With hundreds of bills before the NH legislature this session, you may be wondering how does our NHNPA leadership decides when and how to engage in the state's legislative process. Our staff, consultants, and members have decades of experience navigating the NH State Government including the legislative and executive branches. Our team includes recognized leaders in both the state and Nation's capitol. Through our advocacy work, we are engaged in: legislation, rulemaking, administrative hearings, and licensure and regulatory matters. NHNPA is also represented on a wide-rage of legislative commissions through appointed seats.
Protecting and enhancing the scope of practice for NPs and ensuring legislative and cultural environments that empower NPs to be leaders in healthcare are our key priorities. We further believe that NPs can provide an important and valuable perspective in shaping all health policy in addition to the healthcare decisions of individual patients. We strongly believe that NHNPA and NPs should be at every table where these decisions are being made!
As an association, we work in partnership with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners to serve as the collective voice of NHs NPs. As individuals, NPs also provide an important and valuable perspective as highly-qualified healthcare providers and we encourage and support our members as they engage in related advocacy efforts.
During the early part of each legislative session, our paid lobbyist, staff and committee of volunteers review proposed bills and identify opportunities for engagement. In general NHNPA:
- supports legislation/policy that protects and enhances full scope of practice for NPs and their ability serve their patients
- opposes legislation/policy that could restrict or otherwise negatively impact NP practice in NH or restrict our patient's access
- supports non-physician centric language in proposed legislation/policies and rule making language
- supports the inclusion of NPs on relevant commissions and other groups
- opposes legislation/policy that could negatively impact the governance role of the BON
- supports legislation/policy designed to support employers of NPs and NPs as employees or business owners.
From time to time there is other legislation that we find important and we may want to get engaged with those bills and respond to requests from other associations/organizations who may have prioritized them. These are addressed on a case-by-base basis.
While the legislature is in session, the legislative affairs committee will meet weekly with NHNPA staff and our paid lobbyist. They will monitor bills of priority and respond to other opportunities as they are identified. They will be busy: providing written testimony, testifying in-person, registering support/opposition of bills, coordinating with other organizations and more on behalf of our NHNPA membership. We also collaborate and participate in the legislative efforts of other organizations to ensure that the voice of NPs is at the table. For example, NHNPA maintains an affiliate membership to the NH Nurses Association and we have represented NHNPA at several of their recent legislative affairs meeting. If you are interested in joining the legislative affairs committee please contact the chair Siobhan Benham @ [email protected].