Earlier this year Minnesota became the 19th state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to offer patients full and direct access to nurse practitioner services. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), this will improve access to care and more effectively use nurse practitioners to meet growing health care needs.
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ACEP Now: Vol 33 – No 12 – December 2014According to a staff paper from the Federal Trade Commission, limiting the practice of APRNs can reduce competition.1 The paper urged state legislators to avoid imposing restrictions on APRNs’ scope of practice when unjustified.
In the following states, nurse practitioners can prescribe medications without physician or board of medicine involvement: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.
Karen Appold is a medical writer in Pennsylvania.
2 Responses to “Minnesota Becomes 19th State to Allow Nurse Practitioners Full Scope of Authority to Prescribe”
January 11, 2015
menowskyPhysicians need to wake up and begin to lobby against the repeated intrusions into our scope of practice. There is a reason NP’s and PA’s are Mid-Level providers, they lack the education and training of physicians! Does it make sense to anyone that clinicians with less education and training should have the same prescribing authority as physicians? I started my healthcare career as a paramedic, then went on to nursing and now it seems as an EM physician I could have just bided my time and eventually at this pace NP’s will have the same authority I do. I’ve already seen them introduce themselves as Doctor……, now that many NP programs have gone to doctorate level degrees. Many states, including Alabama where I practice, have allowed NP’s to place CVL’s and Art lines? I’m very opposed to this and have written to the medical board speaking out against it. Physicians leaders are asleep at the wheel on this topic. It reminds me of how physicians allowed themselves to become just another “cog” in the healthcare wheel in the early 80’s. Physicians were at the top of the healthcare corporate structure often then President or Chairman of the hospital, then one day we decided that management should be turned over to HCA’s. Now look where we are, hoping our reimbursements aren’t reduced or tied to performance, accepting polices governing our practice instead of dictating them. This is another issue where Mid-Levels will continue to take more and more rope. Wake up!
February 28, 2015
James Wilsonmenowsky,
In Minnesota we have found the expansion of the nurse practitioner role to be quite welcoming. Currently we are experiencing a provider shortage and in certain areas the increased scope of practice will ease the burden currently placed on the health field. I too agree that they scope of practice should not entail all of the same areas that we practice. Physicians require a higher level of education and therefore should provide higher level of care. I do not feel I need to have a collaborative agreement with a nurse practitioner to practice within his or her scope. I have viewed your response as more of a plea for control over the system. The days of the physician running the show have been dwindling away since the 80’s as you mentioned. I feel that I cannot always provide the cares my patient’s require without going through political restraints due to funding concerns or appeasing medicare. More of our fellow physicians need to advocate for our role in health care but bringing down the role of nurse practitioners is not the agenda I have in mind.