ARNPs United of Washington State
10024 SE 240th Street, Suite 102, Kent, WA 98031
 Phone: 253.480.1035   Fax: 253.852.7725
au@auws.org

Success! Removal of 72 hour Limitation on Dispensing Controlled Substances by ARNPs


"This bill repeals the provision limiting ARNPs from dispensing more than 72 hours of controlled substances."
Governor Christine Gregoire, March 25, 2008.

Mission Statement

ARNPs United of Washington State is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting ARNP practice by coordinating legislative, educational, and networking activities of Nurse Practitioners throughout Washington State.

Licensing Fee Increase

You may have noticed an increase in your RN licensing fee this year. What you might not know is how the fee increase came about and what that extra fee may offer you has a healthcare provider.

In 2007, Governor Christine Gregoire commissioned the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access. As you recall, the objective of the commission was to research and recommend methods to provide high quality, affordable health care to individuals residing in Washington State. The result of the commission was Senate Bill 5930 which raised licensing fees for a number of healthcare provider categories. The increased fees go to support the Health Technology and Information Projects, one of many recommended by the commission. The bill requires the Health Care Authority to “design a consumer-centric health information infrastructure with a health record bank, and implement pilot sites that promote electronic medical records and health information exchange, as funding allows. Access to the University of Washington Health Sciences Library is expanded for health professionals”.

The University of Washington Health Sciences Library responded to this request for health information exchange by developing HEAL-WA (Health Evidence Resource for Washington State). HEAL-WA is an evidence-based health sciences information portal designed to provide electronic access to information for many practitioners who do not currently have access to resources through the services of a health sciences library. The site is funded by the add-on to the license fees of these practitioners.

HEAL-WA is available to all professionals licensed by Washington State as registered nurses, physicians, physician assistants, osteopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians' assistants, massage therapists, naturopaths, podiatrists, chiropractors, psychologists, optometrists, mental health counselors, clinical social workers, and acupuncturists. The HEAL-WA website provides practice-specific information to bring value to all the licensed professionals included in the program. HEAL-WA will give these practitioners access to timely, evidence-based resources to help them answer patient care questions. Evidence-based information is designed to make sure that conclusions are drawn from the best-available evidence. The site will include a variety of resources such as online databases, electronic journals and full text articles and electronic textbooks.

In order to take advantage of the resources provided by HEAL-WA and make good use of your added license fee, you will need to go to HEAL-WA.org and register. It is fairly simple and can be completed in a manner of minutes. Be sure that you enter your RN license, not your NP license.

This is a great way for NPs in to show their ability to provide quality, evidence based care for the people of Washington State. Resources: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5930&year=2007

Changes to Washington Vaccine Program

Washington's universal childhood vaccine purchase program is changing on July 1, 2009, due to budget cuts in the state budget for the 2009-2011 biennium that was signed by the Governor on May 19th. This article excerpts an e-mail sent by Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH, State Health Officer to health professionals.

The budget directs the Department of Health to:

This means that starting July 1, 2009, children with private health insurance are no longer eligible to receive state-supplied HPV vaccine. Fact sheet about changes for health care providers: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/5-14-09transhpv.pdf

Providers will still order state supplied HPV vaccine at no charge through their local health department from the State Department of Health for:

VFC eligible children: Children eligible to receive HPV vaccine from the state include: children 18 and younger who are Medicaid-eligible, Native American, Alaskan Native, uninsured, and underinsured (have health insurance, but it does not cover vaccines or has a limit on vaccine coverage), andÊ

Children in state sponsored health plans: DSHS (State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Children’s Health Program (CHP), and Apple Health) Health Care Authority Ð Basic Health Plan (BHP)

We know these are significant changes. We need your help in working through them to keep children vaccinated. Continued participation in the Washington State Childhood Vaccine Program:

As you know, the key to strong immunization rates and disease prevention is to assure children have continued access to vaccine

We are working to set up some conference calls later in June that health care providers can participate in to learn more about the changes and get questions answered.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions on Changes to Universal Vaccine Purchasing also is available: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/providers/universal-faq.htm.

Please contact us or your local health department if you have ideas, questions or concerns. Washington State Department of Health Immunization Program CHILD Profile. Phone: 866.397.0337 E-mail: UniversalChanges@doh.wa.gov Web-site: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/providers/universal.htm

Conserve Antivirals

Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH, Washington State Health Officer has sent a letter appealing to health professionals to be good stewards of antiviral medications. Hayes writes:

“Simply put, there is not an unlimited supply of antiviral medications like oseltamivir (TamiFlu®) and zanamivir (Relenza®). Building personal stockpiles uses antivirals that are then not available for people who are seriously ill with influenza due to swine flu or seasonal human flu viruses should a shortage occur. In addition, a limited supply threatens our ability to give prophylaxis to exposed people who are at high risk for severe complications and death due to influenza viruses (e.g., pregnant women). The use of these medications to treat persons with mild influenza without risk factors for severe complications may also reduce the supply for persons at risk for more severe disease.

CDC recommendations for antiviral treatment and pro-phylaxis of swine influenza, including dosing recom-mendations are available at www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance/.

You control the supply of these antiviral drugs through your prescription-writing authority and behaviors. Although you all care deeply for our patients, I would like to encourage a high level of stewardship with regards to these potentially limited anti-influenza medications.”

Letter from Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH.

Pearson Report Released

The annual state-by-state national overview of nurse practitioner legislation and healthcare issues, brought to you by Linda J. Pearson, NP. Washington is listed as one of the top states in the nation for NP practice.

AUWS Officers

This month the ARNPs United of Washington State Board of Directors announces our new officers for 2009. We would also like to thank our outgoing Officers for their service to the ARNP community.

Officers:

Committees:

Staff:

ARNP Prescriptive Authority Primer Revised

What does it take to get prescriptive authority as an ARNP in WA State? The processes required to acquire your initial (and renewed) ARNP license and to procure prescriptive authority have changed since the AUWS website first posted that basic information in its document, "ARNP & ARNP with Prescriptive Authority Renewal". Jeanne Boudrieau revised the guide. To learn more, go to the (drum role, please) "Prescriptive Authority Primer." It is intended to be a step-by-step guide to acquiring licensure and prescriptive authority. We hope you find it informative and useful.

Why Join the Nurse Practitioner Directory?

In a world, career and life, where the information age has truly arrived and our tremendous efforts as Health Care Providers may go unnoticed, it could only be deemed advantageous that we find a way to link together as professionals for acknowledgement, assistance or information sharing. Collectively we have survived trials and tribulations making us a wealth of information and experience for each other and our communities. We are all in this together, sign up today for the NP Directory.

Articles Wanted

ARNP Care would welcome reader submissions for articles. Articles can be on any topic relevant to ARNPs and should be 800 words or less in length. Submissions should be sent as a MS Word .doc file or as a text file. Send your articles or queries to care [at] nurse.net.

ARNP Salary Survey 2006

Thanks to the work done by Marie-Annette Brown, Phd, ARNP, FAAN and Louise Kaplan, PhD, ARNP results from the 2006 salary survey are now available. Appropriate financial compensation is essential for Washington State ARNPs. As legally autonomous professionals, ARNPs assume demanding roles and provide high quality care to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington State. Until recently there has been little data about the salaries of Washington State nurse practitioners. In 2006 a statewide survey was conducted of Washington State ARNPs that yielded a strong response rate of 65%. Participants were asked to indicate their ARNP related income for 2005. The data reports salary information for ARNPs practicing in Washington and working full time, defined as 30 or more hours per week.

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