year term on the High Court. Highly trained nurses in
Wisconsin could soon be able to practice on their own,
outside the supervision of physicians. Under a bill
gaining support at the state Capitol, the advanced
Practice Registered Nurse Modernization Act just had a
public hearing before the Assembly Health Committee,
with physician groups formally opposed to the new
licensure now formally neutral to the bill.
Governor Evers had vetoed the measure twice, but
negotiated its terms with Republican sponsors.
Republican Patrick Teston of Stevens Point is Senate
sponsor of the bill, and he joins us now. And thanks
very much for being here. >> Thanks for having me.
>> So what would this new advanced practice,
registered nurse licensure >> So the Aprn Modernization
Act has been introduced over the course of the last
decade and a half in some form or fashion. It's taken
different approaches and routes, and I've been the
co-sponsor of it the last two sessions. But
ultimately, what this agreed upon bill will do will allow
Perez after four years of experience, to practice
independently without having to have a collaborative
agreement with a physician. On top of that, despite the
fact that this was vetoed last two sessions, we've had
very good conversations with various stakeholders, along
with the governor's office to alleviate some of the
concerns that he had laid out in the previous two
sessions with his veto message, which was the years
of training and experience. The second was dealing with
title protections and then third, dealing with pain
language, primarily for our nurse anesthetists who
practice in rural areas. The reason why this bill is so
critically needed is we face a significant healthcare
workforce shortage here in the state, and our aprn help
fill that void. And by allowing them to operate the
highest level of their scope of practice, it's going to
empower providers to do the jobs that they were trained
to do, which is take care of Wisconsin patients. And
while this has taken a long time to get there, I'm
relieved that we have an agreement with the governor,
and I am confident that when it reaches his desk, it's
going to get signed into law and this is going to be a
step forward in the right direction to empower our
nurses and our aprns all Wisconsin.
>> Great. So what will it mean for areas of the state
in high need of health care providers?
>> I think this is going to be huge, especially when you
take a look at our critical access hospitals. We're
in rural areas, they rely on nurse anesthetists because
oftentimes they don't have an anesthesiologist on site.
And on top of that, for communities where they have
a lack of physician positions, it's going to
allow our aprn to go into these underserved areas and
provide that that first line of care for, for patients.
And so this is a profession that has seen a tremendous
growth in recent years, but yet we still have vacancies
and shortages, upwards of 9 to 10% in many of our areas
around the state. And so this is just one small piece
of the puzzle as we work with our colleagues on both
sides of the aisle to address healthcare shortage
here in the state. But it's a monumental step in the
right direction. And I'm very pleased that we've been
able to get a deal. I know it's been very at times
arduous and seemed like we were never going to get
there, but through hard work and determination, primarily
from the nurse organizations that came to the table and
were relentless in their pursuit to get this done,
that we are one step closer to seeing this bill become
law. >> What can you tell
patients who, in coming years, might be seen by
advanced practice nurses about whether they are in
good hands? >> Well, I think the fact
that 28 other states have enacted similar legislation.
And when you take a look at the data from other states,
the quality of care hasn't diminished. And in fact,
here in the state of Wisconsin, one of the silver
linings of the pandemic, if there if there was any, was
the fact that there were emergency orders put in
place that allowed our Aprn to operate the highest level
of their scope of practice without a collaborative
agreement. And the good news is, is that the quality of
care did not diminish. And so we already have a track
record through the pandemic at a time when our health
care systems were challenged at the highest levels, and
they, they, they delivered, they provided great care.
And so I think once we have a few years under our belt,
we'll be able to come back to the table and see what
else can be done to empower these providers. But this is
first and foremost a step in the right direction. That
has taken nearly 13 years to get across the finish line,
and we're almost there. >> What will it mean for
nurses now to be able to maintain their own practices?
>> So this was part of the negotiated agreement. So in
the original bills that I authored the last two
sessions, we allowed them to have independent practice.
After two years of experience out in the field
last session, in a last ditch effort to try and
reach a compromise with some of my Democrat colleagues in
the state Senate as well as the governor's office, we
moved to three years. Most states that have enacted
this legislation are around experience before they can
practice independently. Now, again, as part of the
compromise, the governor was very firm that he was at
four years of training and experience before they could
practice independently. have been at 2 or 3, we
decided, you know what? Let's get this behind us.
Let's have this fight be settled with and move it
forward. And so we will be at four years. We will be a
bit of an outlier in that regard, but still, we are
going to allow our aprn after four years of training
and experience, to operate at the highest level of
their scope of practice, which should be the end goal
for all medical providers Wisconsin.
>> Senator Patrick Testin, >> Senator Patrick Testin,