As America's rural hospitals turn to nurse practitioners for primary care and licensed NPs hit a record high number in the U.S., Oklahoma lawmakers need to revise regulations that create barriers to NP care access, argues Landon Hise, CEO of New Cordell, Okla.-based Cordell Memorial Hospital in an opinion piece published in The Journal Record.
"In an op-ed distributed statewide two years ago, I wrote that I'd been trying to recruit a physician to Cordell Memorial Hospital for 18 months and had been unsuccessful, despite offering an incredibly generous compensation package," Mr. Hise wrote. "Last year I wrote another op-ed, and the position was still unfilled."
Now, after over two and a half years of searching, Mr. Hise said he abandoned the idea of hiring a second physician.
Oklahoma NPs are required to sign a collaborative agreement with a physician to practice. "In reality, little collaboration takes place and NPs might pay thousands of dollars a month for a signature on a piece of paper," Mr. Hise wrote. The requirement artificially limits the number of NPs who can work in Oklahoma, he added.
"NPs are highly educated and trained, and they don't need a physician looking over their shoulder since they are already regulated by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing," Mr. Hise argues.
Mr. Hise argues House Bill 1013, proposed by Representative Josh Cockroft, R-Okla., and Senator AJ Griffin, R-Okla., would help solve this issue. The bill passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives last year, but did not move past a Senate committee.
By increasing Oklahoma patients' access to NPs, the bill could improve patients' quality of life without raising taxes, Mr. Hise said. Additionally, Mr. Hise cited a recent AARP poll, which found 87 percent of Oklahoma voters over age 40 support the idea.
"Oklahoma ranks 49th in physician-to-patient ratio. All or part of 76 of our 77 counties are considered primary care shortage areas," Mr. Hise wrote. "If that doesn't sound like a healthcare crisis, I don't know what is."