NCNA Government Affairs

The North Carolina Nurses Association is the VOICE for professional nursing in North Carolina. NCNA is your professional home for nursing policy and legislation. We are the only professional association that aggressively pursues legislation on behalf of all registered nurses in North Carolina. NCNA stands up for and supports the nursing profession on key issues critical to our future. NCNA not only advocates but very often plays a defensive role for you and your profession. Joanne Stevens is the NCNA Lobbyist.

2012 NCNA Legislative, Regulatory, and Political Platform

 The North Carolina Nurses Association endorses legislation and regulations which:

• Promote the safety, health and access to care for all people in North Carolina.
• Support the authority of the North Carolina Board of Nursing to define and regulate the scope of nursing practice and to set standards for nursing education programs.
• Increase access to care by enabling registered nurses to practice fully within their scope of practice as established by education and national certification, consistent with the 2010 IOM report, The Future of Nursing.
• Ensure continued competency of nurses by promoting a system of reflective practice and improvement based on established standards of care.
• Reimburse registered nurses for delivering health care services within their scope of practice when those services are eligible for reimbursement to any other provider.
• Improve the work environment for nurses through initiatives such as promoting the principles of NCNA’s Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces Program, the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Recognition Program, regulating involuntary overtime, establishing safe staffing standards, employee safety initiatives, and whistleblower or patient advocacy protection for patients and nurses.
• Assist in the design of systems and the provision of resources for individuals to achieve the educational preparation essential for excellence in teaching, research, practice, and administration.
• Increase capacity and opportunity for registered nurses to serve on advisory, study and policy-making bodies.
• Support collaboration between physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.
• Support the creation and operation of a statewide entity to secure and analyze workforce data and forecast trends as related to the nursing profession.
• Foster implementation of the APRN consensus model and full evaluation of the final LACE model, once it is released (LACE: licensure, accreditation, certification, education standards).
• Work with the Council of State and the NC General Assembly for the visibility of the nursing profession.
• Support the NC Nurse Scholars Commission to ensure the funding of nursing scholarships in North Carolina.
• Support school nurses and work to increase the number of school nurses in North Carolina.
• Support the full scope of practice for all APRNs, and legislation that works toward this measure, and when appropriate and possible, through rules within the Department of Insurance and other Council of State offices.
• Monitor and respond to the NC State budget cost-cutting proposals for their impact on the access to healthcare for people of NC and for the challenges to the education of the current and future nursing work force.