HB 495.... Message from the LANP president

LANP represents every NP in the state of Louisiana whether you are a member or not. While I, probably most of all, wish that the bill would have gone through as proposed, it did not. Here is a summary of the amendments:

 4,000 hours under a mentorship agreement. Essentially this will be a CPA, but because collaboration is inherent to what we do, they are trying to move away from that term in this context. The agreement can be with a MD or APRN.

After 4,000 hours have collaborative practice protocols. These would indicate your plan for referral -- after hours or when the patient needs a higher level of care. They only have to be kept in your practice location. This does not involve a physician signature or involvement in creating in the protocols.

Maintain Medical Malpractice

LSBN and LSBME meet yearly to discuss the rules and regulations. They alternate years of chairing the meeting and must send a report to the Senate & House H & W. LSBN retains sole regulatory authority. 

I will defer to the members of LANP as whether to proceed with the bill.

I would like to note to this group that I started a grassroots effort towards this bill more than 2 years ago. We have over 6,000 NPs in the state, with some of those are working against FPA. We have about 1,500 members in LANP. Regardless of what happens with this bill -- If we do not spend ample time educating our Senators and Representatives so that they inherently understand this issue -- we will never move to a FPA state. It will take every single one of us to make that happen. That means inviting them to your work place and having repeat conversations with them. I, the LANP board of directors, and our LANP lobbyist have pushed very hard these past two years and will continue the fight to improve access to care in La. But -- if the more than 6,000 NPs would carry the load together, we would be informidable.