HR

House of Representatives Bill 2817: Protect Patient Access to Quality Health Professionals Act of 2013 Healthcare reform is a necessity fueled by decades of wasteful, mismanaged policies and programs. The United States has a broken system unable to provide consistent quality healthcare to every American while maintaining reasonable reimbursement to the provider. For many years, numerous entities have strived to solve the conundrum of the American healthcare system; some efforts were successful while others only caused more damage. HR 2817: The Protect Patient Access to Quality Health Professionals Act of 2013 is one of the recent bills posing the question, “Will this bill, like so many others, generate more harm than good?” If passed, this bill will place significant limitations for patient access to Advance Practice Nurses subsequently reducing cost-effective care and patient choice. Background Historical and Environmental Influences In all populations, disease and sickness creates the need for treatment. America’s medical care initially was delivered by physicians as a pay out of pocket service or from other alternative medicines such as lay healers. Physicians normally worked from their own home and often had a second line of work. “Physician income, on average, was not high, and doctors often received payment in kind—a chicken or box of fruit rather than money” (Dictionary of American History, 2003). Technology and advances in medical science in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s transformed the views of healthcare from seeking alternative therapies to spawning a momentous growth of doctor’s clinics and hospitals. During this time there was no change in payment as, most physicians continued practicing in solo, accepti... ... middle of paper ... ...regarding defining scope of practice and reimbursement. Modification of HR 2817 The HR 2817 does not have many options for refining as it is designed to remove the non-discrimination requirements related to health care providers. Perhaps adding a defining statement regarding licensure would promote affordable quality care without restricting access to appropriate licensed professionals. The other option would be simply to leave the clause unaltered. As the saying goes, “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth.” Clearly we have an abundant of “cooks in the kitchen” all with different agendas and no recipe to create a perfect dish of satisfying healthcare. Unfortunately, an influence from HR 2817 is an ingredient that should not be approved due to the deleterious effects not only to patients and Advanced Practice Nurses but to healthcare as a whole.