Vote Yes for SB199
Please ask your Senator to Vote ‘yes’ for SB199 and sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill. Help us end this unnecessary step in providing quality healthcare to our patients.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) should be allowed to practice at the highest level of their education and expertise, as the 2010 Institute of Medicine Report on the Future of Nursing recommends. In Illinois, APRNs have proven to provide safe and effective care since they were first licensed in 2001.
In 2017, PA100-513 granted APRNs who meet specific criteria to apply for Full Practice Authority in Illinois. However, one remaining barrier that prevents APRNs from practicing at the highest level of education and expertise is the requirement that APRNs consult with a physician, who likely has never seen the patient when prescribing Schedule II opioids and benzodiazepines. They must register this arrangement with the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP).
SB 199 removes that requirement. This change is needed because:
- Benzodiazepines are a schedule III medication that APRNs, especially Psych Mental Health Nurse Practitioners, had been prescribing without consultation before 2017. This has added an administrative barrier to their practice at a time when there is a shortage of mental health providers.
- Consultation is a monthly retrospective process and not the best practice. The best practice is assessing the patient’s access to controlled substances before prescribing using the Prescribing Monitoring Program. Since Jan 1, 2018, it has been the law, except in a few specific instances, that before prescribing Schedule II opioids, all prescribers must assess the patient’s records to determine access to controlled substances via the ILPMP. This BEST PRACTICE allows the APRN to know the controlled substance history of their patient before prescribing, not retrospectively discussing it with a physician after the fact. Especially when, in most instances, the physician does not know, nor ever met, the patient.