Obama Backs Expanding NP Education, Practice

Last week President Barack Obama called  for expanding the responsibilities of nurse  practitioners and other advanced practice nurses, as well as increasing support  for schools of nursing.  In response to a  question from a student at the Decker School of Nursing following an August 23  speech in Binghamton, New York, the President said, “One of the keys to  reducing our health care costs overall is the increased value of advanced  practitioner nurses and giving them more responsibilities because there’s a lot  of stuff they can do that in a way is, frankly, cheaper than having a doctor do  it, but the outcomes are just as good.”

The President’s prepared remarks focused on creating new  incentives for colleges and universities to reduce tuition by using $150  billion in federal student aid and a system ranking colleges against their  peers, with students who attend highly rated schools receiving more aid than  those with lower ratings.  “We have to  upgrade a little bit the schools of nursing and make sure they’re properly  resourced so that we have enough instructors,” Obama added.

Source: AANP Federal Legislative Update