AACN's Latest Advocacy, Coalition, and Policy Efforts
October 31: AACN signed onto a letter along with a broad coalition of health professions, education programs, and professional associations to the Department of Education’s (ED) Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee asking the Department to adopt a clear and consistent standard for defining "professional degrees" in the health professions sector including classifying all professions under CIP Code 51-Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences as "professional degrees."
October 30: AACN signed onto a CDC Coalition letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS-ED), strongly opposing cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) proposed in the House’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY) LHHS-ED spending bill. The letter also urged the Subcommittees to provide robust funding for the CDC in any final FY 2026 appropriations legislation.
October 27: AACN signed onto an Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging them to provide the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved funding level of $ 47.2 billion for NIH, in addition to funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), in any final Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill.
October 24: AACN signed onto a Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP) letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to exempt health care professionals from DHS guidance that would impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applicants.
October 23: AACN signed onto a letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE) to the Department of Homeland Security seeking clarification about the new $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications and asking that institutions of higher education be exempted from this fee.
October 2: AACN signed onto a Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP) letter to the U.S. Department of Education regarding its negotiated rulemaking process on the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The letter urges the Department to ensure that the health professions workforce is considered a single, integrated workforce when determining loan eligibility criteria.