Opinion
Health bill shows all is not lost
North Carolina leaders from both parties agree that one factor driving up the cost of health care is a shortage of providers. They just did something about it.
Opinion
Where New York beats North Carolina
States that give nurses broad practice authority ranked higher than more-restrictive states on health outcomes, quality of care, and childhood immunizations.
Opinion
Let’s fully protect right to work
When states recognize occupational licenses issued by other states, that tends to boost in-migration by highly productive professionals.
Opinion
North Carolina fails telehealth exam
North Carolina has become a national leader in such policy areas as tax reform, school choice, and transportation funding. Unfortunately, we lag far behind in providing telehealth options to patients. That’s the finding of a new study written by Josh Archambault for the Cicero Institute. Archambault, a longtime health-policy researcher and former legislative staffer, graded...
Opinion
Expand options to ease health costs
Giving physician assistants more freedom to deliver care isn’t a new, untested idea. It’s already happening elsewhere. North Carolina should be next.
Opinion
North Carolina must compete for nurses
Before Virginia’s reform, it had significant fewer nurse practitioners per capita than North Carolina did. By 2023, the gap shrank by about half.
Opinion
North Carolina should quit this club
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...
Opinion
Washington won’t fix health care
North Carolina’s Medicaid program will expand on December 1 to offer fully subsidized health plans to virtually every legal resident whose household income is at or below 138% of the federal poverty line. Notice I said “offer.” Many individuals and households who’ll now qualify for Medicaid are already enrolled in other health plans, either through...
Opinion
We’re sliding towards single payer
North Carolina is about to become the 40th state to expand its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. The bill drew huge, bipartisan majorities of legislators. Republican leaders resisted expansion for years, arguing that the promise of permanent 90% funding from Washington was either implausible or fiscally irresponsible. They no longer feel that way....
Opinion
Medicaid expansion supporters should listen carefully to Berger’s analysis
The Senate leader has opened the door to supporting Medicaid expansion. But expansion supporters might not like the compromises they would be required to make.
News
Nurse practitioners push back against state rule requiring a doctor to ‘supervise’ them
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...
