Allowing trained, qualified nurse practitioners to open their own medical practices could expand health care availability, especially in rural areas.

A bill passed by the state Senate last week is the first step toward allowing Advanced Practice Registered Nurses-Certified Nurse Practitioners (APRN-CNPs) to practice independently.

Senate Bill 25, sponsored by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-46th, would modernize the Professional Nursing Law to permit qualified APRN-CNPs to practice independent of a physician after they fulfill a three-year, 3,600-hour collaboration agreement with a physician.

Current law requires nurse practitioners to practice under a collaboration agreement at all times.

“This is huge. This is big deal. This is exciting for the nursing world. I hope it happens,” said Julia Carney, nursing instructor at Butler County Community College.

Currently, nurse practitioners can see patients, prescribe medication and order diagnostic tests, but a doctor must approve their orders, Carney said.

Nurse practitioners begin their career as registered nurses with bachelor's degrees. All schools require them to obtain master's degrees and some require doctorate degrees, she said. Most nurses spend two to five years in school after obtaining their bachelor's degrees to become nurse practitioners, she added.

Many nursing students at BC3 go on to become nurse practitioners, Carney said. The University of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris University, Carlow University and Duquesne University have nurse practitioner programs and there are many online programs as well.

“The nurse practitioner is who you normally see in a doctor's office,” Carney said.

Doctors and hospitals can be few and far between in rural areas, but the bill offers a remedy.

“In rural areas, the closest hospital or doctor can be an hour away. There's a need for nurse practitioners, especially in rural areas,” Carney said. “Once she works under a doctor, she can see her own patients. She can have her own practice. It gives patients more access to health care. It's expanding health care for patients. It's allowing better access to health care.”

Several statewide and national advocacy organizations have voiced their support for full practice authority for nurse practitioners, including the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, the National Academy of Medicine, AARP, the National Governors' Association and the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders, Bartolotta said.

Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., have already adopted full practice authority for APRN-CNPs, she said.

Similar legislation was approved by the Senate in April 2017 by a 39-10 margin, but the bill did not receive a vote in the House, Bartolotta said.

The bill was sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.