The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) asserts that clinicians have a responsibility and obligation to address hospice and palliative care public policy and regulatory issues. These issues impact the health-related quality of life of patients and caregivers living with serious illness across the lifespan. HPNA acts independently and with collaborating organizations through advocacy to address hospice and palliative care issues at the national, state, local, and regional levels. HPNA currently serves on the board of the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care; HPNA regularly works with other national coalitions in a collaborative environment. The following statements serve as HPNA’s guiding principles.
View the Guiding Principles
State Ambassador Program
HPNA State Ambassadors are members with experience in hospice and palliative nursing who have the desire to learn about the policy-making process at the local, state, and federal levels. These individuals serve as a general resource for HPNA members regarding legislative and regulatory issues at the state level. They provide information about state/regional policy issues on a quarterly basis. HPNA State Ambassadors also disseminate information about national policy issues as directed by HPNA. Additionally, they encourage HPNA nurses at the state and local levels to participate in HPNA public policy activities.
Learn moreAdvocacy Action Center
HPNA has an Advocacy Action Center available with updates and resources.
Recent Activity
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Telehealth Modernization Act
On September 18, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 41-0 to pass H.R. 7623, the Telehealth Modernization Act. This bipartisan legislation would extend through 2026 certain flexibilities authorized during the public health emergency related to COVID-19, including the opportunity to use telehealth to conduct the required face-to-face (F2F) encounter under the Medicare hospice benefit. It also would allow rural health clinics and federal qualified health centers to serve as the distant site, the home of a beneficiary to serve as a distant site for all services, and all types of practitioners to furnish telehealth services, as determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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HPNA Comments on the Passage of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.
HPNA recently sent a letter to Capitol Hill thanking Senate appropriators for including funding for palliative care research, nursing workforce, and other priorities in the Senate Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
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Nursing Community Coalition Issues Statement on Appropriations Bill
In July, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health advanced a Fiscal Year 2025 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill that included significant cuts to programs that impact nurses, specifically, an $18 million decrease from FY 2024 levels for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs and a reorganization of the National Institutes of Health that would consolidate the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) into a new National Institute on Health Sciences Research. HPNA continues to work with coalition partners to ensure that these concerning provisions are not included in the final bill.