Category: NURSE PRACTITIONER UPDATES

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April 2019 – Finding Your Seat At The Table: Influencing Public Policy presented by Santa Barbara Women Political Committee

November 2019 – As we enter the holiday season I cannot stop thinking about the upcoming 2020 primary elections. I am hoping that more women will enter a race and successfully gain NOT ONLY A SEAT but an achievable and sustainable space that will benefit our present, tomorrow and future. Women face a myriad of barriers in the private and non-profit sectors. Black women espeicially face resistance, discrimination, social stereotypes, and double standards – so how do we address this and move forward? Women are the change agents and we don’t need permission to run for public office, appointed commissions and/or executive board positions. I am encouraging for more women to step up and step out from your comfort silos and stop adhering to the rigid environment that stifles your ability to grow and change the landscape called the NORM.

#NursePractitioner #HealthcareAdvocate #HealthcareLeaders #AKA #LinksInc #SBWPC #CANPsLead #MooreOnHealth #Feminism 

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AB 890 (Woods) Nurse Practitioner bill will remove standardized procedure and provide a scope of practice definition for Nurse Practitioner. In addition, AB 890 will also – as written February 2020 – do the following and more:

  1. Create a NEW – Advance Practice Registered Nursing Board with 3 MDs +/- surgeons, 4 NPs and 2 members of the public. 
  2. Established a transition to practice (TTP) of 3 years or 4600 hours
  3. Require National Board Certification 
  4. Require NPs to use an identified standard Spanish phrase to describe the NP
  5. Require an addition 3 years added to the 3 year TTP for NPs practicing outside the identified settings (i.e., hospital, health facility, clinic, and-or medical corporation)

It is very important that you READ the bill for yourself before discussing it with other NPs and/or your local elected officials. The bill passed out of the Assembly this month. You should reach out to your local elected Senator when you are ready to discuss the bill. If you don’t know who your elected official is go to – http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov 

To read AB 890 click here – https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/fa…/billTextClient.xhtml…

Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia allow NPs to diagnose, treat patients and prescribe medications without a physician’s supervision. NPs practice in a variety of health care settings, including hospitals, nursing facilities, clinics and private practices. State law determines the extent to which NPs can work independent of a physician.

Almost 80 percent of NPs in the U.S. – 204,000 out of 262,000 – practice primary care, compared to 33 percent of physicians (Health Affairs – online September 4, 2018). In 2016, the US Department of Veterans Affairs announced new regulations permitting full practice authority for the nearly 6,000 advanced practice nurses in its workforce. The VA made this change in policy due to an acute provider shortage within its system, resulting in delays in care. The regulations allow NPs working in a VA facility “to practice to the full extent of their education, training, and certification, regardless of state restrictions that limit such full practice authority.” 

Moore On Health believes in increasing #DirectAccessToCare for the people of California by allowing #NursePractitioners to gain #FullPracticeAuthority. #AB890 has several areas of concern and although there is not such thing as a perfect bill we must not set forth precedents that will negatively impact our profession and other States seeking #FPA. 

 

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On February 3-5 – Moore On Health had the pleasure to join over 300 other Nurse Practitioners in Washington D.C at the 2019 AANP Health Policy Conference. During the conference we heard from policy and legislative strategy experts on issues limiting access to care. Every day, we should be working to create positive changes to the health care system, eradicating antiquated regulatory process and increasing direct access to care for the community at large.

Presently our federal legislative policy priorities are:

  • Authorize NPs to Certify Patient Eligibility for Medicare and Medicare Home Health Services
  • Authorize the assignment of NP patients to Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)
  • Ensure Patients with Diabetes Have Timely Access to Therapeutic Shoes
  • Authorize NPs to Certify Medicare Patients for Hospice Care
  • Authorize NPs to Perform Admitting Examinations and All Required Patients Assessments in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)

AANP supports legislation and regulatory changes which removes barriers to practice so that NPs can practice to their full scope, ensuring that patients have access to these much needed high quality, cost effective, health care services. NPs are a critical part of the solution to our nation’s health care needs.

Question: How are our advocating to strength the NP profession and increases full and direct access to care?

If you did not attend the 2019 AANP Health Policy Conference you can still participate and help eradicate antiquated process that creates barriers to practice.

  • Ask your Senators to cosponsor Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act (S. 296) – Click HERE
  • Ask your Members of Congress cosponsor S. 237/H.R. 808 which would authorize nurse practitioners (NPs) to certify their patient’s need for therapeutic shoes. – Click HERE
  • Encourage Members of Congress to Cosponsor H.R. 900 to Allow NP Patients to be Counted in ACOs – Click HERE

As nurse leaders, NPs must be involved in health policy. The NPs who advocate for major health policies can influence countless people throughout their state and the nation, depending on the level of the health policy.

Involvement in health policy is the most important role an NP can have in impacting positive change in health care that will benefit multiple generations of patients across institutions, states, the nation, and even globally.