Senate Bill 491 Seeks to Alleviate Provider Shortage by Expanding NP Scope of Practice

The effort to remove practice barriers for nurse practitioners in California took center stage March 13 during a joint legislative hearing focusing on how the state’s health care workforce can meet the demand for services that will come from implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

During the joint hearing of the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Business and Professions Committee, it was noted that as many as seven million newly-insured Californians will only exacerbate the existing provider shortage, thus undermining the quality of care.  As a solution, Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) has introduced legislation that would expand the scope of practice of the state’s nurse practitioners (NPs), optometrists and pharmacists, who have the education, training and ability to fill the provider gap.

Senate Bills 491, 492 and 493 mimic similar efforts that have been successfully implemented in other states.  Under the proposals, NPs, optometrists and pharmacists would be able to treat Medicare and Medi-Cal patients without the supervision of a physician.

Hernandez, Chair of the Senate Health Committee and a licensed optometrist, stated that he chose these three professions as the focus of his scope of practice efforts because of their thorough training standards, their widespread, even distribution across the state, and their ability to provide quality care.  In addition, all three professions are regulated by independent boards to ensure the safety of patients.

By expanding the ability of these providers to work to the full extent of their education and training, Hernandez contends that not only will NPs, optometrists and pharmacists not infringe upon other health care practitioners, but they will actually aid providers in ensuring delivery of quality care by making sure California's provider resources are not stretched too thin.

On March 11, all three measures were referred to the Senate Rules Committee for assignment to appropriate policy committees.  It is expected that the first policy committee hearings on each will take place in April.  CANP continues to work closely with Sen. Hernandez and his staff on promoting SB 491, the NP-specific bill among the three.  As was the case last year regarding Senate Bill 1524, which removed  the six-month delay for newly-licensed nurse practitioners to provide medication to their patients, CANP members can be expected to play an important role in helping to advance SB 491 through the legislative process.