APRNs have a long record as quality, cost-effective providers, and they play a crucial role in caring for Texans and addressing our state’s growing health care needs. Unfortunately, current Texas regulations are preventing them from practicing freely.

Unlike many states, including our neighbors New Mexico and Arizona, Texas law requires APRNs to sign a delegation agreement with a collaborating physician in order to practice, even though the physician may live hundreds of miles away and never see any of the APRN’s patients. This delegation agreement not only adds to both the physician and the APRN’s paperwork and takes times away from patients, but it also comes at a significant cost. In fact, a 2016 study of Texas APRNs found some were forced to pay their delegating physician up to $120,000 every year.

HB 1415/SB 681 would remove the costly and burdensome requirement for a physician delegation agreement and place APRNs under the exclusive regulatory authority of the Texas Board of Nursing. Full practice authority exists in 21 states and the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Meanwhile, lawmakers in neighboring states are spending their tax dollars to recruit Texas-trained APRNS to New Mexico and Arizona, where there are fewer regulatory burdens and lower practice costs.