Empowering nurses could solve the U.S. opioid crisis, argue Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Health, and David Hebert, CEO of the AANP.
The President’s Council of Economic Advisors just released a new report on how to beat back America’s opioid crisis. The CEA highlighted as potential solutions measures like curbing illicit drug trafficking, reducing over-prescribing in doctors’ offices, and cracking down on drug distributors fueling the epidemic for profit.
Primary care professionals are on the front lines of the opioid epidemic. And thanks to advances in “Medication-Assisted Treatment”—which combines medications that temper cravings, like methadone and buprenorphine, with counseling and therapy—they’re better equipped to treat dependence than ever before.
Empowering nurse practitioners to treat addiction—and removing unnecessary restrictions at the state level—can go a long way in liberating American patients. Between 2016 and 2030, the number of NPs in the workforce is projected to grow by 6.8% annually, according to a study from Peter Buerhaus a healthcare economist and professor of nursing at Montana State University. The report also found that these NPs will be far more likely to practice in rural and underserved regions,For instance, many states require NPs to sign elaborate “collaborative agreements” with physicians.
In many cases, NPs have found it difficult to identify a physician who meets one or more of the required criteria—such as having addiction certification from the American Society of Addiction Medicine or having served as an investigator on an approved narcotic’s clinical trial—to be a “qualifying physician.” This ultimately restricts their patients’ access to critical addiction treatments.
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