A Wake County family nurse practitioner is challenging a North Carolina law that requires her to contract with a physician before she can practice in the state. Jamie Gallagher filed suit Sept. 2 against leaders of the state medical and nursing boards, the Carolina Journal reported Sept. 2.
According to the complaint filed in Wake County Superior Court, Ms. Gallagher has spent more than 17 years caring for patients as a nurse practitioner, yet the state requires her to enter into a mandatory contract, known as a “collaborative practice agreement,” with a physician.
Ms. Gallagher pays her collaborating physician $16,500 a year to provide care the state has already determined she is qualified to provide, the lawsuit said. In exchange, the physician is not required to see any of her patients, review patient charts or directly supervise her care, though her ability to practice and earn a living depends on that physician’s continued willingness to contract with her.
Ms. Gallagher is seeking a declaratory judgment that the collaborative practice agreement requirement is unconstitutional as applied to her and other nationally certified nurse practitioners operating within their scope of practice, along with $1 in damages and costs.
The suit, Gallagher v. Rao-Patel, names North Carolina Medical Board President Anuradha Rao-Patel and North Carolina Board of Nursing Chair Racquel Ingram as defendants.
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