In an effort to further the scope of the NP's role and ability to provide the best care to Medicare patients, nursing students at the University of Pennsylvania are trying to further bills S 1605 and S 1678 in the U.S. Senate. These bills would allow NPs to refer Medicare patients to home health care services after hospitalization. Considering the growing number of elderly patients in the United States, the benefits of this legislation are obvious.

Revising the current statute would require simply including NPs in Section 1814 of the Medicare law, which permits only physicians to make home health care referrals. Health care is a hot topic in political debates this year, and the major changes that may be on the horizon for the U.S. health care system make the political climate ripe for this legislative change.

Please contact your congresspeople or go to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners' Web site (http://www.aanp.org) for more information. [Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, see Policy and Politics, page 73.]

Kim Clark

Lauren Johnson

Helene Nguyen

Laura Salcido

Philadelphia

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