Michigan legislators have recently introduced a bill that would allow nurse practitioners to practice with fewer restrictions.
Currently, NPs in the state are required to work under contract with a collaborating physician, are unable to prescribe controlled substances and have limitations in clinical settings for what they are able to practice.
Additionally, in some cases, NPs have to pay their collaborating physician, even though oftentimes these physicians are not actually working with the patients.
The new bill, one of several that have been introduced in the state since 2021, seeks to allow NPs to practice without a collaborating physician, prescribe controlled substances and expand their scope of practice.
Patrick Crane, DNP, president of Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners, spoke to the positive impact this legislation can have for patient care — especially in rural areas.
"Nurse practitioners are more likely to work in rural areas in primary care," Dr. Crane said. "I think eliminating these restrictions allows them to really deliver the full cadre of care that they've been educated to deliver in populations where they want to work. … Often people who are drawn to work in rural areas have connections to those communities and really want to deliver high-quality care there."
Dr. Crane said another benefit for patients would be decreased wait times for primary care, as many NPs wait months to find another collaborating physician if their physician leaves.
He continued that eliminating these boundaries would also draw more NPs to Michigan.
"I hear stories commonly from graduates of Michigan-based nurse practitioner programs who go on to practice in other states because they don't want to work in one of the most restrictive states in the union," Dr. Crane said. "In Lansing … we're about 60 primary care providers short for this community and every potential graduate that leaves either this community or this state to go practice elsewhere? That's contributing to the primary care shortage in a significant way."