2016 Legislative Priority Goals
The Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA) is the professional organization for all nurses employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The following legislative priority goals identifies several areas of concern. Some items require legislation, some require funding, and others need to be supported and implemented by the Veterans Health Administration or VHA.
This legislative agenda was developed to align with NOVA’s Mission:
To educate, communicate and advocate for the Department of Veterans Affairs nurse professionally, personally and legislatively.
Budget - The primary goal of the VA nurse and NOVA is to have adequate resources to provide high quality patient care and ensure the VA continues to be a leader in health care. In order to accomplish this goal, NOVA supports the following:
§ Appropriate funding to meet the mission of VA.
§ Fully funded programs which support veterans and family members, especially those returning from combat/active duty service.
§ Adequate budget to repair the aging infrastructure of VHA buildings.
§ Steady funding for special initiatives such as Patient Aligned Care Teams, VA Nursing
Academy Program, Information Technology and Nursing Scholarship programs.
VA Transformation - Monitor VACO Organizational Transformation and its impact on the role/inclusion of nursing in strategic decision making, operational efficiency, effectiveness, research, and academic efforts.
CHOICE - Continue to monitor all aspects of CHOICE as it pertains to VA’s internal hiring of nurses and medical staff. Review non-VA care, to include accountability and availability of that care. VA must be the purveyor of care and have access to all medical records and care provided outside the system. NOVA believes that all stakeholders should be at the table as changes to CHOICE are made, and nurses should be a part of the conversation as issues are addressed within VHA.
DFAS/VATAS - The system continues to be cumbersome and time consuming, not responsive to a 24/7 environment in which many nurses practice. The system continues to be rolled out across the VA systems, but it is unclear that identified issues are resolved before continuing to spread the program. VA should provide a mechanism to disburse convenience checks or cash to affected employees in current pay periods as a VATAS contingency measure
Retention and Recruitment - In order for the VA to become the employer of choice for healthcare professionals across the nation, it must:
§ Support full practice authority for advance practice nurses.
§ Improve the hiring process – to include simplifying the application on USA jobs.
§ Provide the resources to hire the best qualified candidates with the most relevant experience.
§ Require adequate training and support for all Human Resources staff as well as Nurse Recruiters.
§ Enhance and support labor/employee relations.
§ Decrease delays in hiring licensed staff and continue to support the ongoing efforts of VHA to streamline the hiring and credentialing of Title 38 employees.
§ Review and enhance nurse pay to be competitive with community and private sector standards.
§ Remove the cap from nurse pay scales to enable current employees to apply for leadership positions and fill vacancies in vital positions.
§ Support the Office of Nursing Services Transition to Practice Program RN residencies with adequate funding.
§ Examine the impact of reduced travel monies on nursing staff satisfaction.
§ Address the downgrade of essential patient care support through reclassification of occupations by VA OHRM.
Information Technology - VA must improve information technology support provided to the field to improve patient safety, software usability and data standardization for integrated patient healthcare records across the system, it must:
§ Update the format of the computerized medical record to include easily accessible information to assist with decision making.
§ Continue to appropriate funding to support current system demands and updates for CPRS, BCMA imaging software (VISTA Imaging, VistaWeb, Vistage Radiology Image Viewer and other clinical applications).
§ Allow for on call pay for IT which supports the entire VHA infrastructure of care.
§ Continue to appropriate funds for current systems like NUMI/BMS demands.
§ Fund IT centralization as a separate non-VA appropriation - changes and movement of IT staff out of VHA has allowed decisions to be made without proper authority and thought for resources and manpower needed for patient safety at the field level
Staffing - NOVA supports adequate staffing levels to ensure veterans are monitored and observed in a safe environment. Staffing methodology should be the accepted mechanism for all facilities that VACO supports to determine nurse patient staffing.
Contact
Teresa Morris
NOVA Director, Advocacy & Government Relations