This year, the Medical Society of the State of New York collaborated with state officials to defeat 15 pieces of legislation that would expand the scope of practice for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, allowing them to practice without physician supervision, according to a Sept. 6 report from the American Medical Association.
The group also fought to remove scope of practice expansions from a budget proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. New York was one of 15 states that introduced legislation that would allow pharmacists to test and treat patients over the counter without physician involvement.
The medical society attributes its success fighting scope creep to a communications campaign supported by a grant from the AMA. The campaign also educated physicians on the benefits of physician-led, team-based care.
Since 2007, the AMA scope of practice partnership coalition has awarded more than $3.5 million in grants to fund advocacy and awareness campaigns.
New York's medical society used its grant to produce radio ads that played throughout the state, alerting voters to the scope of practice expansion proposals and calling out the differences in education and training between physicians and nonphysicians.
The campaign against one bill that would allow psychologists to have conditional prescribing authority was also bolstered by a letter from the AMA's executive president to New York's legislative leaders.