SACRAMENTO–AB 890 by Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa), which will provide full practice authority to nurse practitioners, now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee after passing its final policy hearing in Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development on a 7-1 vote.
“As we near the end of our two-year legislative session, AB 890 has been thoroughly vetted and I have been open and willing to address all valid concerns raised by stakeholders,” said Wood. “This bill will allow California to catch up with 23 other states in making health care more accessible and help in our efforts to control health care costs.”
Independent analyses of peer-reviewed research, as reflected in “Quality of Primary Care by Advanced Practice Nurses: A Systematic Review,” have concluded that nurse practitioners provide care of comparable quality as physicians, even when they practice without physician oversight.
More than two dozen states, the District of Columbia and the Veterans Administration allow nurse practitioners to practice independently. In February 2019, the California Future Health Workforce Commission released its final report with a plan to address the state’s shortages of primary care and behavioral health providers. One of the Commission’s top 10 recommendations was to maximize the role of nurse practitioners and to expand their practice authority.
“California has always been a policy leader, and the fact that we are lagging behind a majority of states is truly a detriment to our fellow Californians,” said Wood. “More than 80 health care organizations support this legislation and recognize that policy must evolve to meet our health care needs. And that time is now.”
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