Nurse Practitioners Intend to Continue Fight for More Authority in Florida

Floridas nurse practitioners are gearing up to push for increased authority in the Sunshine State -- arguing that the state can save $1 billion if this happens.

Stan Whittaker of the Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses PAC (CAP-PAC) weighed in on the matter, pointing to a report from the Institute of Medicine that found that giving Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) more authority lowers costs.

"UtilizingARNPshas significantly reduced costs to Medicaid programs in other states, said Whittaker. We are ready and able to do the samefor Florida. It is in the public interestfor this to happen, and really the better question is why it hasn't happened already.

We can also create jobs if we are allowed to practice independently like many states, added Whittaker. We estimate that 3,000 ARNPs would open their own practices and each of these would employ two to three support staff, creating 9,000 jobs. The delayis political and administrative.

While Whittaker and his allies pushed to write prescriptions -- which is done in most states -- in 2010, it went nowhere in the Legislature. Looks like the nurse practitioners will continue the fight in 2011.