The American Association of Nurse Practitioners and 86 other nurse practitioner organizations expressed support for President Trump's recent executive order on Medicare in a Dec. 20 letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, announced in a Jan. 6 news release.
Section 5 of the Oct. 3 executive order "Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation's Seniors" includes a proposal that would eliminate all licensure requirements of the Medicare program that "limit professionals from practicing at the top of their profession." It also proposes a review of policies that create reimbursement disparities between physicians and non-physician practitioners.
"This initiative will strengthen healthcare access for our nation's seniors and we strongly support it," David Hebert, CEO of AANP, said in the news release. "The current system has exacerbated clinician shortages, creating barriers to care that put seniors' health at risk. ... As we begin a new year, it's our hope that Secretary Azar will move forward with the Administration's request to implement policies which put patients first and empower them with access to care delivered by the provider of their choice."
About 33 percent of Medicare patients receive billable services from an NP, and over 82 percent of NPs currently accept new Medicare patients, according to Medicare claims data cited in the news release. In total, NPs make up about a quarter of the primary care workforce.