Why Pa.’s nurse practitioners should have more autonomy
Our state government has the opportunity to do something unprecedented — pass commonsense health care reform with strong bipartisan support that will both reduce health care costs and increase access to quality care. Our state representatives can do this by voting for House Bill 100, which would modernize our state’s nursing law.
Currently, nurse practitioners across the state are prevented from practicing to the full extent of their training by outdated regulations that provide unnecessary red tape. By requiring nurse practitioners to enter into a “collaborative agreement” with a physician, Pennsylvania has maintained a barrier to access that requires no actual direct oversight or specific collaboration.
Nurse practitioners unable to find or afford to pay a collaborating physician are unable to serve patients as the excellent providers they are trained to be. State Rep. Jesse Topper’s bill, HB 100, would remove this outdated requirement.
Dr. Thomas Whalen, chief medical officer of Lehigh Valley Health Network, has praised his primary care provider — a nurse practitioner — as “spectacular.” While some try to frame this issue as a turf war between physicians
and nurse practitioners, what we both want is the same: to provide the highest quality, most affordable care to our patients. Our advanced practice nurses are essential members of care teams and consult with physicians and other health care workers on a daily basis. They would continue to do so without this vague and costly regulation, which provides no additional benefits to patients.
Forty years of research demonstrates that nurse practitioners provide the same quality of care as physicians. Nurse practitioners are also twice as likely to serve in rural areas as physicians, which means nurse practitioners can fill an urgent need in Pennsylvania’s health care system as our physician shortage continues to grow.
On July 24, nursing and health care leaders around the nation gathered in Philadelphia for the National Academy of Medicine’s discussion on the future of nursing over the next 10 years. The report states in part: “With every passing decade, nursing has become an increasingly integral part of health care services, so that a future without large numbers of nurses is impossible to envision.” Perhaps that is why over the last decade there has been a bipartisan push to support full practice authority for nurse practitioners in Pennsylvania. That effort includes nursing and patient organizations, hospitals, health care systems, business groups, insurance companies, AARP, Federal Trade Commission, better government associations, nonprofits and 11 newspaper editorial boards.
HB 100’s companion bill, SB 25, passed the Senate on June 12 by a wide margin of 44-6. The bill now awaits a hearing and vote in the House Professional Licensure committee.
Pennsylvania is ready for expanded access to care at a lower cost. Please contact your representative today and ask them to support House Bill 100.
Kim Jordan is the senior vice president, Patient Care Services, and chief nursing officer of the Lehigh Valley Health Network.