SCOTUS ruling benefits nurse practitioners

the Clinical Advisor take:

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners and other nursing associations have voiced their support for the United States Supreme Court decision in North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners vs. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

SCOTUS ruled that a North Carolina dental regulatory board, made up almost entirely of dentists, does not have the authority to tell dental hygienists to stop offering teeth whitening services. This ruling affirms the FTC’s previous stance that the dental board’s actions were an illegal suppression of competition.

"Many health providers, including nurse practitioners, understand first hand that state regulatory boards have the capacity to pose practice restrictions that do not reflect the best interests of the public," said David Hebert, Chief Executive Officer, of the AANP in a press release.

For nurse practitioners and physician assistants, “the ruling helps ensure state regulatory boards protect the best interests of patients by limiting unnecessary, anticompetitive restrictions that impede access to care, increase costs and exacerbate delays.”

In August 2014, AANP joined several other nursing associations, including the American Nurses Association (ANA), in filing a amicus in support of the FTC position.

“Unsupervised state regulatory boards comprised largely of professionals practicing in the field they are regulating may be prone to act in their own economic self-interest by protecting their economic markets through methods that run counter to state policy and principles of competition,” said Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, said in an ANA press release.

Both organizations have reported that they believe the court’s decision benefits patients.