Vermont nurses urge striking H.585 prior‑authorization clause, press for seats on governance committees
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Summary
ANA Vermont and allied nursing groups told legislators they support modernizing scope language in several bills but urged striking section 11 of H.585 to avoid new prior‑authorization burdens; they also sought guaranteed nurse representation on hospital and health‑system governance and asked to join work groups implementing rural health transformation funding.
Kate McFon Williams, ANA Vermont secretary and delegate to the national American Nurses Association, told the committee that nurses are asking lawmakers to remove a prior‑authorization provision from H.585 because it would increase administrative burden and “take away from patient care.”
The coalition also asked that nurses and nurse practitioners be appointed to hospital and health‑system governance bodies. "They need to be help designing hospital governance as well as health care governance," McFon Williams said, arguing that patient‑facing clinicians can better identify on‑the‑ground problems and improve implementation of policy changes.
Liz Kuneau, director and government affairs committee chair for the Emergency Nurse Association, urged lawmakers to align H.573’s language with actual emergency‑department practice so patients receive timely evaluations regardless of whether an APRN, physician or physician assistant performs the initial emergency assessment. "This does not decrease the level of care that these individuals get," Kuneau said, adding that a consistent qualification process is needed across providers.
Speakers described H.569/S.163 as a language cleanup meant to reflect current practice in rural hospitals and emphasized that the change is not a scope‑of‑practice expansion. The group also highlighted their role in implementing recent state laws (Act 9, Act 24 and Act 68) addressing workplace violence protections and committee appointments for health‑care workers.
On public‑safety bills, the coalition asked that S.208 and S.209 extend limitations on law‑enforcement access — currently barring entry into patient rooms and locked areas — to lobbies and hallways so interactions that distract from patient care occur outside health‑care facilities.
The nurses also asked to participate in work groups for the rural health transformation program described by presenters as a multi‑year award of roughly $195,000,000 annually for five years, saying nursing and nurse‑practitioner expertise is needed to shape operations and accountability. Committee members asked for follow‑up materials; presenters directed legislators to a QR code with position statements and offered to serve as witnesses.
The presenters asked for continued collaboration with physician assistants, unions and other stakeholders to identify qualified clinician representatives for boards and committees and said ANA Vermont would follow up to clarify constraints from collective‑bargaining agreements. The group also offered to submit national association statements on artificial intelligence in health care for the committee’s review.
Next steps: presenters offered written materials and volunteered to be witnesses if the committee pursues hearings or drafting sessions on the bills discussed.
