Nurse practitioners seek insurer credentials to practice primary care

To help meet the growing need for primary care services, nurse practitioners are asking the Obama administration to require insurers to credential them, Kaiser Health News reports. Specifically, the American Nurses Association (ANA) in July submitted its recommendation that insurers be required to include NPs, during the formal comment period for proposed rules relating to healthcare reform. The group stated that insurers selling plans in the forthcoming online health insurance marketplaces should grant credentials to a minimum number of advanced practice nurses. The number of NPs insurers would have to include varies widely by state, from as low as 20 NPs to as high as 600. While the administration declined to make any rule changes in late August, it said it would "continue assessing" whether to mandate that certain insurers credential specific providers. read the full report from FierceHealthcare