Thank you for your hard work advocating against AB 890; unfortunately, it continues to move. The legislative session is nearing a close and there is only one more opportunity to amend the bill.
Please contact your state Senator and Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins and urge them both to exempt emergency care from AB 890.
AB 890 would allow a nurse practitioner to practice medicine independently without supervision or oversight by a physician. While we have all pointed out the vast disparity in training between NPs and physicians, the Legislature appears poised to allow NPs to practice independently. Most of the discussion has been about primary care. Nevertheless, the bill is not limited to primary care and applies everywhere, including in the ED. Because it allows NPs to practice independently, the bill could allow EDs to be entirely staffed by NPs. Our efforts are now focused on limiting the bill so that it does not apply to the ED.
These are the main points to make in your email, call or tweet:
- AB 890 is particularly problematic in the emergency department where the bill could allow a nurse practitioner to practice without a physician present. While it has become common for patients to have office visits where they only see an NP, no Californian expects to go to an emergency department and have there be no doctor.
- Nurse practitioners do not have sufficient education and training to examine and diagnose emergency department patients completely independent of physicians. Physician supervision and a team approach is essential to high quality emergency care.
- Time and experience matter in the ED. The risk to patient safety is too high not to have a physician present.
- Urge your Senator to vote no unless the ED is exempted.
Senators are only accepting emails from their constituents at this time. Our system will only allow you to send an email if you are a constituent. Please contact your Senator and Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins. If you are not a constituent of Senator Atkins, you can still take advantage of the phone and tweet campaigns to let her know that you want the ED exempted from AB 890. Find your senator here: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
Contact Senator Atkins here:
Senator Toni Atkins
Phone: 916-651-4039
Twitter: @SenToniAtkins