State Senator Mike Shirkey
(R-Clarklake) introduced legislation this week that very closely resembles
former Senator Mark Jansen’s hotly-contested Senate
Bill 2 from last session. Senator Shirkey’s bill, Senate
Bill 68, is major reform to the Public Health Code to establish license
requirements for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), expanding their
scope of practice.
The measure was referred to the Senate
Health Policy Committee, a panel Senator Shirkey Chairs. State Senator Rebekah
Warren (D-Ann Arbor) co-sponsored the measure.
Unlike Senate Bill 2, Senator
Shirkey’s proposal sets up a fund within the Department of Treasury where a
portion of the license fees from APRNs would be deposited and used by APRNs
working in under-served areas of the state. Many in the health care industry
are predicting a shortage of primary care physicians in the near future and SB
68 is viewed as a measure aimed at providing needed access.
Senator Jansen’s measure did not
progress after moving to the House of Representatives last session as the then
House Health Policy Committee Chair former Representative Gail Haines supported
the Michigan State Medical Society’s position in opposition to the measure. It
remains to be seen what future the measure may have with new leadership across
the board in both the House and Senate, at the committee level and the
legislative chambers as a whole.