AANA Calls on VA to Immediately Address Staffing Shortages and CRNA Practice Authority | PR Newswire [Video]

Agency Remains Silent, Inactive Following Dangerously Inaccurate Congressional Testimony

, /PRNewswire/ — The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) calls on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Undersecretary for Health, Shereef Elnahal, to correct his inaccurate statement made under oath about Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) practice during a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing. AANA’s efforts to solicit a correction have gone unanswered and the inflammatory statement serves to perpetuate misconceptions on CRNAs’ autonomy. At a time when the Department of Veterans Affairs is facing critical anesthesia staffing shortages that impede veterans’ access to quality and timely healthcare, it is reprehensible for the undersecretary to make policy absent proper federal rulemaking with public notice and comment period.

During a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on September 12, 2024, dangerous staffing shortages at the Hampton, Virginia, Veterans Affairs Medical Center were reported, specifically regarding a lack of anesthesia providers. In response to the inquiry about finding a solution to these shortages, Elnahal testified that while CRNAs, …