Nurse practitioner reform bill moves to Senate floor

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The bill, S.B. 717, will now move to the Senate floor.

An affirmative vote from the Senate will allow nurse practitioners to have what is called full practice authority, after they collaborate with physicians for three years and 3,600 hours.

Under current state law, nurse practitioners can practice alone only if they have collaborative agreements with two physicians. Full authority will allow them to practice without collaboration.

Nurse practitioners graduate with master’s degrees or doctorates and are nationally certified in their specialty areas, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners.

They can order, perform and interpret diagnostic tests; diagnose and treat acute and chronic conditions, prescribe medications and manage a patient’s care.

Many physicians oppose legislation that would allow nurse practitioners to practice without physician collaboration, arguing that nurse practitioners have less training than physicians.

Groups, such as the Pennsylvania Medical Society, would prefer to see more collaboration between physicians and nurse practitioners. The organization believes that the current legislation would break up the current team practice of physicians and nurses working together.

A recent study found that by removing restrictions on nurse practitioners in Pennsylvania, it would expand health care access to under-served populations – including rural communities, elderly and Medicaid patients, according to the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Nursing.

For example, in Pennsylvania, nurse practitioners are reimbursed at the same rate as physicians when it comes to serving Medicaid patients.

The study found that in states with an equal reimbursement rate, practices with nurse practitioners were 23 percent more likely to accept these patients than practices without them. By allowing nurse practitioners to practice independently, access to health care would increase.

“Patients in our state deserve access to the full extent of the education and training that nurse practitioner’s receive,” Lorraine Bock, president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners said.