SPAPN Members were among NJ Healthcare Providers invited to attend “D.C. Day”
Hosted by Rep. Rush Holt



Washington D.C. On June 17, 2009 SPAPN Board Members Kathleen Prendergast APN-C and Suzanne Drake PhD, APN-C were among the nearly 50 healthcare providers from across New Jersey who met with Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) for a day-long discussion about health care reform and other issues affecting healthcare. Holt also discussed provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will improve health care delivery by computerizing outdated paper records and expanding research to identify the best treatments to cure diseases. 

Participants met with Congressional and executive branch leaders, as well as experts from several universities and think tanks.  Advanced Practice Nursing was well represented and well received for their input. Among the nursing leaders in attendance were Carolyn Torre, APN, Ellen Land, APN, Dr Marlene Rankin, PhD, RN, Susan Bakewell-Sachs PhD, PNP, BC.

Speakers included Members of Congress included Lois Capps (CA-23), Pete Stark (CA-13), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), and David Wu (OR-1), representatives from the White House Office of Health Reform, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, George Washington University, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Center for American Progress.

“This day serves as an opportunity for me and other policy-makers to hear about needs and concerns directly from those who best understand the health care system." Holt Said, "As Congress debate how we can best guarantee insurance coverage, improve the quality of care, focus on prevention, and bring spending under control, I need to hear from people who know. With 16 percent of New Jersey residents uninsured, we can no longer wait to pass health care reform.”