Florida's NPs have been fighting a long fight to win controlled substance prescriptive authority in the state. One roadblock is the proliferation of ''pill mills'' in Florida - clinics of ill repute where seemingly anyone can purchase prescription medications. Read some recent news about pill mills in Broward County, Fla., which some are calling ...

It has been a very busy fall for ECFC. In addition to general patient care and all the day-to-day administrative issues, we are faced with another task. The state of MN has mandated that all recipients of state-sponsored health insurance have access to and are members of a state-certified Health Care Home. Eagan Child and Family Care is one of ...

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 ...

I am sure that nothing drives home the need for healthcare reform more than being an actual healthcare provider. Of course, I was already aware of the issues being a RN. But a whole new dimension is added as an NP that orders labs, tests and medications. It's constantly on my mind: Does this patient really NEED this lab or x-ray? Did I prescribe ...

We've noticed just a couple of practices across the country that are turning to a so-called membership plan to help curtail costs for patients. The model requires patients to pay a flat rate monthly or annually and then covers office visits, routine tests and the like. All the coverage I've seen of this model is careful to emphasize that this is ...

Writing in today's issue of USA Today, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell champions nurse practitioners as the means to universal access to healthcare. Together with Tine Hansen-Turton, who is CEO of the National Nursing Centers Consortium headquartered in Philadelphia, Rendell argues that the projected primary care physician shortage could thwart ...

Most of my spare time is spent listening to and watching the healthcare reform debate. I know that I favor a single payer system but I also know many people do not. My intent is not to get in a debate about this, as I don't think it will happen. What I do think has a chance is a public insurance option. That is if everyone is not scared to death ...

The recent hype in the media about NPs being able to ''fill in'' where primary care physicians are clearing out makes me wonder: Are NPs really ''filling a gap'' like they claim? Or is there more to it? Check out this wsaw.com video on the topic, which features an NP in Wausau, Wisc. The reporter says, ''The nurse practitioner says although she ...

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 ...

Healthcare reform is very much on the forefront of our minds. I recently have been reviewing different perspectives on the subject and have become better informed, somewhat more accepting of the idea - and probably more confused by all the issues involved. There is little doubt that we need some changes to occur, with our healthcare ...