Improving Health Across PA Through Nursing SOP Reform

Penn LDI and Penn Nursing promoted evidence-based policy in Pennsylvania by convening experts and stakeholders to discuss expanding scope of practice for nurses. Working groups explored options for reform that can address the health needs of all Pennsylvanians. The program delved into current policy debates and crafted recommendations for the path forward in addressing regulatory barriers in Pennsylvania that might be relevant to other states.This program was a nursing-specific complement to the national conference, Expanding Scope of Practice After COVID-19.

Please see related briefs below.

Brief: Expanding Scope of Practice After COVID-19 (published February 2021)
To expand access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, many states relaxed or waived regulations that define the scope of health professional practice. This experience highlights the need to ensure that all health care professionals practice to the full extent of their capabilities—an issue that predates and will outlast the pandemic.

Brief: Pennsylvania Scope of Practice (published January 2021)
For many years, proposals to update licensure and adapt it to make it more compatible with current models of collaborative care could not overcome legislative logjams. This policy brief summarizes the recommendations of the participants in the afternoon virtual workshop to update scope of practice regulation to better meet the primary care needs of Pennsylvanians.

 Brief: Meeting Pennsylvania's Primary Care Needs  (published November 2020)
This brief presents a current snapshot of the nurse practitioner workforce in Pennsylvania, its growth in the past eight years, and an estimate of how expanding NP practice authority could address primary care needs in designated health professional shortage areas.