Bill > S537

Introduced Session

AN ACT TO DEFINE THE PRACTICE OF NURSING FOR ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSES: NURSE PRACTITIONERS (NP), CERTIFIED NURSE MIDWIVES (CNM), CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS (CRNA), AND CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALISTS (CNS). Whereas, North Carolina is expected to be the seventh largest state in the nation by 2035 and demand for health care will continue to increase; and Whereas, North Carolina has provided over 628,000 North Carolinians access to insurance through Medicaid expansion but lacks the health care providers to ensure their access to care; and Whereas, APRNs are registered nurses with master's or doctorate degrees and advanced education and training; and Whereas, North Carolina has over 20,000 advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who have been educated and licensed to practice to their full scope; and Whereas, more than three decades of research demonstrates that APRNs improve access to safe, high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered health care; and Whereas, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has called for states to allow APRNs to practice to the full extent of their licensure and education since the 2010 release of the IOM Report on the Future of Nursing; and Whereas, health care costs in North Carolina are among the highest in the nation; and Whereas, a recent report by a Ph.D. health care economist at Duke University estimates savings of at least $700 million annually for North Carolina patients, employers, and taxpayers by removing unnecessary and antiquated government regulations; and Whereas, 36 other states have rolled back these costly and burdensome government regulations on advanced practice registered nurses over the past 31 years with no evidence of negative effects on patient safety, and indeed positive impact on patient care, according to numerous studies; and Whereas, no state has enacted these reforms and later reversed course to reinstate these government regulations; and Whereas, the APRN role has existed for over a half century but remains undefined in North Carolina statute; and Whereas, North Carolina's courts and executive branch have called on the legislature, the body of the people, to remove the ambiguity surrounding APRN practice by clearly defining it in statute; Now, therefore,

Gale Adcock (D)*,  Kevin Corbin (R)*,  Ralph Hise (R)*,  Val Applewhite (D),  Lisa Barnes (R),  Dan Blue (D),  Woodson Bradley (D),  Jim Burgin (R),  Sophia Chitlik (D),  Warren Daniel (R),  Terence Everitt (D),  Carl Ford (R),  Amy Galey (R),  Michael Garrett (D),  Lisa Grafstein (D),  Brent Jackson (R),  Dana Jones (R),  Paul Lowe (D),  Julie Mayfield (D),  Tom McInnis (R),  Graig Meyer (D),  Natalie Murdock (D),  Norman Sanderson (R),  Kandie Smith (D),  Caleb Theodros (D),  Joyce Waddell (D), 

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate (on 03/26/2025)

Official Document