Hi Everyone,

You all posted some great sections of the law and gave excellent reasons as to how it impacts and improves nursing practice and patient care! I was so happy to read how you were impressed with all the sections pertaining to our practice. This is what it means to be a nurse-citizen; to be informed of these laws! There are many portions of the law that we can share with our patients to improve their access to care. It is also great for us to be aware of the funding available for higher education (Hint Hint!!!!)

Ok... we have a loaded blog post today, so we will jump right in!!! We are going to talk about one major area advanced practice nurses are pushing for change.

As you have read in your assigned reading this week, there is going to be a huge influx of patients entering the health care system. The new health care law took this into consideration when they added Section 5501 and Section 2706. Under PL 111-148, Section 5501 it calls for an expansion of access to primary care and general surgery services (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2010). This section of the law includes advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs) as primary care providers and stipulates they are to receive incentive payments for primary care services (AACN, 2010). Section 2706 mandates insurance companies cannot refuse to pay for services provided by an ARNP barring the ARNP is in compliance with their scope of practice as defined by their state laws (AACN, 2010). Making these changes in the manner ARNPs are reimbursed for services offered is a major step in allowing them the autonomy to practice independently; however, the debate is far from over as to how much autonomy nurse practitioners should be allowed to have.  Several states are debating whether or not to allow nurse practitioners the autonomy to practice primary care on their own without the supervision of a physician (Corleone, 2010; Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals & Clinics, 2010).  This is a very worthwhile debate as the Association of American Medical Colleges projects there will be a shortage of approximately 63,000 doctors by 2015 (Lopatto, 2012).  In addition to this, a recent survey of medical school graduates showed that only 2% were choosing to work in primary care (McGuire, 2010).  Who will provide primary care services to Americans, especially with the estimated 30 million plus increase in patients by 2014 (Lopatto, 2012)?

This is a major debate and hot topic in health care across the nation!!! Nurses, nursing organizations, medical organizations, stakeholders, patients, physicians, politicians, and many others are involved in this issue. Let’s jump in and give our opinions, thoughts, and experience on the topic. For this post I want you to find an electronic source such as a newspaper article, journal article, document from a professional organization, audio file, or video showing one or both sides of this debate. Please post a link to the source along with a full reference in APA in case we have difficulty getting the link to work. Then, share a brief comment or thought on at least 2 of your peers’ sources. We would love to hear what is going on in your states regarding this topic!

To get you started I have 2 videos for you to review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_65woayNegM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbRUGPsQ3zU

                                           References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2010). Patient

     Protection and Affordable Care  Act Public Law No: 111-148:

     Nursing education and practice provisions. Retrieved from

     http://www.aacn.nche.edu/government-affairs/HCRreview.pdf

Corleone, M. (2010, April 18). The fight to give nurses more power

     [Video file]. Retrieved from

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_65woayNegM

Lopatto, E. (2010, March 22). Nurse Practitioners, handmaidens

     no more. Business Week. Retrieved from

     http://www.businessweek.com/

McGuire, K. (2010, December 30). Expanding scope of practice

     for  advanced registered nurse  practitioners, physician

     assistants, optometrists, and dental hygienists. The Florida

     Legislator. Retrieved from  http://www.floridanurse.org/arnp
 
     corner/ARNPDocs/OPPAGAScopeofPracticeMemo.pdf

Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals & Clinics. ( 2010, April 15). A nurse

     may soon be your doctor [Video file]. Retrieved from 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbRUGPsQ3zU