Most health care providers have been preoccupied with the coronavirus lately. Yet, last month Florida Nurse Practitioners received good news. Advanced registered nurses in Florida officially gained full autonomy!
The bill proposing independent practice for nurse practitioners was finally approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Governor Ron DeSantis was quick to sign this bill into law. This has been something we have been striving for for many years.
Under this new law, nurse practitioners with at least 3,000 hours of experience under a supervising physician can practice independently. No more collaborative agreements with a physician after proving competency. This is extremely beneficial to nurse practitioners that want to own their own practice without having to pay a physician to just supervise them “on paper”.
I am really happy that my home state, Florida, is moving in the right direction when it comes to nurse practitioners!
Yay! Congratulations!
Can NPs write controlled substances in FL. I was thinking they couldn’t?
Yes we can. The DEA approval was a few years ago.
That’s great. I know GA was still working on it. Actually was keeping me from moving to FL one day.
There are still some restrictions in that bill which state that if the APRN is
Out of school
For a certain time
( 3 and 5 years?— don’t have in front of me so details May be off ) that the APRN then needs to take courses !?! What I don’t understand is why a seasoned APRN would need to take courses above the CME .. and what school allows for Just one class When not
Enrolled
In a program ? Seems very restricted …. also as a
DNP FNP PMHNP this does NOT include specialities- primary care ONLY .. and mental health is exploding in Florida!! I work in patient and our clients are sicker than ever and access is abysmal nationally!! We need to push for FPA for all in a more comprehensive manner … I have sent letters to my representatives and the governor and had a letter published in the Florida today paper as this is an issue I am very passionate about! I agree it’s moving in the right direction but we are not there yet
I agree, it’s a step in the right direction. Especially considering it has been voted down 18 times before.