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 formerly opposed to
the new licensure now formally
neutral to the bill.
Governor Evers had vetoed the
measure twice, but negotiated
its terms with Republican
Republican Patrick Testen of Stevens
Point is Senate sponsor of
the bill and he joins us now.
Thanks very much for being here.
So what would this new advanced
practice registered nurse licensure
allow?
So the APRM 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
at the last two sessions, but
ultimately what this agreed upon
bill will do will allow PRS
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 the
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
experience.
The second was dealing with title
protections, and then third, dealing
with pain language.
Primarily for our nurse anesthetist
who practice in the rural areas.
The reason why this bill is so
critically needed is we face a
significant healthcare workforce
short assurance state and our
APRNs 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 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 across the state of
Wisconsin.
Great, so what will it mean for
areas of the state in high need of
healthcare providers?
I think this is going to be huge,
especially when you take a look at
our critical access hospitals where
oftentimes these hospitals
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 positions,
It's going to allow our APRNs
to go into these underserved areas
and provide that
first line of care for patients.
And so this is a profession that has
seen tremendous growth
in recent years, but yet we still
have vacancies and shortages upwards
of 9 to 10 percent 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 a car and operate
the highest level of their scope of
practice without a collaborative
agreement. And the good news is, is
that the quality care did not
diminish. And so we already
have a
when our healthcare systems were
challenged at the highest levels.
And 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 the
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 had
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 two to
three of training 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, while
I would have loved to have been at
two or three.
Uh, we decided, you know,
what get this behind us, what'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 APRNs
after four years of training
experience to operate at the highest
level of their scope of practice,
which should be the end goal for all
medical providers here in the state
of Wisconsin.
Senator Patrick Testen, thanks very
much.
Thank you.
Compromise and negotiated
good news, so thank you.
Oops, I can't hear you anymore.
I couldn't hear what you
just responded, but thank you so
much.
There we go, yeah.
All right, thanks, that was great.
I appreciate it.
Oh, thank you. It just goes to show
up. We roll up our sleeves.
We can get some now get things done
here.
I know, it's great.
Have a good weekend.
You too.