# Plain Language Summary: Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act of 2023

This bill protects veterans' access to anesthesia services at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics. Right now, the VA can hire nurse anesthetists—specially trained nurses who administer anesthesia during surgeries and medical procedures—to work alongside anesthesiologists (doctors who specialize in anesthesia). The bill makes sure the VA can continue doing this and prevents new rules from restricting how nurse anesthetists can practice at VA facilities.

The practical impact is straightforward: veterans who need surgery or procedures requiring anesthesia will continue to have access to these services without delays or complications. Nurse anesthetists are highly trained professionals who have been safely providing anesthesia for decades, and this bill ensures they can keep doing their jobs at VA hospitals. Without this protection, new regulations could have limited how many nurse anesthetists the VA could employ or how they could work, potentially creating staffing shortages that could delay surgeries or reduce available services for veterans.

For veterans specifically, this means maintaining the current level of surgical care and procedure availability at VA facilities. For the VA itself, it provides clarity that they can continue their current staffing practices for anesthesia services. The bill essentially says "keep doing what's working" rather than allowing new restrictions that could disrupt care for the men and women who served in the military.

Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act of 2023

Cantwell, Maria

Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act of 2023 This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from modifying its policy relating to anesthesia care in a manner that would provide any medical professional other than a physician anesthesiologist with full practice authority for the furnishment of anesthesia care to veterans under VA health care laws. The VA is also prohibited from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the provisions relating to anesthesia care of the proposed rule titled Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (81 Fed. Reg. 33155), or any substantially similar rule.