in order to enhance membership knowledge about the importance of legislative issues and how to communicate effectively to educate and enlighten with those in power as to the challenges faced in today's health care environment. This is especially important in today's market where access, cost, and quality issues affect our jobs and our lives.

Kathy Ream, MBA, BA, is the Washington Representative of the Emergency Nurses Assn (ENA) as well as Director of Government Relations, National League of Nursing (NLN). Kathy's consulting company worked with CMSNE in 2005 producing three articles for The Facilitator relating to the impact of health policy issues on case management.

Teri Treiger, RN MA CCM CPUR (CMSA Director and CMSNE Immediate Past President), attended thanks to the financial support of CMSNE. "What a tremendous opportunity to learn from those who have gone before, as well as to have actual hands-on experience speaking with legislators from Massachusetts". Following two-day intensive class time, Teri visited in Senator Kennedy's office with Temina Madon, PhD, AAAS Science Policy Fellow, before heading off to Representative William Delahunt's office to meet with his Legislative Director, Michele Jalbert. Temina and Michele were both surprised and impressed to learn more about case management. Teri focused on three key points to make the impact of case management 'real'...

This page was last updated on 04/06/2007.