Nurse practitioners are required to find a doctor who will sign a collaborative agreement to oversee their work. They say the state ranks 50th for physician availability and there are 6,000 nurse practitioners in the state, some of whom can help in rural and underserved areas where doctors are hard to come by. Robert Ware is a member of the Mississippi Association of Nurse Practitioners.
“Physicians totally control whether a nurse practitioner can or cannot work. The collaborative agreement, without it, regardless of how many years I’ve been to school, how many years I’ve been a nurse, or how many years I’ve been in any practice, I cannot practice as a nurse practitioner if I do not have a collaborative agreement,” Ware said.
Nurse practitioners also have to pay for the agreement which some say can be up to several thousand dollars a year. The association wants that collaborative agreement removed after they obtain a certain level of experience. But physicians at the hearing contend nurse practitioners don’t undergo the same rigorous training as physicians and there is an online program under investigation. Dr. Claude Brunson is executive director of the Mississippi Medical Association.
“When seconds count, when the diagnosis must be correct, when it’s your loved ones healthcare on the line a physician led team is critical, collaboration is imperative, to moving the needle to a healthier Mississippi with healthier outcomes,” Brunson said.
To reach a compromise, the medical association announced a partnership with a company that will match nurse practitioners with a doctor within 30 days, lower fees for collaborative agreements and not require separate malpractice insurance. Senators asked probing questions but ending the agreements remains an unanswered question.
