Nurse Practitioners Are the Answer
The American Academy of Nursing hosted a conference call on Friday, May 8, 2009 with statements from hard-hitting nurse practitioner advocates who spoke up on behalf of NPs as a crucial part of our evolving healthcare system. The goal of the call was to make a public case for NPs that will influence healthcare reform.
University of Miami president and former HHS secretary Donna Shalala, Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell, National Nursing Centers Consortium executive director Tine Hansen-Turton and Independence Foundation president Susan E. Sherman all made excellent and compelling statements in favor of expanding power of NPs and emphasized repeatedly that if nurses aren't part of healthcare reform, then it's not real reform.
Shalala kicked it off just right: "We want to say loud and clear that nurse practitioners are going to be key to healthcare reform in the Obama era."
The conference call has already garnered media attention: BNET published "Can Nurse Practitioners Fill The Primary-Care Hole?" this morning, and a Miami News Times blog posted "Donna Shalala Lends Her Support to Nurse-Managed Health Centers." This is all great news for NPs' chances at truly being an equal part of healthcare reform as President Obama works toward change.
Listen to a recording of the entire presentation by clicking on "Listen to the phone-based news conference" on AAN's Web site.