From The President

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to our new and improved website! We hope you like it. With its updated look and integrated database and email systems, we feel it was well worth the wait and are confidant it will better serve the needs of our membership and control our administrative costs. Please explore the site and share your feedback with us.

It has been an exciting year for the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and as your President, I am thrilled to share our achievements.

Thanks to the efforts of our terrific legislative committee and lobbyist team, the MCNP was able to gain PCP status recognition in Senate President Therese Murray's legislative initiative “Health Care Reform II: Containing Cost and Improving Quality”. This legislation is on the heels of the state's passage of massive reform just last session to insure every citizen of the Commonwealth.

For Nurse Practitioners, their role and services are a pivotal component of the bill. For the first time, all health insurers will be required to recognize NPs as primary care providers and list them in directories along side other primary care providers so consumers may choose them to coordinate and direct their care. This also makes NPs more transparent in the health care delivery system, making it easier to measure and report the outcomes of the care they deliver. Massachusetts now joins 24 other states that recognize the NP as a primary care provider in the law!

As we look toward the coming year, it is our goal to nurture those key legislative relationships that were so pivotal in getting our language incorporated into the health reform bill and work with our legislative committee and lobbyist team to assist in its implementation. It will be our objective to:
· Research regulations of other states relative to NP PCP status
· Serve as an active participant in the promulgation and implementation of the regulations
· Serve as a resource for the Group Insurance Commission and the Division of Insurance
· Work to advance the goals of transparency and choice
· Present testimony for public hearings for the DOI and the GIC

In addition to our above legislative agenda, I will continue to have a seat on the Health Care Cost and Quality Council’s Advisory Board. This is the group that advises the Governor and the Health Connector regarding the implementation of universal health care. As your representative, we will have a voice in the policy that will drive this initiative and impact the future of health care in Massachusetts.

As your President, I pledge to you that I will continue to advance our agenda and continue to promote the professional practice and image of the nurse practitioner. I need your pledge to help me in this endeavor. If you are not a member, or have let your membership lapse, I urge you to visit the membership section and renew online.

My personal thanks to each of you for your ongoing support.


Nancy O’Rourke