Late this morning, Sen. Jeanie Riddle posted notice that the Senate Professional Registration and Licensing Committee will hold a hearing on SB 942 (filed by Sen. Riddle) on Monday, March 2nd at 2PM in the Senate Lounge.

As drafted, SB 942 is an unmitigated disaster for health care in Missouri and is a power grab effort that marginalizes a significant number of health care providers in Missouri. Specifically, the bill affects NP’s in a couple of ways:

• The bill prohibits NP’s who have earned doctoral academic degrees from using doctor in your title unless you specifically identify yourself as a doctor of nursing practice. Abbreviating your title to Dr. First Name/Last Name would no longer be permissible.
• The bill prohibits anyone that is not a licensed physician from performing minor, routine surgical procedures and suturing that NP’s perform each and every day. This would place an even greater strain on our already overwhelmed health care system and burden patients with longer waiting periods for routine procedures.

We encourage all NP’s that are available on Monday at 2PM to attend the hearing and voice your concerns over this bill that could significantly affect your practice and your patients. If you are unable to attend in person, you are welcome to send us your written testimony that we will provide to the committee.

Depending on the outcome of Monday’s hearing, we will likely be asking you to contact committee members to vote against the measure. Please pay close attention to any call to action.

If you have any questions, please email us at nursepractitioners@missourinp.org . You may also email your written testimony to the same email address but be sure to include your address and contact information.