Access to health care consists of four components (Healthy People 2020):

    • Coverage:  Insurance coverage and the ability to pay for health care. Uninsured people are less likely to receive medical care and more likely to have poor health status. Louisiana has expanded access to Medicaid as a source of insurance coverage.
    • Services: Having a usual and consistent source of care like a primary care provider is associated with prevention of disease and improved health outcomes. Despite health care coverage, many patients do not have a designated primary care provider.
    • Timeliness: ability to receive health care when the need is recognized. Ability to access their primary care provider when a need arises. Most patients are frequently seen in the ER for conditions that could have been handled outpatient if they had access to care.
    • Workforce: capable, qualified, culturally competent providers. 95% of Louisiana is designated as a health professional shortage area. This number is calculated according to number of providers per population. Nurse Practitioners are educated, licensed, and qualified healthcare providers. But legislative red-tape and restrictions on practice prevent them from practicing to the full extent of their education and licensure.

Patient Centered Care

APRNs provide care that is safe, patient-centered, effective, high-quality, and cost-effective. Removing practice barriers from APRNs would increase access to care and choice of provider. A patient-centered interdisciplinary team approach in which APRNs consult and collaborate with their physician colleagues, as well as other healthcare providers should be the goal to achieve the best patient outcomes.

Louisiana is Sick!

Louisiana is one of the least healthy states.

We rank 49th in the country in health indicators (America’s Health Rankings, Dec. 2019).

Removal of legislative barriers (or red tape) will improve access to health care for Louisiana and get us on the road to recovery.

Louisiana Access to Health Care:

More than 95% of the state of Louisiana is classified as rural. An estimated 25% of residents also live in rural areas with almost 2 million living in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs).

Recommendations to Improve Access to Care:

Four distinct Gubernatorial and Legislative appointed task forces were assigned the responsibility of assessing and evaluating health care and health disparities in Louisiana. Following is the recommendations of those task forces specifically to increase access to care and reduce health disparities.

1. COMMITTEE: HEALTH EQUITY TASK FORCE

Subcommittee: COVID-19 Policy and Regulatory Affairs
Recommendation:

Remove restrictive regulatory barriers that prevent nurse practitioners from practicing to the full extent of their education and training.

Allow nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified nurse midwives to practice to the full extent of their licensure and education by removing practice barriers. This will expand access to care in Louisiana’s health professional shortage areas and increase the supply of APRNs in the state and expand Medicaid recipients’ access to care.

2. COMMITTEE: LOUISIANA HEALTH WORKS COMMISSION

Subcommittee:  Nursing Supply and Demand Council

Reports to:  Health & Welfare committees and Committee on Labor & Industrial Relations

Recommendation:

APRNs (includes Nurse Practitioners)

  • Allow APRNs full practice authority to increase access to care and continuity of care in the absence of the Governor’s Executive Order.
  • Increase access to telehealth services provided by APRNs.
  • Ensure that CMS reimbursements for telehealth visits provided by APRNs are equivalent to those provided by other health care providers.

3. COMMITTEE: LOUISIANA ECONOMIC RECOVERY TASK FORCE

Reports to:  Louisiana Legislators through President of the Senate and Speaker of the House

Recommendation:

            Invest in and support polices that expand access to care

  • Enhance access to telehealth services
  • Allow healthcare professionals at all levels to practice to the full extent of their training and scope of practice
  • Reduce barriers and red tape for individuals seeking to enter the healthcare workforce. 

4. COMMITTEE: RESILIENT LOUISIANA TASKFORCE

Remove restrictive regulatory barriers from all health care professionals allowing them to practice to the full extent of their licensure and education.

Improved Access to Healthcare

In addition American Health Ranking recommends increasing primary care capacity by empowering licensed personnel, including nurse practitioners, to provide more care. This will:

  1. Improve management of chronic disease
  2. Decrease the burden of preventable diseases and disability
  3. Reduce premature death

Click next to view other endorsements for removal of regulatory barriers!

What is an APRN?
Endorsements

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