March 30, 2021
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST 

Provider scope of practice laws define the range of services that various types of clinicians are authorized to provide. Some states have eased restrictions on professional practice for certain providers, namely for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, allowing clinicians to evaluate patients, diagnose, order and interpret diagnostic tests and initiate and manage treatments, including prescribing medications and controlled substances. By allowing non-physician providers to provide a broader array of health services, states hope to expand access to care and lower costs for consumers who may not always need a doctor’s expertise for every interaction with the health system. This trend has been hastened by the COVID-19 crisis, for which the HHS Secretary recommended that states waive certain restrictions on scope of practice to ensure that providers can meet patient needs during the public health emergency.

In this webinar, speakers explained the policy changes that states have made to their scope of practice laws prior to and during the COVID pandemic and discussed the potential for these changes to stay in place after the crisis ebbs. They also discussed how scope of practice changes could impact healthcare cost and value, as well as equity in access to care for people who have been marginalized.

Healther Brom, PhD, RN, NP-C. Eastwood Family Endowed Assistant Professor, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Villanova University

Bianca Frogner, PhD, associate professor in Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, director of the UW Center for Health Workforce Studies and deputy director of the Primary Care Innovation Lab

Joanne Spetz, PhD, professor at UCSF and director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and associate director for research at the Healthforce Center at UCSF 

Webinar:

• Webinar Slides
• Webinar Recording 

Hub Products:  

• Research Brief: Provider Scope of Practice: Expanding Non-Physician Providers’ Responsibilities Can Benefit Consumers 

• Research Brief: Improving Healthcare Value in Rural America 

• Health Equity Glossary 

Other Resources:  

• Yuanhong Lai, Alden, Susan Skillman and Bianca Frogner, “Is It Fair? How to Approach Professional Scope-of-Practice Policy After the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Health Affairs Blog (June 29, 2020).  

• Brom, Heather M., et al., “Leveraging Health Care Reform to Accelerate Nurse Practitioner Full Practice Authority,” Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Vol. 30, No. 3 (March 2018). 

• Spetz, Joanne, “California’s Nurse Practitioners: How Scope of Practice Laws Impact Care,” Calfornia Health Care Foundation and Healthforce Center at UCSF (September 2018, updated July 2019).  

• Frogner, Biana K., et al., “Modernizing Scope-of-Practice Regulations – Time to Prioritize Patients.” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 382, No. 7 (February 13, 2020).  

• Germack, Hayley, Allison Norful and Kathryn Riman, “Surge in Policies Expanding Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice in Response to COVID-19 Provide an Important Research Opportunity,” AcademyHealth (May 5, 2020).  

• Poghosyan, Lusine, and J Margo Brooks Carthon, “The Untapped Potential of the Nurse Practitioner Workforce in Reducing Health Disparities,” Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice (August 2, 2017).  

• Moore, Jean, “Expanding Access to Care with Scope of Practice,” Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, Vol. 17, No. 3 (March 2019).  

• Fraher, Erin, et al., “Ensuring and Sustaining a Pandemic Workforce,” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 382, No. 23 (June 4, 2020).