Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) provide high-quality, affordable health care especially in areas where access to physicians is limited, particularly in underserved urban and rural areas. Currently, APRNs with patients who need home health care services are forced to delay care for dangerously long times to their patients while they locate a physician who will verify their assessments. Not only is the patient inconvenienced by these delays, their health is jeopardized and Medicare incurs increased costs while beneficiaries are unnecessarily left in more expensive institutional settings or discharged prematurely without appropriate services.
As a result of your advocacy efforts to Capitol Hill in 2020, the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act (S. 296 / H.R. 2150) was included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act! To read more about the CARES Act, please read our Capitol Beat Blog.
Now, nurse practitioners (NPs) and clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) can order home health services for Medicare beneficiaries without physician approval!
