ISMA has joined the AMA and other state and national medical societies in a July 29 letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough, opposing the “Federal Supremacy Project.” The effort proposes to develop national standards of practice for 48 VA-employed health care occupations – including physicians.
In an email to federation members on July 19, the AMA said: “As the name implies, the VA is invoking the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution to preempt state and local scope of practice laws as it develops National Standards of Practice that could enable nurses, physician assistants and other nonphysicians to provide services and perform procedures that are outside the scope of their knowledge and licensure.”
The letter also questions the feasibility of developing a single national standard of practice for all VA-employed physicians.
Read the letter here >>