American Association of Nurse Practitioners Responds to Latest From American Medical Association House of Delegates
Media Contact: Bryan Black
AUSTIN, Texas — Today, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) issued the following statement concerning the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) call for nurse practitioners (NPs) and other advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to be jointly regulated by boards of medicine and boards of nursing.
The AMA has once again dusted off its old protectionist playbook and demonstrated its commitment to put profit and powerplays ahead of patients and their access to high-quality health care.
During its recent House of Delegates meeting, the AMA reaffirmed multiple outdated policies that make it harder for patients to access qualified health care providers and called for the unnecessary and harmful joint regulation of NPs and other APRNs by boards of medicine and nursing. NPs practice advanced nursing, not medicine. Boards of medicine lack the requisite nursing experience and expertise to regulate nurses.
“The only appropriate regulatory entities to oversee nursing licensure and practice are state boards of nursing,” said AANP Chief Executive Officer Jon Fanning, MS, CAE, CNED. “Not only is the model proposed by the AMA flawed, but it has also been soundly rejected by 46 states and the District of Columbia. In the handful of states where NP practice is regulated outside the exclusive oversight of the board of nursing, the restrictive involvement of the board of medicine directly contributes to health care access challenges, resulting in continued low health care rankings, geographic disparities in care and unnecessary regulatory cost in these states.”
Today, there are more than 355,000 NPs practicing across the United States, strengthening health care access and delivery in nearly every community in the country and every health care setting — including clinics, hospitals, Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Care facilities, emergency rooms, urgent care sites, private physician or NP practices (both managed and owned by NPs), nursing homes, schools, colleges, retail clinics, public health departments, nurse-managed clinics, homeless clinics and home health.