The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has included 2900-AP44, the “Advanced Practice Registered Nurses” (APRN) rule in its Fall 2016 agenda, with a final action date of January 2017. This announcement is the closest to a timeline that has been indicated by the agency as to when the Final Rule would be released, but it is not definite.
In September, the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) transmitted an unreleased final version of the APRN rule to OMB for final review. After OMB reviews the rule, it is published in the Federal Register as a Final Rule. The earlier, proposed version of the rule granted all VA APRNs so-called “full practice authority,” or the authorization to practice without physician oversight, regardless of state law. During the proposed rule comment period, ASA joined with other interested stakeholders including Veterans and Veterans’ families in submitting more than 90,000 comments in opposition to changes to VA’s current physician-led, team-based anesthesia policies.
In the online posting, a date of “01/00/2017” is suggested for a Final Action date. However, this date is a suggested timeframe, and OMB may still release the rule prior to January. After the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, rules from the previous administration that have not been finalized will be reviewed, indicating OMB may wish to finalize this process during President Obama’s term, which concludes January 20.
While the suggested date has been updated, the OMB posting still provides no insight on the content of the rule, although it indicates that VA is continuing to advance at least some of the policies from the proposed rule.
ASA is continuing to monitor the development of this proposal, and will update members with any new information as it is available.