Psychiatric APRNs: Access to high quality mental health providers
Massachusetts is a mental health desert. In a survey of Cambridge area psychiatrists less than half accepted insurance (resource needed) Even less accept MassHealth. In addition, many providers that formed a robust provider pool in the 80-s and 90’s have reached retirement age an d are considering practice reductions or retirement. (Resource needed)
MAAPPN
• An estimated 3 million Floridians have now gained insurance coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• Another 1 million Floridians who are in the coverage gap and are potentially eligible for insurance, if they can afford the costs. They too need primary care.
• When people do not have primary care access they go to emergency rooms for care, driving up tax payer costs
Massachusetts needs a high quality, cost effective and free market solution to meet these needs.
• Removing restrictive PsychAPRN licensure laws, has been demonstrated in other states to increase primary care access and reduce costs.
• Less restrictive licensing also has shown an added benefit of attracting more Nurse Practitioners into a state, thus improving economic activity.
• Almost half the states have stopped the practice of restricting NP licensure.
Health Care Systems need to update policies that keep the PsychAPRN from leadership and bedside in all venues across the continuum of care.
Barriers to keep Psych APRNs as vital parts of hospital and large continuum care are corporatization of the public good, high CEO pay, overcapacity work flow, poor workplace safety and unsafe patient ratios.
• Removal of physician supervisory licensure requirements on Nurse Practitioners
• Required empanelment of Nurse Practitioners by all Medicaid HMOs and insurance companies
• Ability to sign all needed documents for patient care (Signatory equivalence)
• Review of and amend additional laws as appropriate (MAAPPN Mission)
Research by the Institutes of Medicine and hundreds of other reputable studies have shown that APRNs who practice without restrictive licenses deliver safe, cost effective, high quality care.
Florida has an opportunity to embrace an economically viable, free market solution to the primary care access problem, while at the same time improving the economic activity of the state.
The costs to Florida tax payers are nothing, while these changes could potentially save the state billions of dollars per year.
Full Independent Practice (FIP) does not aspire to replace or duplicate psychiatrists.
- Psych APRNs refer, collaborate and practice under the Rules and Regulations of the Massachusetts General Laws , specifically Chapter 112 of the General Laws