Expanding the Role of Nurse Practitioners - California Health Care Foundation

Expanding the Role of Nurse Practitioners
In 2019, the California Future Health Workforce Commission released a plan to address the state’s shortages of primary care and behavioral health providers. One of the Commission’s top recommendations was to maximize the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) and to expand their practice authority. In doing so, they noted that California is 1 of 28 states — and the only western state — that restricts NPs by requiring them to work with physician oversight.

Training Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners — Fact Sheet

Workforce, Behavioral Health

With California facing a growing shortage of mental health professionals, a new online certificate program will be launched in January 2021 by three schools of nursing within the University of California system (UCSF, UCLA, and UC Davis) to prepare 300 psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners by 2025.

Fact Sheet: Nurse Practitioners and California’s Latino Community

Nurse practitioners are a vital part of California’s health care workforce. Today they play a particularly important role providing care to underserved Californians, especially Latino communities.

California’s Nurse Practitioners: How Scope of Practice Laws Impact Care

California is one of a handful of states that restricts nurse practitioners' ability to work without physician oversight. This paper examines how these restrictions impact care.

Independent Nurse Practitioners Bridge Big Gaps in Rural Care

Heather Stringer

California is one of 22 states that do not permit nurse practitioners to practice and prescribe without ongoing physician oversight. Journalist Heather Stringer traveled to Colorado to see how nurse practitioners are being deployed in two rural communities.

External Resource

Sacramento Bee: 28 States Have Loosened Restrictions on NPs. Now It’s California’s Turn.

California views itself as a pioneer of progressive health care policies and for good reason, but the state is noticeably behind in one key area: the empowerment of nurse practitioners, or NPs.

External Resource

KQED: Could Expanding Nurse’s Scope of Care Help Fight the Opioid Epidemic in California?

A study published in the medical journal JAMA found that when states allow nurse practitioners to practice independently, people have better access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction.

Five Ways to Cure California’s Doctor Shortage

Experts propose solutions to boost primary care, from new payment models to expanded residency programs.

Lessons from Three States — Expanding the Role of Nurse Practitioners in California

This fact sheet summarizes how Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico have expanded practice authority for nurse practitioners. CHCF hosted a briefing on May 6, 2019, with experts from these states on what California can learn about nurse practitioners and expanded practice authority.

External Resource

California Future Health Workforce Commission

Top leaders from across the state are working together to close the gap between the health workforce we have and the workforce we need.

Briefing — Expanding the Role of Nurse Practitioners

CHCF hosted a briefing — with experts from Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada — on what California can learn from other states that have expanded practice authority for nurse practitioners.