The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) commends Sens. Merkley (D-OR) and Lummis (R-WY) for introducing the Improving Care and Access to Nurses (ICAN) Act in the U.S. Senate.
This legislation would strengthen healthcare access for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries by removing federal barriers to practice for nurse practitioners (NPs) and other advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).
“Every day, nurse practitioners are striving to meet our country’s growing need for high-quality healthcare in all practice settings yet outdated federal barriers limit patient access to NP-provided care,” says AANP President Stephen Ferrara, DNP. “This important legislation will move our nation’s healthcare system toward one that more accurately reflects the modern healthcare workforce. It is vital that the millions of Medicare and Medicaid patients who choose NPs receive timely access to high-quality healthcare. AANP applauds the introduction of the ICAN Act by Senators Merkley and Lummis in the U.S. Senate, and we urge its swift passage by Congress.”
NPs are the fastest-growing Medicare provider group, and approximately 40% of Medicare beneficiaries receive NP-delivered care. The ICAN Act would improve timely access to care by authorizing NPs to order cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, certify when patients with diabetes need therapeutic shoes, have their patients fully included in the beneficiary attribution process for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, refer patients for medical nutrition therapy, certify and recertify a patient’s terminal illness for hospice eligibility, perform all mandatory examinations in skilled nursing facilities, and more.
AANP strongly supports the ICAN Act and efforts to modernize policies to ensure every American has timely access to high-quality healthcare from their chosen healthcare provider. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives introduced companion legislation that has garnered the support of more than 235 national, state, and local organizations.
More than 40% of patients have experienced a “longer than reasonable” wait for healthcare, with 26% of those patients waiting more than two months for healthcare, according to a new national survey of U.S. adults released by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
As a result, nearly half of those who experienced unreasonable wait times gave up seeking an appointment and did not receive care. This includes patients seeking critical mental health services, according to the survey conducted in April 2023.
“These results are an eye-opening look at the state of access to care in our healthcare system,” says AANP President Stephen Ferrara, DNP. “A lack of timely access to care, particularly primary and preventive care, can lead to chronic conditions that put patients’ lives in danger and increase costs. Delayed or deferred care can put an individual’s health at greater risk for complications, which may also lead to a negative impact on mental health and lost wages for those patients. A decline in productivity for employers may also occur.”
Among those surveyed, 26% reported waiting more than two months to gain access to a healthcare provider. This situation extends across all major demographics, including age, gender, and education, and it impacts access to care in all geographic areas, including rural, suburban, and urban settings. Those most likely to give up on seeing a provider after a lengthy wait include younger adults, people living in urban areas, and respondents who reported their ethnicity as Hispanic.
“As a nation, we can solve the growing crisis in access to care by modernizing the outdated policies that sideline NPs from delivering care they are educated and clinically prepared to provide,” says AANP Chief Executive Officer Jon Fanning MS, CAE, CNED. “We can help shorten wait times and give patients timely access to the care they need by removing barriers to America’s 355,000 NPs.”
AANP supports modernizing policies to ensure people across the nation have full and direct access to the high-quality healthcare NPs provide. Giving patients the freedom to choose their healthcare provider is the first step in ensuring that, as a nation, we improve access to care and increase positive health outcomes for all.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) is celebrating the news that U.S News & World Report, for the second year in a row, ranked the nurse practitioner (NP) role first on its “2023 Best Health Care Jobs” list and second on its “100 Best Jobs of 2023” list.
The annual rankings consider “… the most important aspects of a job including opportunities for growth, work-life balance and salary.”
“NPs are thrilled to have their role recognized by U.S. News World & Report as the top health care job and the second-ranked best job of any field,” says April N. Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, president of AANP. “This honor is a testament to the outstanding care delivered by the nation’s more than 355,000 licensed NPs to patients in more than 1 billion visits each year.
“With nearly 100 million people living in primary care health professional shortage areas,” says Kapu, “NPs are leading the way to expand access to care — everywhere. We thank NPs for their leadership — and our patients for choosing NPs. The nurse practitioner role is more than a job — it’s a calling, and it is an honor. I look forward to a new generation of providers heeding that special call to serve and build healthier lives.”
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) is the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of the more than 355,000 licensed NPs in the U.S. AANP provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NPs’ patients and other health care consumers. As The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner®, AANP represents the interests of NPs as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered health care.
The Executive Committee of the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) has announced the recipients of this year’s Loretta C. Ford Award and Legacy Awards. The FAANP program was established in 2000 to recognize nurse practitioner (NP) leaders who exemplify the values of their profession through research, practice and advocacy.
“The recipients of the 2022 FAANP Awards,” said April N. Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, president of AANP, “are trailblazers and innovators who truly exemplify the excellence for which NPs are known. Each awardee has made admirable contributions to health care — and to the NP role — inspiring NPs of the future.”
2022 Loretta C. Ford Award for Advancement of the Nurse Practitioner Role in Health Care
Named for co-founder of the NP role, Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, NP-C, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, this award is presented annually to an NP who demonstrates participation in health care policy development at an international, national or local level; sustained and specific contribution to clarification of the role and scope of practice of NPs; or creative and effective action that turns a challenge to the NP role into an effective opportunity to advance practice and improve patient outcomes.
The recipient of the 2022 Loretta C. Ford Award is
William E. Rosa, PhD, MBE, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN.
Rosa, an NP, is an assistant attending behavior scientist in the department of psychiatry and behavior sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Rosa’s work focuses on cancer pain disparities, global palliative care inequities, LGBTQ+ inclusive palliative care communication and psychedelic-assisted therapy in the context of cancer-related distress. He is the editor of four books and has contributed more than 150 academic publications in journals and texts. He was the lead researcher for the 2021 Nurses for Health Equity: Guidelines for Tackling the Social Determinants of Health policy report endorsed by the World Health Organization.
2022 FAANP Legacy Award
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Established in 2020, the FAANP Legacy Award honors, recognizes and memorializes a member of FAANP whose lifelong career has had a profound and enduring impact on the profession and the NP role, articulating a dream that others share and follow. The vision, innovation, courage, persistence and inspiration of the honoree are essential components of the legacy.
Recipients of the 2022 FAANP Legacy Awards are as follows:
Ruth Kleinpell, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, FCCM, is well known for her research related to outcomes after critical illness, patient- and family-centered care, the role of the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and APRN outcomes. Most recently, she served as the co-principal investigator on a national survey of more than 7,000 APRNs assessing barriers to practice and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on APRN practice.
Lori Martin-Plank, PhD, FNP-C, GNP-BC, PMHNP, FNAP, FAANP, began teaching NPs in 1995 and has continued to balance practice with teaching, often serving as a preceptor for her students. Martin-Plank has a passion for advocacy and health policy and has been active in her home state of Pennsylvania, as well as in New Jersey. She is a strong believer in networking, mentoring and sharing knowledge among practitioners, students and educators for the benefit of the profession.
Henry Silver, MD, FAANP(H), was co-founder of the NP role at the University of Colorado. FAANP honors his pioneer spirit, courage and dedication. Thanks to his collaboration with Ford, a new health care role was created with the goal of improving access to care for underserved pediatric populations. Despite many barriers and fierce opposition to the implementation of the NP role, Silver and Ford remained a tenacious and unstoppable team who put patients’ needs first and forever changed health care in a profoundly positive way. Today, patients make more than 1 billion visits to NPs annually.
Forty new AANP Fellows will be inducted at the 2022 AANP National Conference in Orlando, Florida, on June 23. Learn more about the FAANP program and the invaluable contributions these NP leaders have made to patient health.
When New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the state budget into law, it secured improved health care access for residents in the state. New York joins 24 other states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories in adopting Full Practice Authority (FPA) legislation. The legislative action enables nurse practitioners (NPs) to provide the full scope of services they are educated and clinically trained to provide. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) commends Gov. Hochul and the New York Legislature for modernizing nursing licensure law and positioning New York for a healthier future.
“New York has taken a critical step forward in our country, increasing access to vital health care services. New Yorkers will now have full and direct access to the comprehensive care NPs provide,” said April N. Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP- BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, president of AANP. “Over the past two years, New York has waived unnecessary and outdated laws limiting access to health care. AANP applauds the state legislature and Gov. Hochul for recognizing that these provisions need to continue. These changes will help New York attract and retain nurse practitioners and provide New Yorkers better access to quality care,” said Kapu.
FPA is the authorization of NPs to evaluate patients; diagnose, order and interpret diagnostic tests; initiate and manage treatments; and prescribe medications, all under the exclusive licensure authority of the state board of nursing. This framework eliminates unnecessary, outdated regulatory barriers that prevent patients from accessing these vital care services directly from NPs. Leading health policy experts like the National Academy of Medicine have long recommended that states adopt such legislation to improve health care access and outcomes.
“As the 25th state with Full Practice Authority, New York joins an expanding list of states acting to retire outdated laws that have needlessly constrained their health care workforce and limited patient access to care,” said Jon Fanning, MS, CAE, CNED, chief executive officer of AANP. “This is a no-cost, no-delay solution to strengthening health care for the nation. Decades of research show that states with Full Practice Authority are better positioned to improve access to care, grow their workforce and address health care disparities, while delivering quality health outcomes for patients. We look forward to more states following suit.”
NPs deliver high-quality health care in more than 1 billion patient visits each year. As of April 2022, there are more than 355,000 licensed NPs in the U.S. providing care in communities of all sizes across the nation. Recently, U.S. News and World Report ranked the NP role first on its 2022 Best Health Care Jobs list.
Named for co-founder of the NP role, Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, NP-C, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, this award is presented annually to an NP who demonstrates participation in health care policy development at an international, national or local level; sustained and specific contribution to clarification of the role and scope of practice of NPs; or creative and effective action that turns a challenge to the NP role into an effective opportunity to advance practice and improve patient outcomes.