Association Responds to Unprecedented Times
COVID-19 Updates – I know everyone’s lives have been impacted by COVID-19. There are many, many nurse practitioners that have been affected due to the pandemic, not only personally, but professionally. It is during such times that I know we, as a nurse practitioner community, come together to assist those that have faced challenges whether due to cutbacks at their hospital or clinic, or even layoffs.
The pandemic has also challenged the California Association for Nurse Practitioners (CANP) in many ways including the fact that we were forced to cancel our Annual Conference that was to take place in my hometown last month, as well as the cancelation of our Lobby Day and House of Delegates gatherings scheduled to convene next month in Sacramento. Even though these major events have been canceled, the important work our Association, our Board of Directors, staff, and chapters continues.
While we didn’t have our Annual Conference this year, we have begun to develop and deliver online education, with more content coming in future weeks and months.
Even though we aren’t advocating at the State Capitol (since its currently closed until at least May 4), we are still engaged in work to promote AB 890 with our Close the Provider Gap coalition and through our grassroots efforts at the local level. Additionally, provided there won’t be a House of Delegates this year, we are in the process of conducting Association elections for President Elect, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, and Vice President of Finance for the 2020-2022 term of the Board of Directors. We are conducting the election through a mail-in ballot where the delegates will still vote on those nominated for office – and in a separate communication, we are also providing delegates the information they normally receive at a House of Delegates meeting.
CANP has also been working to collect and elevate the stories of nurse practitioners throughout the state so we may showcase their importance and highlight the high-quality care they provide to California patients daily. We have received considerable press coverage this year and that is a result of our team (board of directors, staff, legislative advocate, and public affairs team) all working to pitch story ideas to reporters and news outlets.
One such story is this one that CANP’s team helped to influence that appeared in Kaiser Health News and features many of our members such as nurse practitioner leaders Garrett Chan, PhD, NP, CNS, FAAN, and Susanne Phillips, DNP, NP, FAANP, who recently worked with the Association on providing answers to members’ questions pertaining to AB 890 via a Q & A section on the CANP website, as well as a April 2, 2020 AB 890 conference call for our members. A big thanks to Garrett, Susanne, and our Legislative Advocate, Kristy Wiese, for participating in the call. If you have not listened to the conference call I suggest you do – it really is informative and provides terrific insight to the AB 890 legislation.
In order to continue the good work with reporters and advocate most effectively, we need more stories from our members as a nurse practitioner and health care provider during the COVID-19 crisis. If you haven't already done so, please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience through this survey that should only take about five minutes and is extremely important to our work.
CANP has also been working with Governor Newsom’s Administration towards acknowledging the role nurse practitioners provide by submitting nine waivers on April 1, 2020 to the Department of Consumer Affairs as a response to the Governor’s Executive Order N-39-20 (one of the many Orders due to COVID-19). Included in those waivers was a request to waive physician supervision.
The Governor and his Administration took an important step in acknowledging the ability of nurse practitioners to provide care to Californians by approving one waiver, authorized under the Executive Order, that waives Business and Professions Code Section 2836.1 which prohibits a physician from supervising more than four nurse practitioners at a time, if those nurse practitioners are furnishing or ordering drugs and devices.
Under California law, physicians can supervise a maximum of four nurse practitioners who have prescribing authority. In the waiver issued, that ratio has been eliminated for the next 60 days. This action expands nurse practitioners’ ability to provide care in areas with fewer physicians and allows for greater flexibility depending on practice and care setting. The waiver language may be found here. The additional waiver requests are still under consideration.
We are appreciative that the Governor and his Administration are taking steps to ensure that all Californians have access to the care they need during this time. We look forward to continuing conversations about the ways that nurse practitioners can help provide greater access to care for all Californians, during and beyond this crisis.
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Former CANP Presidents Elected to AANP – Congratulations to former CANP presidents Surani Hayre-Kwan, MBA, DNP, FNP-BC, FACHE, FAANP, and Beth Haney, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP, for their election to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as California representatives for north and south, respectively. Both Surani and Beth are amazing leaders and I know will serve as terrific ambassadors for our state!
CANP Rising – Since the beginning of our current fiscal year on July 1, 2019, CANP’s membership has grown 12%, reaching an all-time high of 4,500 members, which is a testament to the brand of our organization that has been fostered thanks to the tireless efforts of our local chapter leaders, board of directors, and staff. With my deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation, I want to thank all our members for their continued support.
Social Media Milestones – We’ve long been touting the benefits of active engagement on social media to advance our Association’s interests. As membership grows, so too does the online engagement of our members. We’re quickly nearing 1,500 followers on Instagram, which is a relatively new channel for CANP, and we are nearing 1,000 followers on LinkedIn, and 5,500 on Facebook. Our online presence has reached new heights across all our social media channels this year – especially during the weeks in which AB 890 was heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the full Assembly in January. All of your activity, and the posts on the Close the Provider Gap Coalition Facebook and Twitter pages were absolutely impactful and made for a very exciting period on social media.
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New Year for CANP – July 1, 2020 marks a new year for CANP in several different ways. One is that certain positions on the board of directors will be changing, including the current President Elect, Patti Gurney, becoming President, the election of a new incoming President-Elect, and your current President (yours truly) becoming Immediate Past President. Additionally, a new Vice President of Corporate Affairs, and Vice President of Finance will be elected by the delegates of the House of Delegates through a mail in ballot.
July 1 will also mark the beginning of a new budget year for the Association as the CANP fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. As consistent with prior years process, the budget planning is overseen by a group of leaders on the CANP Finance Committee. The budget is not final until approved by the CANP Board of Directors.
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Finally, a new monthly feature in this Connections newsletter is ‘Focus On’ which is to provide insight into key leaders in the nurse practitioner community. The first person to be featured is CANP’s Legislative Advocate, Kristy Wiese. We hope you enjoy this new section!
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Thank you to our nurse practitioner members whom have been so amazing during this incredibly challenging time. You are the reason there are so many dedicated individuals working tirelessly to advocate for the Association, the profession, and the patients we serve.