The Medical Team Task Force, chaired by former North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) President Charlie Monteiro, MD held its first meeting last Tuesday, April 11 at the NCMS Center for Physician Leadership in Raleigh.
The Medical Team Task Force is charged with:
- Reviewing the different forms, effectiveness and status of physician supervision of advanced practice nurses; and
- Determining whether changes occurring in health care delivery and payment systems warrant a modernization of the current regulatory scheme.
If changes are appropriate, the Task Force will make recommendations to the NCMS Board of Directors.
Each state-level specialty society was asked to identify a representative to participate in the work of the Task Force. In addition, the NC Academy of Physician Assistants and several component medical societies also participated. The work of the Task Force is to ensure physicians have identified the indispensable elements of a physician-advanced practice nurse relationship that will consistently yield the best results for patients.
While there are several related bills currently under consideration in the NC General Assembly, the group is not attempting to formulate positions on them. The initial meeting was solely devoted to an overview and discussion of the regulatory structure in place today for each category of advance practice nurse (i.e. nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists). The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled for May 10, 2017.