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The first two webinars in GNA’s Power Webinar Series are now available for download! The Nurse’s Role in Public Policy and Accepting the Leadership Challenge webinars were created as part of the 2010 ANA Membership Development Grant awarded to GNA. Click HERE to view The Nurse’s Role in Public Policy webinar, or click HERE to view the Accepting the Leadership Challenge webinar. Please be patient, as both webinars take a moment to download.

Click here for info on the GNF nurse license plate initiative and to pre-purchase your plate

The American Nurses Association has developed a Research Toolkit that can be used in a multitude of ways. It can help nurses provide evidence-based care that promotes quality health outcomes for individuals, families, communities and health care systems. It can also assist in using research to shape health policy at the bedside, within an organization, and at the local, state and national level. The toolkit provides access to numerous resources to support nurses in practice, nurses interested in or engaged in research, nurse educators and students. ANA members can access a research repository with reviews of research articles. Visit the toolkit.

NEW ANA Internet-only journal, the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN). Members get exclusive access to the most recently posted topics on OJIN.

RWJF/IOM Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health

Last fall, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Initiative on the Future of Nursing released the report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The IOM Committee developed four key messages that structure the recommendations of the report. Work to implement the recommendations of the IOM/RWJF report is ongoing at the state-level across the U.S. To view the IOM/RWJF report, visit www.thefutureofnursing.org.

Resources for APRNs and Registered Nurses on Electronic Records, e-prescribing, “Meaningful Use” and Tele-health

Bonuses for setting up electronic health records systems, penalties for not e-prescribing, “meaningful use”?  Resources related to these topics are available:

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) - An APRN can be reimbursed for implementing an electronic health record system (EHR) if he or she attests to meeting the criteria related to Medicaid patient care provided with certified EHR products. Attestation directions are available at CMS along with other details.  The URL to get started is https://www.cms.gov/ehrincentiveprograms/.

e-prescribing - The CMS incentives available for electronic prescribing (e-prescribing or eRx) are described at http://www.cms.gov/ERxIncentive/01_Overview.asp#TopOfPage

More than 4000 APRNs received Medicare e-prescribing bonuses from CMS for 2009:

http://nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/APRN-Resource-Section/Medicare-Bonuses-for-High-Quality-ePrescribing.aspx

NPs who directly bill Medicare Part B carriers may be subject to penalties for insufficient e-prescribing.  To learn about this and avoid the penalties check on NursingWorld:  http://www.nursingworld.org/npdirectbillupdate

Meaningful Use - The official site for describing “meaningful use” is that of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC):

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__home/1204  and

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__meaningful_use_announcement/2996.  This site also can identify the Regional Extension Center (REC) for your location.  RECs are designed to make sure that primary care clinicians get the help they need to select, implement, and use EHRs.  The RECs will support and serve health care providers to help them quickly become adept and meaningful users of (EHRs). http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/hit_extension_program/1495/home/17174

A nursing-specific website on Health IT has been established by the American College of Nurse Midwives:  http://www.midwife.org/Health-Information-Technology.  It also includes links to the ONIC and CMS sites.  ACNM also includes some early data on those Medicaid payments for EHR implementation. 

You can learn more about electronic medical records and earn CE credits by taking the ANA NURSE CE course, “The Electronic Health Record and Meaningful Use: Where Do We Go from Here?” by Pamela Cipriano, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC,FAAN.  More information is available at http://ananursece.healthstream.com/Pages/Product.aspx?ID=a6efce71-cdb7-e011-b8a9-001517135213&DisplayName=The%20Electronic%20Health%20Record%20and%20Meaningful%20Use:%20Where%20Do%20We%20Go%20From%20Here?

Tele-health – A good source for questions on tele-health or telemedicine is the American Telemedicine Association.  Their URL is http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1.

    GNA participates in HCR Assessment  

The Georgia Nurses Association Platinum Plus® Visa® Credit Card

The Georgia Nurses Association Platinum Plus VISA Credit Card provides you with many rewards options, plus a contribution is made to GNA with each newly opened and active account. CLICK HERE to learn more and apply.

Are you interested in Nursing Informatics?

The Georgia Nurses Association’s Informatics Chapter will be of interest to GNA members who want to network with colleagues focused in the area of Informatics/Electronic Health Records (EHR)/Meaningful Use requirements. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to rub shoulders with Georgia leaders in the Informatics field! If you are a GNA member interested in joining this exciting new Chapter, contact Jeremy Arieh, GNA Director of Marketing & Communications at  or call 404.325.5536.

GNA has partnered with PalliativeCareEducation.org to offer 8 Palliative Care Modules that support nursing knowledge and practice skills in the care and management of adult patients living with and dying from advanced disease.  For information on this dynamic new CE opportunity, be sure to visit www.palliativecareeducation.org.  GNA members receive a discount on the cost of this CE offering!

     Click HERE to visit GNA on Facebook! 

ANA recently joined with other leading national organizations to form the Health Care and You Coalition. The Coalition’s goal is to provide easy-to-understand information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help Americans understand what the law means for them.  Check out the Coalition’s new web site, HealthCareAndYou.org.

Safe Patient Handling: The American Nurses Association has launched a web site dedicated to safe patient handling intended to help reach ANA’s goals of eliminating manual patient handling in health care facilities and creating a safer work environment. To view the new site, go to:  www.ANASafePatientHandling.org

What you need to know about H1N1: On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic level from Phase 5 to Phase 6, signifying that there is sustained spread of the novel 2009 H1N1 strain in 2 or more regions.  This geographic implication means that a pandemic has begun, but the severity of the pandemic and which populations will be most at risk remains unknown. For more info..

IOM Report on Standards of Care during a Disaster now available At the request of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened a committee to develop guidance for crisis standards of care that should apply in disaster situations – both naturally occurring and man-made – under scarce resource conditions.  The committee’s report articulates current concepts and guidance that can assist state and local public health officials, health care facilities, and professionals in the development of systematic and comprehensive policies and protocols for crisis standards of care in disasters in which resources are scarce.  Click HERE to view the IOM Report. 

The First National Consensus Model for APRN Regulation is now available on the American Nurses Association (ANA) Web site, http://nursingworld.org and readers are encouraged to provide feedback and discuss the report on ANA NurseSpace at http://ananursespace.org You must be a member of ANA to take part in the blog discussion.

Access information on Professional Liability insurance, go to www.anainsurancesite.com, You can also go directly to www.proliability.com an apply for liability insurance on-line
or download information and applications for later use. Also, see related articles: All of the things we can do that cost $98.Four common gaps that may exist with your employer coverage.

  Need to Know Info

The American Nurses Foundation (ANF) Nursing Research Grants Program application is now available online only. Awards are given in all areas of nursing, including healthy patient outcomes, health care policy development, critical care, gerontology, women’s health, community and family intervention. Deadline is May 2, please visit www.ANFonline.org for more information.