On a list dominated by top executives of the hospital, insurance, pharmaceutical, and other healthcare industry corporations, National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro has been named as one of the 100 most influential people in healthcare in the U.S.
 
DeMoro has been named for 13 straight years for the top 100, every year since Modern Healthcare, a prominent national healthcare industry publication, began publishing the list. This year she is ranked number 41 on the list, published this week.
 
Notably, DeMoro is the only representative of working nurses or any other organization that represents those who provide hands on direct medical care.  NNU, with 185,000 members who work in hospitals and medical clinics from California to Maine, is the largest U.S. organization of registered nurses.
 
By contrast, nearly two thirds of those on the list are top executives of hospital, insurance, pharmaceutical, medical device, health information technology, nursing home, specialty care, or other healthcare industry corporations. About one-fifth are elected officials or top staff of public agencies.
 
“With the disproportionate economic influence of the hospital and insurance giants in particular, it is especially gratifying to see the name of RoseAnn and NNU on this list,” said NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.
 
“This accolade is an important tribute to the years of far sighted, visionary and activist leadership that RoseAnn has provided for RNs and our many community allies and patients who are working for healthcare justice, including guaranteed healthcare for all,” said Burger.
 
“But it is also a recognition of the unique and stirring achievements of NNU, in working to improve patient care conditions, standards for nurses, and social change improvements for all Americans. We could not be more proud,” Burger said.
 
Over the past year, NNU has continue to gain international renown for a diverse range of activities, including dispatching nurse volunteers to assist those affected by disasters, such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, rallying against the health hazards linked to the adverse effects of the climate crisis, and continuing the campaign for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street speculation to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for economic and healthcare revitalization.
 
Concurrently NNU continues to promote overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system to one based on patient need and a single standard of high quality care for all, not one based on profits and ability to pay, improved standards for nurses and patients, and a stronger collective voice for RNs. Since NNU was founded in 2009, uniting several leading RN organizations, more than 17,000 RNs have voted to join NNU, including in states where few RNs are in unions, such as Florida, Missouri, and Texas.
 
NNU is also a founding member of Global Nurses United, a coalition of leading nurses and healthcare worker unions in more than a dozen nations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.