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NATIONAL association of travel Healthcare organizations
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Advocacy 

In the Courts: Per Diems

NATHO financially backed, funded, and submitted an Amicus Brief addressing the ongoing litigation issues around per diems and travel healthcare companies' increased legal exposure regarding compliance with both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the IRS’s accountable plan regulations. We worked closely with a group of experienced attorneys to create and submit the best brief that truly represents what is best and right by our industry.   

Click here to download the amicus brief!


Legislative Priority: National Licensure 

The NATHO Clinical Executive Committee recognized the nursing shortage that has been prevalent for years became an even bigger issue as COVID-19 began to sweep over the country.

This inspired the committee to push harder for the idea of a national licensure model. If this is an idea you back, join us by downloading the Building a Culture of Safety: A National License Model white paper below.

Read it, share it, and advocate for the message.

Current Status: TREAT Act

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) along with Representative Bob Latta (OH-05) and Representative Debbie Bingell (MI-12) in the U.S. House of Representative, re-introduced legislation that allows any health care professional in good standing with a valid practitioners' license to render services - including telehealth - anywhere for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, health care professionals must maintain licenses in each state in which they render services. While most states have expanded licensing rules and reciprocity, their actions have been varied, inconsistent, and time limited, which has created licensing barriers to a comprehensive COVID-19 response. The Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment (TREAT) Act would provide temporary licensing reciprocity for all practitioners or professionals, including those who treat both physical and mental health conditions, in all states for all types of services (in-person and telehealth) during the COVID-19 response.

If you are interested in following the status of this act, the Association of Cancer Institutes has created a free Legislation Tracker.

Click here to download the white paper!

How can you help?

Write your Legislators:

The Association of American Cancer Institutes has created a tool that allows you to easily and quickly write your legislators in order to support the TREAT Act. 

Below is a template of the messages' body that you can copy and paste in the tool above to send your support in connection to NATHO.

I am writing today on behalf of the National Association of Travel Healthcare Organizations, healthcare organizations across the nation and hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals to ask you to co-sponsor the Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment (TREAT) Act (S. 168/H.R. 708). This bipartisan legislation will allow any licensed health care provider in good standing to render services-including telehealth visits-in all states for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a commonsense solution to address the patchwork of state licensure laws that prevent or delay clinicians from providing virtual and in-person care to patients across state lines. At this crucial moment in the COVID-19 pandemic, this temporary flexibility is critical to patients that need care.

Specifically, the TREAT Act would:

    • Enable health care professionals licensed in good standing to care for patients (whether in-person or through telehealth visits) from any state during the current national public health emergency without jeopardizing their state licensure or facing potential penalties for unauthorized practice of medicine
    • Require health care professionals who use this authority to notify a state or local licensing board within 30 days of first practicing in a state other than where licensed or certified
    • Preclude any service that is otherwise prohibited by a state where a patient is located and require adherence to specified prescribing requirements of the state
    • Allow authority for a state where a health care professional has practiced under this reciprocity measure to pursue investigations and disciplinary actions, including the ability to exclude a clinician from practicing in the state under the Act
    • Apply the licensure reciprocity for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency, followed by a 180-day phase-out period

Telemedicine and ability for health professionals to practice across state lines has been a lifeline for many during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you will consider co-sponsorship of this critical piece of public health legislation.

Thank you for your consideration.

Click here to write now!

Companies can:

  • Include information about the need for a national nursing license and a link to this page in official company internal communications channels. 
  • Invite members of Congress who represent your corporate headquarters and regional offices to meet with corporate/regional leadership. Advocate your company’s support of a national nursing license with them. Provide specific examples of how the current lack of a national license has impacted your company’s ability to mobilize healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to natural disasters.
  • Encourage your corporate communications department to promote the national nursing license model with its media contacts.  Provide statements and interview access with individual healthcare professionals who can share compelling stories about how the current lack of a national license has impacted their ability to mobilize during the COVID-19 pandemic and/or in response to natural disasters.
  • Encourage your corporate communications department to promote the national nursing license model on company social media. Images are provided that can be downloaded and posted for common branding.

Individuals can:

  • Email or call your lawmakers and encourage them to support a national nursing license.
  • Share this information with your colleagues and peers and encourage them to contact their lawmakers. 
  • Download the images provided and post them to social media with a link to this page.

Downloadable Social Media Content

Suggested Language:

      • Facebook/LinkedIn: "After months of COVID-19 and it's far reaching impact on health care systems, staff, and most importantly, patients, it is time for change. We support the idea of a national licensure. Join us in this change."
      • Instagram: "Now is a time for change. COVID-19 has reminded us of the increasingly concerning nursing shortages and the need for a national licensure." 
      • Twitter: "We stand by a national licensure. Join us in this effort and make a difference for nurses, patients, and the country."

Images:

NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION OF TRAVEL HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS

5329 Fayette Avenue, Madison, WI  53713

(646) 350-4083, info@natho.org

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