AACN's Latest Advocacy, Coalition, and Policy Efforts
September 15: AACN signed onto a letter lead by Voices for Non-Opioid Choices regarding the implementation of the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation ("NOPAIN") Act and urging Congress to ensure patients can reasonably and easily access all FDA-approved, safe, and effective non-opioid treatment options that are used in the post-surgical setting and that such products qualify for separate payment under the NOPAIN Act.
September 12: AACN submitted comments to the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule.
September 12: AACN signed onto comments led by the APRN Workgroup to the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services on the Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Physician Fee Schedule.
September 8: AACN signed onto a letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE) requesting that the administration exempt nonimmigrant visas, including F, J, and M student visas, for those countries included under the Presidential Proclamation “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats” and any future travel bans offered by the administration.
August 28: AACN signed onto a letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE) urging the Department of Education to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill "in a way that fully considers the impact on all stakeholders, including students, families, institutions of higher education, and current and future student loan borrowers." Among ACE's recommendations was the creation of a comprehensive list of "professional degree programs" that includes nursing among other programs.
August 25: AACN joined with a broad coalition of healthcare providers and programs in a letter encouraging the Department of Education to ensure that all graduate-level health professions programs required for licensure are included in the regulatory definition of “professional degree program.”
August 25: AACN submitted comments to the Department of Education urging the Department to modernize the existing definition of “professional degree” under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing degrees. AACN also signed onto Nursing Community Coalition comments to the Department making the same request.