Under current law, only physicians can have a controlling share of the ownership of for-profit medical offices and clinics. HB 2465 would amend the statute to allow nurse practitioners to own half or all of these businesses.
Chris Gray
The Oregon Nurses Association would like a change in the law governing for-profit medical practices to allow nurse practitioners to own half or all of such clinics, a right currently limited to physicians.
Currently, “a nurse practitioner is prohibited of being a majority owner,” said Tom Doyle, an attorney for the Nurses Association. “A nurse practitioner could not be in a co-ownership with a physician. … It’s simply an ownership question, it does not change the scope of practice.”
House Bill 2465 is sponsored by Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Canby, and Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham.
“We have an arbitrary barrier to ownership,” said Kennemer. “It’s an equity disparity. This [bill] increases access to care.”
In past sessions, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, has objected to an expansion of for-profit businesses in healthcare, quashing a popular bill that would have allowed entrepreneurs — with no medical expertise — to operate for-profit clinics in rural areas, which often struggle to support so much as a doctor’s office.
HB 2465, however, is narrowly tailored to nurse practitioners, and Greenlick has been a strong supporter of the Oregon Nurses Association.
“It’s still in spirit of the doctrine — that they are not profit-driven and still in the interest of the patient,” said nurses lobbyist Jenn Baker.
Taken from Nurses Association Wants Nurse Practitioners to Own Medical Clinics
on thelundreport.org.
Image taken from http://www.mwaarchitects.com
Article taken from – https://www.thelundreport.org/content/nurses-association-wants-nurse-practitioners-own-medical-clinics