CMSA Announces New Case Management Model Act

Educate Yourself! Contact your Congressional Representative!

Missouri House of Representatives http://www.house.mo.gov/MemberPrn.aspx?year=2009

Missouri Congressional Contacts
Amber Whittington-scheduler for Senator Clare Mc Caskill – Mccaskill.senate.gov – 202/224-6154
Kara Smith-legislative director for Senator Kit Bond – bond.senate.gov – 202/224-5721
Michele Bogdanovich-legislative director Congressman WM Lacy Clay – www.house.gov/clay -314/367-1970
Lauren Ellis-healthcare legislative aide (hla) for Congressman Todd Akin (2nd district) –Lauren.ellis@mail.house.gov – 202/225-7452
Phylicia Woods-hla for Congressman Russ Carnahan (3rd district) –phylicia.wood@mail.house.gove – 202/225-7452
Jason Rauch-hla for Congressman Ike Skelton (4th district) – Jason.rauch@mail.house.gov –202/225-2876
Emma Wischusen-hla for Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (5th district) –emma.wischusen@mail.house.gov – 202/225-4535
Mark Ratto-hla for Congressman Sam Graves (6th district) – mark.ratto@mail.house.gov –202/225-7041
Jennifer Douris-legislative aid Congressman Roy Blunt (7th district) – www.blunt.house.gov –202/225-0197
Justin Sok and Andrea Uckele-hla for Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (8th district) –Justin.sok@mail.house.gov & andrea.uckele@mail.house.gov – 202/225-4040 & 202/225-4404
Ali Gabel-hla for Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (9th district) – alyson.gabel@mail.house.gov– 202/225-2956

Visit www.cmsa.org/HealthReform for more information

Heatlh Policy News http://www.cmsa.org/PolicyMaker/NewsEvents

Multi-State Nursing Licensure

Nurse Licensure rules and regulations were formed when nursing was practiced primarily within the boundaries of one or two states. With the development of managed care, tele-health and mobile populations, nurses are frequently required to work with patients who travel or reside across multiple state lines. Unlike driver’s licenses, many state nursing licenses are not recognized by other states.  

The Solution: Nurse Compact Licensure. Twenty state boards of nursing have joined together to form a Nurse Compact in which participating states mutually recognize nurse licenses from other Compact states. Missouri joins the Nurse Compact in June 2010!

Multi-State Licensure Update:  Twenty-four states are a part of the nursing licensure compact, which means that nurses have the ability to practice across state lines, physically or telephonically.  The states currently within the compact are as follows:

Indiana          Colorado          South Dakota          Wisconsin          Arkansas

Utah             New Mexico     Nebraska                 Iowa                  Mississippi

Arizona         North Dakota    Texas                      Missouri            Kentucky

Tennessee    Maine               New Hampshire        Rhode Island     Delaware

Maryland       West Virginia    Viginia                     North Carolina   South Carolina

There are more states considering moving forward with the Nurse Licensure Compact Legislation and have bills pending, they are as follows:

Illinois - Bill passed one of the houses in December 2011, but two entities holding up approval of the bill they are as follows: 1) Illinois Nurses Association, 2) Illinois Regulatory Department, reasons being that background checks are not currently required and there are many who have entered the health care fields that have sexual deviant backgrounds, legislation is also pending regarding this.

Georgia - several bills have been looked at in the past two years, but they did not pass because of language not conforming to mulit-state licensure rules, such as applying to only tele-health nurses and not including license practical nurses.  Improvements to the legislation will be done in 2012.

Massachusetts - Letter writing campaign in force and lobbying efforts coming together, will be brought before legislators in February 2012.

Minnesota - A bill has passed both House and Senate, Governor Brown refused to sign the bill and vetoed it.  Many issues with state at this time will resume efforts in 2012

New Jersey - Bill pending, awaiting Governor Chrisite to review put off by him at this time due to upcoming election and efforts to assist party.

New York - task foce will resume meetings in 2012 and develop strategies to move the bill forward with legislators.

The following states have grassroots efforts at this time, no legislation pending-
California, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Washington

CMSA information: http://www.cmsa.org/PolicyMaker/IssuesAdvocacy/MultiStateLicensure

CPT Coding

The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) continues to advocate for a change in Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code currently in place in the 2008 Physician Fee Schedule. While the current schedule includes codes related to the delivery of case management services, these codes are a Status N, which means they are non-payable by Medicare. CMSA is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in support of funding the reimbursement of these codes. Complete information at http://www.cmsa.org/PolicyMaker/IssuesAdvocacy/CPTCoding

Chapter Contact: Angela Morgan RN, BSN, CCM, LNC at sonbluegospel@yahoo.com