Dispute Regarding Nurses with Advanced Degrees and Doctors in Wisconsin Push for New License

Tuesday, May 30th, 2023 -- 9:00 AM

(By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio) -In the world of health care, titles matter, and a dispute over how to classify nurses with advanced degrees in Wisconsin has many of the state's health care groups at odds.

According to Shawn Johnson with Wisconsin Public Radio, groups representing nurses are making another push to create a new license for advanced practice registered nurses who perform many of the same services as physicians in Wisconsin.

Doctors' groups remain opposed but say this could be the year the two sides agree to a compromise. The back-and-forth is not new in Wisconsin. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a similar bill last session, citing a lack of agreement in Wisconsin's medical community.

But nurses say the debate has taken on added urgency as a wave of physician retirements and an aging population has led to shortages of care, particularly in rural areas. The bill lawmakers are considering this year would create a new license for advanced practiced registered nurses, or APRNs, in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Nurses Association says about 8,000 nurses would qualify. While the plan spells out a variety of requirements people would have to meet for the new license, at its core, nurses who testified at a recent public hearing on the bill say one provision is key.

It would mostly lift a provision in current law that requires advanced practice nurses to maintain oversight agreements with physicians. Nurses say oversight agreements are more than just an annoyance. Due to doctor shortages, they say it can be hard to find physicians to sign oversight agreements at some clinics, particularly in rural Wisconsin.

Should a doctor suddenly leave or retire, they say it can threaten a nurse's clinic. Some doctors also charge fees that nurses argue are either too steep or unnecessary.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.