From The President

Summer 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Well, as Massachusetts moves along in our Health reform agenda, MCNP is right there! We have successfully integrated into this discussion and now are seen as a key stakeholder, much to the chagrin of many. We have gained appointments to key committees and, just this week, we successfully secured changes to the language in the payment reform bill that is now before the Senate. We will still have to address this legislation as it travels to the House of Representative. The House is where we have met significant challenges in the past, so we will definitely need your support. Although we did not file our own piece of legislation this session we have been very active and visible at the State House and in other key areas. The changes we have made and the political momentum we have gained is significant! Many thanks to our lobbyists for their hard work and keen insight and to each of you for your activism and political voice!

On a sad note, our legislative chairperson, Beth Rowlands, has decided to step down and seek new challenges. Beth has worked very hard for you over the past four years and has done a fabulous job representing your interests at the State House and with individual legislators. Her fundraising activities and organization of PAC events, as well as the legislative breakfast were widely successful. The MCNP Executive committee sincerely thanks her for all her hard work and wishes her the best in her future endeavors.

As we move into summer I hope each of you has scheduled time to relax and enjoy. We have had a hectic year and I know I am looking forward to some down time. We will continue to provide updates on the new health reform legislation as it moves forward and Barbara Rosato, your President elect and I will be actively planning our 2011 agenda over the summer. I thank you all for your activism and please have a happy and safe summer.

Nancy O'Rourke, MSN, ACNP, ANP, RnC.
President Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and AANP State Representative