The care of older adults is the overriding issue at this year's GAPNA conference of course, but members are also turning their attention to national practice issues that affect all NP specialties. Yesterday, Evelyn Duffy, NP, director of the adult and gerontologic NP program at Case Western Reserve University, presented an informational session ...

A couple weeks ago CNN asked readers who should fill the ''doctor'' shortage. Nine responses are now posted on CNNMoney.com -- two from NPs, three from physicians and one each from a med student, a PA, an EMT and a consumer. Everyone but the EMT address the question of the role of NPs and PAs in primary care. The consumer loves NPs and ...

I just returned from NAPNAP's annual conference, where pediatric nurse practitioners were abuzz with possibilities for health care reform. Watch our blogs and Web site for more detail in coming weeks, but this morning I urge you to visit NAPNAP's Web site (www.napnap.org) and its legislative action center. You do not need to be a member of NAPNAP ...

A new tobacco tax scheduled to go into effect April 1 will cost smokers about $1 more per pack. Those interested in helping Americans quit smoking say that the extra cost will naturally keep some from buying cigarettes and therefore decrease overall health care expenditures on smokers by $44.5 billion over time, according to an article ...

The issue of off-label prescribing has been debated for years. For the first time that I can recall, federal forces seem to be leaning in favor of allowing some wiggle room. In the waning days of the Bush administration, the FDA issued a declaration allowing drug companies to provide information on off-label uses to prescribers. This information ...

I heard a report on American Public Radio's Marketplace program this morning about the possible future of the ''concierge'' model of medical practice. A concierge practice is a sort of membership health care plan: Basically, patients pay an annual flat fee for comprehensive, on-demand access to their health care provider. The interesting note in ...

Owning your own business comes with many challenges. Including, managing the practice as well as seeing  patients. Although I love seeing patients, I also enjoy spending time managing my own practice. This includes hiring, advertising, determining hours of operations, etc... After practicing for several years now, I have come to really ...

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has officially endorsed Barack Obama for U.S. president, citing his committment to univeral health care. Read the press release here.  ANA has endorsed candidates since 1984. The organization determines which candidate to endorse through the following process, outlined in the press release: The ...

My parents retired a few years ago and moved to a ''55 and older'' community on the east coast. They know all their neighbors, and everyone knows everyone else's health status, who sees which health care providers, and every provider's business practices. My dad's quick recovery from knee replacement surgery convinced a neighbor a block over to ...

Last year at this time, I attended the signing of a key law expanding NP privileges in Pennsylvania. Milling about before the ceremony, I was buttonholed by a dental hygienist hoping to spread the word about the valuable work those practitioners do. Gov. Rendell was signing another law that day eliminating the legal requirement that dental ...