The Nurse Practitioner "Sacred Cow"
AANP director of health policy Jan Towers, NP, addressed acrowd of several thousand yesterday at the 25th anniversary conference of AANP, with much to report on legislation that affectsNPs. After the session I caught up with Mona Counts, NP, who has served inalmost every leadership role for AANP. She agreed with Towers’ message thatalthough nurse practitioners are becoming a more familiar face, NPs mustcontinue educating the public and policymakers about their impact onhealthcare.
“The sacred cow has been opened,” she said – but that’s justa starting point. Be sure to stay current on legislation affecting NPs on alocal and national level, so that NPs are included to the fullest extent oftheir training in the healthcare of this country. Towers implored attendees to contact their legislators to ask them to support S 2814/HR 4993, which would change Federal statute to allow NPs to order home health care for Medicare patients. Senator Susan Collins from Maine and Representative Allyson Schwartz from Pennsylvania have introduced the bill into Congress, and it currently has 50 cosponsors, but Towers says she hopes for 100 cosponsors by August for a strong bill.