State Responses to COVID-19: Potential Benefits of Continuing Full Practice Authority for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

A sudden growth in the need for health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of our health care system, particularly a shortage of adequately trained health care providers. Federal and state governments responded by removing the scope of practice restrictions on nurse practitioners (NPs), allowing them to deliver care to patients without restrictions. NP full practice authority could be part of a longer-term plan to address healthcare inequities and deficiencies rather than merely a crisis measure. However, the changes to support full practice authority that were enacted to address COVID-19 are temporary and will be reversed when the executive orders expire. To support policy makers’ efforts to grant full practice authority to NPs beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, this manuscript summarizes the existing evidence on the benefits of permanently removing state-level scope of practice barriers and outline specific recommendations for policy, practice, and research.