California allows nurse practitioners more latitude

Kaiser Health News reports that California approved legislation to relax restrictions in how nurse practitioners can practice. There has been a long-running disagreement as to the extent to which nurse practitioners can practice medicine independently. Not surprisingly, nurse practitioners believe they can practice medicine mostly independently in a variety of primary care settings, while many doctors believe that nurse practitioners require more oversight.

Nurse practitioners argue that allowing them to practice more independently allows society to benefit from more providers, particularly at a time when many areas face a shortage of primary care providers. Doctors frequently counter that nurse practitioners are not as extensively trained and therefore provide a lower quality of care. Not surprisingly, there may be a substantial financial impact at stake for both sides.