In my last article, I discussed the shortage of nurses, but this time, I’m going to talk about the shortage of physicians and nurse practitioners. It is estimated that in California, by the year 2025, that State will be short about 4,700 primary care physicians.  If a physician is not available, people take seek care from the emergency rooms for routine visits. In an Los Angeles Times article titled “California Doesn’t Have Enough Doctors, And This Bad Law Isn’t Helping,” (click on article … [Read more...]

In September 2017, the Governor of Illinois signed into law a bill that goes into effect January 21st, 2018, which allows nurse practitioners to have full practice authority in that State.  The law finally passed because of cooperation from the Medical Association and it’s been a long time coming.  Now, qualified nurse practitioners in Illinois with at least 4,000 hours of nursing and 250 hours of continued training can do everything under the scope of practice without the supervision or … [Read more...]

Every 2 years in Indiana, R.N.’s renew their licenses.  Even though the license renewal is due on October 31st of the odd-numbered years, nurses can to begin to renew as early as July of that year.  However, many nurses seem to wait until the last minute to undertake the task. If a nurse renews their license and answers “yes” to any of 6 questions (which I am paraphrasing here): Have you had any charges filed in any State against your license; Have you been denied a license; Other … [Read more...]

In 2015, a law was passed in Indiana requiring health care providers to disclose criminal convictions within 90 days. Indiana Code 25-1-1.1-1 provides that “… (b) An individual licensed or certified under this title shall, not later than ninety (90) days after the entry of an order or judgment, notify the board in writing of any misdemeanor or felony criminal conviction, except traffic related misdemeanors other than operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a drug or alcohol. A certified … [Read more...]