Our mission is to secure Full Practice Authority for advanced practice nurses and other healthcare professionals, ensuring they can provide care to the full extent of their training without unnecessary regulatory burdens. This includes advocating for the elimination of mandatory supervisory and collaborative agreements that hinder patient access to high-quality care and restrict the availability of healthcare options.

Pacific Legal Foundation helps advanced practice nurses and other experienced healthcare professionals challenge unreasonable government restrictions, so they’re free to serve their communities.

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Pacific Legal Foundation helps advanced practice nurses and other experienced healthcare professionals challenge unreasonable government restrictions, so they’re free to serve their communities.

Are you an advanced practice nurse facing unreasonable regulations that hurt your ability to help patients? Submit your case to PLF and see if we can help you.

October 2, 2025

Physicians Society of Central Florida: Nurses With Doctorates Cannot Tell Patients They’re Doctors, Court Rules

California nurses with doctorates do not have the right to call themselves doctors, a federal court ruled, upholding a state law that regulates what titles health professionals can use in advertisemen…

October 1, 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s nurses just got more freedom — and patients win

Now, some Wisconsin nurses can evaluate patients, diagnose conditions, prescribe medications, and even manage chronic diseases on their own. If you’ve ever been stuck in a waiting room, staring at a…

September 25, 2025

Nurse.org: $50K Permission Slip: The Controversial Law Keeping NPs Dependent

You asked and we listened. The national debate over nurse practitioner (NP) independence is heating up again, and it’s not just Missouri at the center. While Missouri has drawn headlines recently fo…

June 11, 2025 | By CAROLINE HEATHCOCK

New Legal Initiative Aims to Expand Healthcare Access by Empowering Nurses

Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) has launched a new initiative dedicated to securing full practice authority for advanced practice healthcare providers — a critical step in expanding access to safe, h…

May 20, 2025

Nursing World: The nurse who changed healthcare

As a nurse in rural Colorado after World War II, Loretta Ford described herself as a lone ranger. “Whatever went on in health, I was called,” she said. “I took care of it” (University of Buffa…

May 15, 2025

Courthouse News: Midwife rips Nebraska's home birth regulations

Heather Swanson sued the Cornhusker State last year, claiming it did not have a rational basis to prohibit her from conducting home births in “maternity deserts.”

September 6, 2023 | By DONNA MATIAS

The Orange County Register: How California turns doctors into outlaws

In California, dentists do it, and so do veterinarians. Psychologists, chiropractors, pharmacists, and physical therapists do it. Heck, even Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, and Dr. Jill Biden do it. Despite thei…

September 15, 2025 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Patients deserve better: Missouri NP takes stand against barriers to healthcare

Finding a great healthcare provider is like winning the lottery. And Nurse Practitioner (NP) Marcy Markes’ patients have hit the jackpot. Since 2003, Marcy has owned and operated the Columbia Allerg…

August 29, 2025 | By CAITLIN STYRSKY

Nurse practitioners can help fill Missouri’s provider gap

For many Missourians, access to healthcare is out of reach. Eighty percent of the state is considered a healthcare desert, with too few providers to meet the needs of local residents. Missouri ranks a…

June 06, 2025 | By CAITLIN STYRSKY

Removing collaborative practice agreements boosts healthcare access 

Nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives are known as “advanced practice registered nurses” (APRNs). They’re an essential category of medical professionals who work on the frontlines of …

March 13, 2025 | By JAIMIE CAVANAUGH

Nurse practitioners play a critical role in healthcare. States should get out of their way.

As a nurse in rural Colorado after World War II, Loretta Ford described herself as a lone ranger. “Whatever went on in health, I was called,” she said. “I took care of it.” Ms. Ford, who died in J…

July 26, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Nebraska midwife fights to fix ‘glitch’ in laws limiting home birth to least-qualified attendants

Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) Heather Swanson felt the calling to be a midwife as early as junior high, when her mother was a group leader with La Leche League—an organization of women dedicated to …