Every Texan (formerly CPPP) appreciates the opportunity to express support for HB 2029 by Klick. The Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas, founded Every Texan (formerly CPPP) in 1985 to advance public policy solutions for expanding access to health care.
As has been explained, this bill does not change the allowed scope of practice or prescriptive authority of Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) in Texas. Instead, it removes the current requirement that APRNs must have a “delegation contract” with a physician. Some APRNs pay thousands of dollars (some over $85,000 per year) for this relationship, despite the fact that the physician duties are minimal and retrospective. Greater access to APRN-provided primary care is especially beneficial for Texans in low-income and rural areas, and will be especially helpful for 4.6 million Texans enrolled in Medicaid, reducing bottlenecks in access to a primary care medical home. These bottlenecks–the lack of a primary care provider who is responsible for both your preventive and urgent care needs– are the very thing that drive urgent care patients into Texas E.R.s.