Lifting restrictions on APRNs can help avert a health care crisis in America.
The cracks in America’s health care system are becoming more and more apparent. A growing shortage of medical providers. Increasing waits for appointments. A global pandemic that stretched health care workers beyond capacity. Although the entire country is feeling the weight of this, access to care in our rural and underserved communities is especially strained.
Fortunately, there’s a solution to help fill the gaps in our health care system: Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). However, in many states outdated laws are holding APRNs back, not allowing them to practice to the full extent of their education and training. They urgently need your support.
APRN Status Nationwide
Currently APRNs are working on legislative initiatives in several states. Take action in these states now.
If you live in a different state, please support APRNs by submitting a testimonial below.
Testimonials from Across the Country
What is an APRN?
What is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse?
A vital part of the health care system, APRNs are educated with a master’s degree or higher and have hundreds of hours of hands-on clinical experience. APRNs can provide care in all types of practice settings including health care facilities, outpatient clinics, specialty practices, employee health programs, and in rural and urban areas with limited access to care. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that APRNs provide safe, high-quality care with equivalent outcomes to their physician counterparts.
How are APRNs being held back?
To date, APRNs have full practice authority in nearly half of the states and jurisdictions in the U.S., meaning that they can provide care to the full extent of their education—from diagnosing and treating patients to delivering babies, expertly managing life-saving respiratory devices and more. In the rest of the country, APRNs are required by law to be in a contract with a physician to perform these very same tasks, which creates unnecessary barriers to care for patients in those states.
Four Roles, Four Ways to Care for You:
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Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists – administer anesthesia and monitor patients post-anesthesia
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Certified Nurse Midwives – specialize in childbirth and women’s reproductive health
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Certified Nurse Practitioners – diagnose and treat primary or acute health conditions
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Clinical Nurse Specialists – work in specialty settings and provide diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing patient management
Latest News and Research
What obstacles are in the way of easier access to health care in NC?
COVID-19 experience shows Florida CRNA the values of removing the barriers to practice
While working on the front lines of the pandemic in New York, a Florida Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) learned firsthand the life-saving impact of removing barriers on CRNA practice.
How red tape keeps nurse practitioners from working
As COVID-19 continues to rage, Nurse Practitioners are critical to expanding the capacity of our nation’s health care system.
Guest view: Mississippi can make health care headlines – in a good way
With health care ranked 50th in the nation, Mississippi can alleviate its physician shortage and improve access to quality health care for thousands of Mississippians by removing unnecessary restrictions on APRNs.
As nurse practitioners try to shake free of doctors, Kansas physicians resist
At a time when 1 million Kansans live in areas with primary care shortages, Kansas APRNs and physicians are in a turf war over assuring access to safe, quality care.
Opinion: Letter urges Gov. DeSantis to waive supervision requirements for APRNs, CRNAs
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) unique skills and expertise in advanced airway and ventilation management allow them to step forward to treat COVID patients in a way few others can.
