California Physicians Oppose Expanding Nurse Practitioner Abilities

Posted by donna@healthlawcenterplc.com in Jul, 2019

The California Future Health and Workforce Commission recommended in a recent report that the state expand the role of nurse practitioners to combat a projected shortfall of more than 4,100 primary care clinicians over the next decade. California Assemblyman Jim Wood, a dentist, introduced a bill (read the bill) during the last legislative session to update the regulations, saying he was “looking to try to get care to my constituents.” The bill would remove the red tape mandating supervision and allow nurse practitioners to practice on their own.

Karen Bradley, the president of the California Association for Nurse Practitioners and a pediatric nurse practitioner herself, said there would be no major changes in responsibilities of nurse practitioners if the law mandating supervision were overturned. The bill would “put into law what we are already doing.”

But the California Medical Association, a lobbying group representing doctors in the state, says it strongly opposes legislation that would grant nurse practitioners the full ability to practice independently.