In recognition of National Nurses Week (May 6-12) and the important role that nurses play in the delivery of health care, our partner in the Coalition for Health Care Access, AARP-Texas, penned an Op-ed for the Texas Tribune about the urgent need to address Texas' healthcare access crisis and remove barriers to advanced practice nurses.
"Texas is also a big, rural state with many small towns," Bob Jackson of AARP-Texas state in the article. "As of 2017, Texas ranked 46th in the United States in the number of physicians practicing in rural areas. Eighty Texas counties have five or fewer physicians, and 35 counties have no physicians at all. Since fewer doctors are available, primary care is out of reach for residents who can’t drive an hour or more to visit a doctor."
"It’s time to embrace APRNs as an answer to the challenge of access to primary care. On measures of cost, quality and workforce, no other solution comes close. But in Texas, onerous regulations prevent APRNs ."from operating to the full extent of their training."
Read the full article here: https://www.tribtalk.org/2018/05/07/improved-access-to-primary-care-in-texas-is-within-reach/