We champion the right of medical practitioners to earn a living and the right of patients to access the care of their choosing. Any restrictions on the right to provide or receive care should be carefully tailored to serve objective health and safety goals—not to protect entrenched interests or maintain outdated models of care.
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.
Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are among the most qualified and versatile health practitioners. APRNs have education and training in a specialized medical field that allows them to diagnose and treat patients. But some states make it difficult for APRNs to practice independently, requiring what’s called a collaborative practice agreement that can force APRNs to be supervised by physicians.
Pacific Legal Foundation reviewed all state regulations and found that 13 states require a collaborative practice agreement for full practice authority, while three more states require collaborative practice agreements for prescriptive authority.
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.
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…
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.”
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…
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 …
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…
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 …
