The Wisconsin Board of Nursing voted to submit their Administrative Rule changes to the Governor

The Board of Nursing held a public hearing yesterday, December 10, 2020  on their proposed Administrative Rule change CR 20-069.  The proposed rules addressed granting the Board of Nursing authority to issue emergency orders in response to  emergency health related situations.  There were approximately 10 individuals who provided testimony including Tina Bettin, President of WNA NP Forum and Gina Dennik-Champion, WNA Executive Director. Others offering  testimony were school of nursing deans, nursing instructors, nurse practitioners, and former members of the Board of Nursing. The Board of Nursing received over 130 letters and only two were in opposition to the proposed rules.  The opposition came from physician groups who objected to the rule that would grant a waiver requiring an APNP having documented collaborative relationship with a physician.

Based on the feedback receive during the public hearing the Board of Nursing voted to move on to the next step of the rule-making process.  This step is to submit to the Governor for approval.   Following the Governor’s approval, the proposed rules will be referred to one of the committee of the legislature for review and possible public hearing followed by referral to the Joint Committee on Review of Legislative Rules.

WNA wants to thank those individuals who submitted written testimony, gave testimony and those attending the public hearing.  It demonstrated that nurses do care about their practice act.