Arizona Senate Bill 1334 (S.B. 1334): Revised APRN Compact

ASK YOUR LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE TO HOLD ON ADVANCING SB 1334

The above referenced legislation, The APRN Compact Bill, is scheduled for an initial public hearing tomorrow, 2/14/23, in the Arizona Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. The Arizona Board of Nursing is encouraging us to support this bill. However, the AANP, an organization whose primary interest is the Advanced Practice Nurse, is recommending we encourage lawmakers to Hold Off on advancing the compact Bill because it is not consistent with the Consensus model and there are outstanding issues related to  1) licensure eligibility (requires 2080 hours in practice to be eligible for multistate license), 2) prescribing (does not confer authority to prescribe controlled substances - leaving this to the individual states), and 3) the structure of the compact administrative process (no guarantees administrators would be APRNs or there would be an advisory committee to ensure APRN input).

On the first issue,  the inclusion of practice hours as a prerequisite for a multistate advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) license  is inconsistent with the evidence that clearly shows APRNs are prepared for safe entry to practice at the point of graduation from an accredited graduate program and after the successful passage of a national certification board examination.  

On the 2nd issue of prescription authority, AANP notes it is crucial to meeting the needs of patients who have behavioral and mental health issues or substance use disorders that require medication-assisted treatment. The current APRN Compact leaves a significant gap around prescribing that will impact the capacity for APRN multistate license holders to provide vital access to medications and treatments for these patients in states where prescribing authority is restricted.

Lastly, with regard to the 3rd issue, AANP strongly believes incorporating an APRN advisory committee would ensure that there are readily available resources and needed expertise to address the complexity and variety of practice issues.

Please consider taking a couple of minutes to send a short message to your representative. You can use this link to find your Arizona State Representatives: https://www.azleg.gov/findmylegislator/