HB 1490: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

House Bill 1490, authored by Rep. Becky Currie, would provide full practice authority to nurse practitioners in Mississippi.  

Currently, a nurse practitioner is required to enter into a collaborative agreement with a physician. This bill would exempt nurse practitioners from that requirement after completing between 5,000-10,000 hours of practice. 

Under this proposal: 

• APRNs would need 10,000 hours of direct supervision under a physician or a nurse practitioner who has been practicing for not less than 10 years to be exempted from the collaborative agreement requirement.  
• APRNs may also be exempted from the collaborative agreement requirement if they have 3,000 clinical practice hours in critical care units, emergency departments, and/or medical or surgery floors and have at least 2,000 hours under the direct supervision of a physician or nurse practitioner who has been practicing not less than 10 years. 
• Certified registered nurse anesthetists are exempted from the collaborative agreement requirement if they have 8,000 clinical practice hours.

A majority of states now provide nurse practitioners with full practice authority. Last year Utah became the 27th state to allow nurse practitioners to work to the full extent of their training. By enacting this legislation, Mississippi would join those states. 

Last year, Empower released a new report, Nurse Practitioners and the Quality of Care, which answers concerns about the quality of care provided by nurse practitioners, and more particularly about the quality of their education.  

The report first looked at the quality of education. Becoming a nurse practitioner requires at least a master’s degree in nursing. All nurse practitioners must pass the national certification exam in the specialty in which they have trained. In order to take the national exam, nurse practitioner candidates must have completed a significant number of hours of supervised, hands-on experience as part of their training. 

Further, the report showed:  

• States that allow NPs to have full practice authority do not experience an increase in malpractice claims against NPs. 
• Several peer-reviewed studies find that the quality of care provided by nurse practitioners within the scope of their training equals or exceeds the quality of care provided by physicians for the same diagnoses and treatments. 

As Mississippi continues to face a growing physician shortage, particularly outside of the main population areas of the state, permitting nurse practitioners to work to their full training and education would fill numerous healthcare gaps for the state.  

Empower Mississippi supports this legislation.  

HB 1490 has been referred to the House Public Health Committee. You can read the bill here.