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Sample letter to legislators to support Sb 15-197

Posted about 9 years ago by Kate Martinez

As a nurse practitioner (NP) in your district, I am contacting you in support of SB 15-197.

Our state took steps to authorize NP prescribing without a career long collaborative agreement in 2009. Unfortunately, some unintended consequences from that legislation created new workforce challenges and bottlenecks. Senate Bill 15-197 aims to correct those issues by streamlining that process. The bill would reduce the current 3,600 practice hours (1,800 hours of prescribing in a preceptorship and another 1,800 prescribing in a mentorship) down to 1000 hours in mentorship, authorize provisional prescriptive authority, if eligible, upon graduation and passage of the certification examination, and allow either an APRN or physician to serve as a mentor.

The bill would:
• Bring Colorado in to closer alignment on prescriptive authority requirements with our neighboring states, and the recommendations of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine.
• Better position Colorado to competitively recruit primary care NPs and other advanced practice nurses
• Reduce the regulatory process challenges that new graduates and NPs relocating to the state have encountered
• Enable better geographic distribution of the NP workforce
• Capture the full benefits for the advanced practice nursing workforce with a more efficient and effective regulatory model

This bill would not change the scope of practice for APRNs as scope will continue to be defined by education, training, and national certification.

Coloradans will be better served by adopting the recommendations in the Department of Regulatory Agencies report.

I request your support for this bill. On behalf of myself and my patients, thank you in advance for your consideration and support of SB 15-197.