Letter to Senators & Delegates for HB319 and SB484

I cannot down load the letter. Anne Naru

Here is the letter - made some suggested changes, elaine

Dear Delegate XXX / Senator XXX
I am a Nurse Practitioner living in your district. I am requesting your support for House Bill 319 / Senate Bill 484 which eliminates the collaborative agreement for Nurse Practitioners. The collaborative agreement is a 19-page document, between Nurse Practitioners and the Physicians with whom they work, which must be reviewed by two regulatory boards (the Board of Nursing and the Board of Physicians), for every job offered to a Nurse Practitioner. Ours is the only profession, with its own Board, which has oversight from a different discipline’s Board.
If the agreement is eliminated, the scope of practice for Nurse Practitioners would not change and they would continue to be regulated by the Maryland Board of Nursing. This is a cumbersome and time consuming task for all involved and can result in 2-6 months of delay whenever a Physician or clinic needs to hire a Nurse Practitioner. In addition, more than half of the States, including the District of Columbia, have no collaborative agreement. Many Nurse Practitioners have left Maryland and gone to practice in those states.
Nurse Practitioners are also providing high quality health care in our district and state. Nurse Practitioners are needed to provide care to our vulnerable populations; assist in strengthening the public health infrastructure in our community; and to serve as first responders in the case of local and national disasters.
There are over 800,000 uninsured in the state of Maryland! There is also a serious shortage of Primary Care Physicians: 80% in Southern Maryland, and at least 60% in Western Maryland, the Eastern Shore and other areas. When Health Care Reform is approved there will not be enough Physicians in Maryland to care for all the uninsured.
However, there are over 3000 master’s prepared, licensed, board certified Nurse Practitioners, 75% are in primary care, others work in specialty practices. The collaborative agreement has become an impediment to meeting patient needs. Removing this barrier would mean that more Maryland residents would have access to high quality primary care.
Please feel free to contact me if there is any way that Nurse Practitioners or the Maryland Coalition of Nurse Practitioners can support you and your endeavors: www.mcnponline.org.
Sincerely,
Name, Title
District
Address
Phone Number

Hi Everyone!
Our hearing scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled due to the weather. We don't have another hearing date yet.
This gives us all an opportunity to get letters out to the legislators in the next few days. Please hurry and do this while you are snowed in!
Thank you all for your support!