Update on the bill for NPs

Dear MCNP Members:

We are making a major legislative push for support of the Nurse Practitioner Authority to Practice Bill that will eliminate the need for NPs to have a collaborative agreement with a physician in order to practice in Maryland.

This will allow you to continue to collaborate and refer to all appropriate physicians and other health care providers as you have been doing.

This will place the regulation and oversight of NPs solely under the board of nursing

This will not change your employment agreement w/ your individual employers or institution

This will not change your scope of practice

This will not change your malpractice coverage

This will eliminate your need to go through 2 overseeing boards in order to change jobs, pick up a temporary job, or do volunteer work (eliminating a 2-6 month wait if you are seeking employment)

It is going to be extremely important in the next 10 days to get EVERY patient, colleague, family member, physician, neighbor to sign a petition or letter supporting our bills in the House and Senate. Time is critical!

 

Here’s what you can do:

• Get Petitions signed and back to MCNP

• Gather Letters of support and send to MCNP

• Help arrange for Personal Testimony by colleagues, patients and faculty.

Below please find each of these items outlined. Samples of both petitions and letters are attached as well to facilitate your participation. These letters or petitions should be copied and then faxed (301-373-6800, attention Lorraine) or mailed (3152 Eutaw Forest Drive, Waldorf, MD 20603) or scanned and sent to LDianaArt@aol.com.

PLEASE contact your NP friends and colleagues, and have them do this. We want to walk into the hearing with more than 3000 physician signatures, and thousands of other supporters’ signatures.

 

Petitions

As straight forward an option as there is. Simple description of what the petition supports is on the top of our petition. Simply collect name, address, legislative district (if possible) and signature. You will be surprised how willing patients and private citizens are to sign this petition. One member gathered over 50 signatures in one day. Download from our web site.

 

Letters of Support

Again, we can keep these short, sweet, simple and to the point. Sample letter can be copied on the doctor’s letterhead. Download from our website.

 

Testimony

We need testimony from a variety of NPs in geriatrics, acute care, pediatrics, as well as family, women's health and the specialties should be forwarding their names for 3 minutes of testimony to LDianaArt@aol.com. We also need the following colleagues to testify:

• Supportive physicians who can testify

• Supportive pharmacists who will testify

• Physical therapists who will testify

• Faculty from our Universities who will testify

• Patients who will testify

• We need diversity in our NPs - we need a variety of ethnic groups represented

• Think about who supports you, who you refer to, who you make money for - hospitals, specialists labs, radiologist, etc.

The NP Authority to Practice Bill is dropping today, January 26. We expect to have a hearing in the next 2 weeks before the HGO Committee. That hearing will determine the future of this bill. We will know one week in advance the date and time of the hearing. It is critical for as many of us as possible to show up at the hearing in support of the bill. We all have jobs and families, and ordinarily, we don’t ask any of you to make the trip to Annapolis. This is critical! Please make plans to attend, and bring other non NP supporters with you. If your collaborating physician will also attend, it’s even better. Patients are welcome.