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Legislation that would grant nurse practitioners with full practice authority is awaiting action in the Senate after passing the House earlier in the session. House Bill 1303, sponsored by Rep. Donnie Scoggin, passed 78-38. It has been referred to the Public Health and Welfare Committee in the Senate and will die tomorrow if action is not taken.
“Mississippi suffers from the worst primary care access in the nation, with a disproportionate impact on rural and disadvantaged populations,” Empower Mississippi President Russ Latino said. “Nurse practitioners are trained to dispense quality primary care, and with the help of full practice authority, can play a vital role in closing the Magnolia state’s health care chasm. We applaud the Mississippi House’s leadership in putting patients first.”
If House Bill 1303 were to be signed into law, experienced nurse practitioners would be able to dispense primary care without costly collaborative agreements that require physician audits of as little as 10 percent of their charts often weeks after treatment of a patient. Mississippi would join 22 other states and the District of Columbia in recognizing full practice authority for nurse practitioners.
“We are a primary care clinic, and we treat from head to toe,” Winnette Denmark, a nurse practitioner in Greene county said. “We do not run cattle through our clinic. We are going to take time to get to know our patients, educate them, and answer any questions they have. I’ve found that you get much better results by slowing down a little bit and explaining all the medications you prescribe, how they work together, and why it’s important that the patient take them. You get much better results when your patients understand, and they trust that you really care about them.”
“If I were to open my own clinic, I immediately have to pay $18,000 per year for a collaborative agreement with a practicing physician,” said Sarah Catherine Morrow, a nurse practitioner in Oxford. “That comes out to about $1,500 a month which is like a mortgage or rent payment before I ever even get to paying for a building,” Morrow explained. “I’d open my own clinic tomorrow if I could, but I just can’t justify the overhead. It’s a huge barrier to entry.”
“All the people of Mississippi deserve access to health care, and they deserve to be known for their positive qualities rather than their negative health outcomes, said Kristie Rushing, a nurse practitioner in Hattiesburg. “We have the ability to change that. Let’s keep singing the blues and cooking the best barbecue while improving the health of all Mississippians by voting yes to House Bill 1303.”
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If you would like to speak with a nurse practitioner about their work and support for the pending legislation, we have nurse practitioners available to talk to media. You can reach out to the NPs directly or contact me for help in setting up interviews.
- Kristie Rushing, Hattiesburg, 228-239-8210
- Sarah Catherine Morrow, Oxford, sarahcmorrow@gmail.com
- Ben Sumerford, Tupelo, 662-315-1825
- Winnette Denmark, Southeast Mississippi, 601-394-8885
MageeNews.com is an online news website covering Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the state of Mississippi
