Symposium to address role of APRNs in solving primary care crisis

At a time when there is a shortage of primary care providers, a nurse-led model of primary care offers consumers with limited access to primary care new opportunities to receive high-quality health care.

To bring attention to the role of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in solving the primary care crisis, the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care, in partnership with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is hosting "Nurse-Led Medical Homes: Increasing Access to Quality Care," an April 5, 2011 symposium at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

This topic is especially important in light of recent legislative and regulatory developments. Passage of the Affordable Care Act promises to bring access to health insurance to tens of millions of Americans who are currently uninsured, swelling the ranks of those in need of primary care. At the end of 2010, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) began to recognize nurse-led primary care practices as patient centered medical homes under its PPC-CMH recognition program in states that permit advanced practice registered nurses to lead patient-centered primary care teams.

"APRNs can provide affordable, accessible, high-quality preventive and primary care—but they face legal and policy barriers in many states to practicing to the full extent of their education/licensure," says Mary Jean Schumann, D.N.P., M.B.A., R.N., C.P.N.P., executive director of the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care. "We need to give more people access to high-quality care through the use of our full primary care workforce, which includes APRNs." In many states, particularly those with under-served rural and urban areas, primary care shortages are leading to this reevaluation of the barriers preventing nurses from working to the full scope of nursing practice.

In the patient-centered primary care health home model, also known as the patient-centered medical home, care is organized around the needs of the patient, and includes an increased focus on prevention, care coordination and patient education. Other hallmarks of patient-centered practice include enhanced communication between patient/family and provider, use of electronic medical records, and flexible or same-day scheduling. Overall, the patient-centered model changes the focus of the patient-provider relationship from care at visits to patients more fully engaged in decision making about their care over time.

The April 5 symposium features many leading clinicians, researchers and policy-makers in the field. The meeting provides attendees with opportunities to understand the provisions and accreditation requirements for patient-centered medical homes, hear firsthand from advanced practice registered nurses about innovative nurse-led primary care homes, gain insight into key quality and performance data, and acquire positioning and marketing strategies for nurse-led medical homes in a new health care environment that includes accountable care organizations. This activity has been submitted to the Maryland Nurses Association for approval to award contact hours. The Maryland Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation

"Nurses have a unique perspective on the health care system," says Jan Towers Ph.D., N.P.C., C.R.N.P., F.A.A.N.P., director of policy at the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. "This symposium will help bring this perspective, as well as the perspectives of consumers, accreditors, payers and policymakers, to bear on this important priority in health reform. In addition to increasing knowledge, we want to increase enthusiasm about the very positive role nurse practitioners can play as leaders of primary care health homes. We hope to encourage more nurses in advanced practice to pursue recognition as leaders of primary care health homes."