Nurses Split on Obama's Proposed Budget

Andy Carter, VNAA president and CEO, said in a press release it is difficult to determine from the Obama plan how the administration expects to achieve those savings, adding that Medicare home health care cuts proposed in Congress range from $39 billion to $57 billion.

"We are extremely disappointed again with the high level of home health and hospice cuts assumed in the President's proposed budget," said Carter. "While we await details, all we can do now is continue fighting for a more moderate approach to these across-the-board cuts that threaten access to home healthcare, especially for vulnerable low-income, high-complexity patients served by nonprofit providers."

Carter added, however, that he was encouraged by proposals in the budget to strengthen Medicare anti-fraud actions.

Despite other issues in the budget, there is one area of nursing that would get a funding increase, Conant says. The White House budget includes $169 million—an increase of $27 million above the 2010 budget—for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). The program is designed to deliver primary health providers, which includes nurse practitioners, to underserved areas. In exchange, these nurses would receive a portion of their student loans paid off.

The funding increase would add 400 NHSC clinicians to the more than 8,100 people currently in the program, she says. The program is designed to provide essential primary and preventative care services in healthcare facilities across the country.