Nursing -- Healing from the Heart
Members of MNA's Historical SIG are invited to a party in recognition of Florence Nightingale's birthday on May 14 at 3:00 PM at the Center for Nursing in Madison.
RSVP: 601-898-0670.
The Historical Exhibit that was featured at the Old Capitol Museum and at the Mississippi Nurses Association Convention has been permanently installed in the MS Center for Nursing.
This permanent tribute to 100 years of nursing in Mississippi is open daily for viewing. MNA members and guests are invited to stop by the Center at 31 Woodgreen Place, Madison, when in the area.
Click here for ordering information.
MNF Takes on Expanded Role
The Mississippi Nurses Foundation was founded on October 1983 as a non-profit 501.c.3 corporation whose purposes were (1) to hold and administer funds and other property received through gifts, bequests, membership dues, or otherwise; (2) to use such funds and other property for scientific, educational and charitable purposes which foster and promote public awareness and interest in, and which tend to improve the general quality of, nursing practice, the professional environment of nurses to the end that all people may have better nursing care; and (3) to sponsor, conduct, and manage educational events of all kinds, fostering the advancement of the nursing profession and nursing care for the people of Mississippi.
While the foundation has been active in all of the 15 years since its inception, this past year, under the leadership of its members, the Board of Directors or the Mississippi Nurses Association (MNA), MNA’s executive director, Betty Dickson, and the Mississippi Nurses Foundation Board of Trustees, took giant steps forward in advancing the purpose for which the foundation was created. An executive director position was created for the MNF. Charlotte Cockrell was appointed to that position. The continuing education unit of MNA was transferred as an operational unit to MNF. The construction of the Mississippi Center for Nursing was completed and is fully operational to fulfill the goal of advancing the profession of nursing and nursing care for the people of the State of Mississippi. MNA and MNF occupied the building in December 1997.
The nursing research award, in cooperation with the nursing research council of MNA, was increased to $300.00 annually. A research award to honor student research was initiated in the amount of $150.00 annually. The call for abstracts for these two awards are to be announced in the MS RN annually.
The Capital Campaign Committee, chaired by Virginia Cora, was moved from MNA to MNF. This committee is to be highly commended for their tremendous efforts in fund raising to make this dream of the Mississippi Center for Nursing a reality. Nine new members were appointed to this committee by the foundation board during this fiscal year. MNA and MNF hope to see the future continue this level of success!
MNA Successful in Obtaining NP Carve Out
Nurse practitioners whose patients are covered by the State Employees Health Insurance Plan and Public School Health Plan should see a change in reimbursement following a state plan Board vote on June 23 to allow a "carve out" for NPs. An NP "carve-out" simply means that nurse practitioners who are out of network will receive a higher rate of reimbursement than before.
Prior to this action, patients of NPs out of network, saw an increase in deductible to $600 and a 65% rate of reimbursement. Under the "carve out", the patient will only pay $350 deductible with reimbursement at 75%. Patients of nurse practitioners who are considered in the network also pay $350 deductible and are reimbursed at 80%. What this action does is simply allow the NP patients better reimbursement when seeing this provider.
MNA officially requested this action by the Office of Insurance, Department of Finance and Administration following numerous calls from NPs who were complaining that their patients were encountering different reimbursement plans. Upon investigation, MNA learned that NPs were not recognized by the state plans when out of network, causing their patients to fall under lesser reimbursement guidelines.
Teresa Hanna, State Insurance Administrator, received a letter from MNA detailing these problems and the suggested carve-out in February. MNA's Advance Practice Task Force and Chairs of the four NP SIGs were subsequently invited to a meeting at the MNA building in April where Ms. Hanna explained the details of the proposed carve-out. Following this meeting, the group voted to recommend to the MNA Board of Directors to continue pursuit of the carve-out.
The request was sent to an advisory committee of the Insurance Board. This committee recommended passage of the request and it was forwarded to the full committee in June where the changes will become effective in 1999.
MNA is continuing to work on reimbursement issues as reported by NPs. Please send your issues to MNA in writing to: MNA, 31 Woodgreen Place, Madison, MS 39110.
