Influence on Delivery, Cost, and Access to Healthcare

Restricting RNs’ practice scope limit primary care services’ access. RNs’ full practice can help address the shortage of primary care services (MacKinnon et al., 2018). When allowed to practice to their education’s full extent, RNs’ can create and implement affordable care plans. This approach will help reduce healthcare costs. A newly-introduced house bill in Ohio expanded Aprn’s practice scope in Ohio.

Supervisory approaches during care delivery can fragmented care, inadequate access, and high healthcare costs (Bosse et al., 2017). Cooperative practice agreement: Each party operates within the defined legal boundaries. APRNs cannot perform a physician’s role despite their qualifications. Consequently, this treatment approach encourages fragmentation. Fragmentation, in turn, increases healthcare costs.

State Regulations for APRNs

Several reimbursement programs do not compensate APRNs for their services. APRNs authorized to perform to their practice’s full extent are denied reimbursements (Bosse et al., 2017). This may increase out-of-pocket expenses and deter patients from accessing healthcare. The limited practice also increases commuter time (Neff et al., 2018). It also reduces the number of available primary care providers (Neff et al., 2018).

References

About the board/contact: What we do. (n.d.). Ohio Board of Nursing. Web.

Bosse, J., Simmonds, K., Hanson, C., Pulcini, J., Dunphy, L., Vanhook, P., & Poghosyan, L. (2017). Position statement: Full practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses is necessary to transform primary care. Nursing Outlook, 65(6), 761–765.