The Georgia Composite Medical Board issued a position statement in early May reinterpreting a 2006 state law in a way that advanced practice registered nurses warn will force clinic closures and cut off healthcare access across rural Georgia, The Georgia Recorder reported June 25.
Under the new guidance, any physician who receives compensation for overseeing a clinic owned or operated by an advanced practice registered nurse is classified as an employee of that clinic — a relationship the 2006 law prohibits. The shift is already prompting physicians to terminate their protocol agreements with nurses, which APRNs are legally required to hold in order to practice in Georgia.
Tara Taylor, executive director of the Georgia Board of Nursing, testified before a Georgia House Health committee June 23 that the agreements are collapsing statewide. Without them, she said, APRNs cannot legally practice — leaving patients in rural communities, where physicians are already scarce, without access to primary care and psychiatric services.
Jeremy Bonfini, CEO and executive director of the Medical Association of Georgia, said the guidance targets “rubber-stamp” supervision arrangements brokered online rather than legitimate clinical partnerships. Mr. Bonfini said physicians who function as subordinate employees of APRNs cannot exercise the independent clinical judgment state law requires.
Jason Jones, executive director of the Georgia Composite Medical Board, cited out-of-state physicians operating ghost offices and physicians supervising care outside their specialty as the conduct driving the new policy.
Lawmakers on the House Health committee stopped short of intervening, directing both sides to negotiate a resolution or face a legislative fix.
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