NC is one of only 12 states that still requires advanced practice registered nurses to maintain a costly, physician‑supervised collaborative practice agreement before they can see patients on their own.
States that give nurses broad practice authority ranked higher than more-restrictive states on health outcomes, quality of care, and childhood immunizations.
Before Virginia’s reform, it had significant fewer nurse practitioners per capita than North Carolina did. By 2023, the gap shrank by about half.
When it comes to regulating nurses, North Carolina is in an increasingly exclusive club. Unfortunately, the cost of our club membership far exceeds any benefits. In most states, nurse practitioners and other advanced-practice nurses have significant authority to treat patients without being subject to the authority of a physician. In Virginia, for example, they enjoy...
The coronavirus outbreak is ravaging North Carolina’s health care system — threatening to shutter medical practices and worsen shortages of care during the coronavirus surge. Across North Carolina, health care workers and practices are taking an economic beating. With elective procedures canceled and patients wary, revenue streams are dry. Overhead expenses remain, forcing many to...
The disproportionate growth of physician assistants and nurse practitioners was especially pronounced in North Carolina’s rural areas, where proximity to medical providers is of greatest concern.
For two meetings and a few signatures, Stephenie Brinson pays $24,000 to stay in business each year. As a nurse practitioner in North Carolina, Brinson must have a supervising physician whose scope of practice encompasses her duties. If she loses the supervising physician, she has 30 days to find a new one, or she must...
North Carolina should not let its licensing laws block rural residents from accessing out-of-state specialists as long as those physicians are in good standing with their home states’ medical boards.
If Medicaid expansion forces taxpayers to pick up the tab for a service that was either previously paid for some other way or not consumed in the first place, there is no reduction in the cost of care.
With Medicare and Medicaid presenting huge fiscal challenges, policymakers should consider more-efficient ways to deliver services to the elderly and disabled.
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