SPONSOR: Kelly (141)
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy by a vote of 15 to 0.
Currently, most advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) working under a collaborative practice arrangement must maintain a geographic proximity of 75 miles with the collaborating physician.
This bill removes the geographic proximity requirement for any APRN working in a county other than a county of the first classification.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that there is an incredible shortage of health professionals in so many areas of the state that we need this limit to be lifted to allow rural and some urban residents to access health care. There are not even enough doctors within the prescribed limit to collaborate with all the APRNs seeking practices.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Kelly; Association of Missouri Nurse Practioner's; Valerie Bader; Karen R. White, Missouri Highlands Health Care; Missouri Farm Bureau; Wayne Lee; Missouri Nurses Association; Coalition for Community Behavioral Healthcare; Missouri Hospital Association; Joann Franklin, Association of Missouri Nurse Practioner; and Kelly Roberts, Association of Missouri Nurse Practioner's.
OPPONENTS: Those who oppose the bill say that they believe the current model works well.
Testifying against the bill were Missouri Academy of Family Physicians; Missouri State Medical Association; Missouri College of Emergency Physicians; Missouri Dermatological Society; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Signature Medical Group; and Missouri Society of Anesthesiologists; and Stephen Nibbles, Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.
Statutes affected: