AZANA Members:
The countdown has begun! On Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 0830, HB2457 (licensure of Anesthesiologist Assistants) will be heard in the House Education Committee. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Pingerelli (R- District 21) is also chair of the House Education Committee.
It is imperative everyone register an ‘Against’ vote and contact members of the Education Committee! If you have not yet registered at azleg.gov for RTS (request to speak), please do so immediately. Our lobbyists Kelsey Lundy and/or Jessie Armendt at Compass Strategies will activate your account at the Capitol (contact them no later than Sunday, February 12, 2023 with your login credentials). If you have already registered and have been activated at the Capitol, please make sure you have voted ‘Against’ this legislation. Instructions for both mobile and desktop applications are attached (RTS Mobile Instructions and RTS Desktop Instructions),.
In addition to RTS, we encourage you to reach out to members of the House Education Committee directly by email and phone, voicing your opposition to HB2457. The members of the committee are:
Representative Beverly Pingerelli, Chair (bpingerelli@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3396
Representative David Marshall, Vice Chair (dmarshall@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3579
Representative David Cook (dcook@azleg.gov) (602) 926-5162
Representative Lupe Diaz (ldiaz@azleg.gov) (602) 926-4852
Representative Liz Harris (lharris@azleg.gov) (602) 926-4153
Representative Michelle Peña (mpena@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3696
Representative Jennifer Pawlik (jpawlik@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3193
Representative Nancy Gutierrez (ngutierrez@azleg.gov) (602) 926-4134
Representative Laura Terech (lterech@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3894
Representative Judy Schwiebert (jschwiebert@azleg.gov) (602) 926-3390
Key points of HB2457 include:
This bill would license certified anesthesiologist assistants (CAAs) and place no limit on their ratio of medical direction.
Unfortunately, as written, this bill is anti-competitive and would be very damaging for Arizona. Competition occurs both within and between the major professions. Given the significant overlap in scope of practice, for the specialty of anesthesiology, allowing physicians to have an assistant without authorizing that same assistant for CRNAs gives a clear competitive advantage from the government, upsetting the robust competitive healthcare services market we have in Arizona.
It is damaging for Arizona healthcare system because CAAs are not eligible to be involved in CRNA clinical education (only CRNAs and physicians – recognized experts in anesthesiology – are authorized to do so). As such, if a CAA is in an operating room providing care, a nurse anesthesia resident cannot be placed in that room – only compounding the shortage of clinical sites in Arizona.
Even though certified anesthesia assistants are essentially an unproven profession- compared to CRNAs and physician anesthesiologists- they are only able to practice in the highest-cost model (medical direction).
Only allowing physicians to supervise CAAs will do nothing to alleviate the anesthesia shortage in rural and underserved communities where CRNAs are the primary and sometimes sole providers.
It is important we stick to the facts when communicating with legislators. CRNAs are the solution to Arizona’s provider shortage- the facts are compelling enough!
If you would like to contribute to our continued legislative efforts, please click here. If you are not a member of the AANA/AZANA, please click here to join us as we fight for all CRNAs in Arizona.
Let’s do this. We must defeat this bill to protect your practice!
Yours in service,
C. Reggie Elam, PhD, DNAP, CRNA
President
Arizona Association of Nurse Anesthesiology