Nurse Practitioners Gain More Autonomy in New York in 2015
Nurse practitioners (NPs) in New York who have more than 3,600 hours of clinical practice no longer require a physician’s supervision to practice thanks to a new law that took effect on January 1, 2015.
The Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act was signed into law in April 2014. NPs with roughly 2 years of full-time clinical practice meet the time requirement. They will not need a written collaborative agreement with a physician or be required to submit patient charts to a physician for review.
These experienced NPs will still be required to have an established relationship with a physician or hospital for referrals or consultations, though. The rules for NPs who have not accumulated the 3,600 hours of clinical practice have not changed.
New York is the nineteenth state, plus the District of Columbia, to create environments without regulations to reduce or restrict NPs’ practices.
With the country facing a huge primary care physician shortage, NPs and physician assistants and increasingly being used to fill the gap. It is believed that the use of NPs will increase access to care for patients and prevent unnecessary hospital visits, which, in turn, will reduce healthcare costs.
“More and more policy makers are championing efforts to ease needless restrictions on nurse practitioner practice in recognition of their invaluable role in protecting the health of patients and communities, particularly those that have been historically underserved,” Ken Miller, PhD, RN, CFNP, FAAN, FAANP, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), said in November. “With countless Americans struggling to access high-quality, timely health services – a problem that tragically extends to our nation’s veterans seeking care through the VA system – it is critical that these efforts continue building momentum at the federal and state levels, and within the health care industry.”
The AANP is also hoping to get Congress to authorize NPs to perform admitting examinations and monthly patient assessments in skilled nursing facilities.