TBAPNC - Legislative Alerts


	:: Legislative Alerts
	NP Facts: The “F” doesn’t stand for Florida! In a newly published study by Ruder-Lugo, O’Grady, Hodnicki and Hanson, Florida ranks 49th on the list of states reflecting the regulatory environment for patient choice and access. Florida has the 2nd largest number of NPs. There are over 12,000 certified NPs yet our legislators have failed to pass our bills year after year. Clearly this is an urgent call to action. Consumers are not able to access care provided by NPs in this state as easily as in other states. We have many more barriers to our practice and lag behind states with far fewer numbers of NPs. Rudner Lugo, N., O’Grady, E.l., Hodnicki, D.R., Hanson C.M., (2007) Ranking state NP regulation: practice environment and consumer health care choice. The American Journal of Nurse Practitioners, 11, 8 - 24. Found at http://www.webnp.net/ New Year and it is an election year! Make it happen. Are you registered to vote? Use an absentee ballot if you have time constraints. Get involved with local campaigns, support legislators supportive of unrestricted access to health care for all Floridians. Educate patients and legislators about the vital role NPs provide. Bills of interest: FNA lobbyist, Anna Small, CNM, JD announced the new bills filed for the 2008 Legislative Session. In collaboration with FNPN lobbyist, Allison Carvajal, they remind us that all politics happen at the local level. These bills need your support and action to get passed Please, contact your local legislator and ask them to support these bills, let them know why it is so important to your practice and Floridians. SB 972/HB: Improving Access to Care Senator Burt Saunders and Representative Juan Carlos Zapata This bill improves the abilities of ARNPs to serve the needs of medically underserved communities and medically underserved populations by prescribing medications in schedules II, III, IV and V, in compliance with their protocol agreements with their supervising physicians. Underserved areas and populations are defined by the Department of Health and Human Services. SB 716/HB: Clinical Laboratories Bill Senator Mike Fasano and Representative Luis Garcia Amendment to the Florida Statutes 483.18. to include ARNPs in the list of medical professionals that are authorized to order laboratory tests. Currently, physicians assistants, dental hygienists, dentists, allopathic or Osteopathic physicians, naturopaths, podiatrists and chiropractors are all authorized to order laboratory tests. SB 736/HB 285: Clinical Nurse Specialist Bill Senator Burt Saunders and Representative Martin David Klar This bill clears up some ambiguity of the bill for CNS title protection that passed last year Update: Earlier this Fall I shared with you all a resolution submitted to the Florida Medical Association 2007 House of Delegates by Dr. Deidra Woods the medical director of LifePath Hospice, Hillsborough County. The resolution was supportive of advanced practice nurse’s authority to complete death certificates. This resolution was heard and referred to the Board of Governors for study and action. This is a state issue followed by ARNPs to remove barriers to practice. Our bill for signing death certificates did not move last year solely because of FMA opposition.