Category: Empowered Nurses

  For years, nurse practitioners practicing in collaborative practice states have questioned whether mandatory physician collaboration agreements truly exist to protect patients or whether they have become an expensive barrier to providing care. A recently filed lawsuit in Texas has brought that question into the national spotlight. Supported by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the lawsuit challenges Texas laws that require […]

Nurses hear the same explanation year after year: there just isn’t enough money. Hospital leaders point to shrinking reimbursements, rising operating costs, and tight budgets as reasons they cannot increase nurses’ salaries. Yet many of these same hospital systems pay their CEOs and executive leadership teams millions of dollars in salaries, bonuses, and other compensation. It raises a simple but […]

  The American Nurses Association (ANA) recently made a historic decision to open its national membership to licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs). For the first time in its 130-year history, LPNs will be eligible to join the nation’s largest nursing organization. According to the ANA, the goal is to create a more unified nursing profession and […]

  Nurses expect many risks when they come to work. They know they may encounter infectious diseases, combative patients, emotionally charged families, and long, exhausting shifts. What they should never have to fear is being murdered while walking to their car after caring for patients all day. That is why the recent ruling in the wrongful death lawsuit involving nurse […]

  Many nurses believe that what they post on their personal social media accounts is protected by free speech. While the First Amendment protects people from government censorship in many circumstances, it does not protect most nurses from the employment consequences of what they choose to post online. If you are employed by a private hospital, healthcare system, or clinic, […]

  For the past several months, nurses across the country have been asking the same question: “How can nursing not be considered a profession?” That question sparked outrage after the U.S. Department of Education issued a rule that would have excluded graduate nursing degrees from the definition of a “professional degree” for federal student loan purposes. The consequences were significant. […]

Many nurse practitioners assume that billing is someone else’s responsibility. After all, they hired a billing company, outsourced revenue cycle management, or delegated claims submission to a trusted employee. Unfortunately, federal regulators do not see it that way. This week, the Department of Justice announced what it called the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, charging 455 defendants, including doctors, […]

Most nurses did not enter the profession because they wanted to fight about staffing ratios, budgets, or hospital policies. They became nurses because they wanted to care for patients. Yet every day, nurses across the country find themselves in an impossible position. They are asked to care for more patients than is safe, work with inadequate support, skip breaks, stay […]

Many nurses are surprised to learn that disciplinary action taken by a Board of Nursing can follow them far beyond their home state. What starts as a licensing issue can eventually find its way into the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), creating long-term consequences for employment, credentialing, and professional opportunities. The reality is that many nurses do not discover they […]

A recent article from Nurse.org highlighted updated Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing something many nurses already feel in their bones every payday: where you work as a nurse can dramatically impact what you earn. (Nurse.org) According to the latest BLS numbers, the median annual wage for registered nurses is now approximately $93,600 nationally. (Bureau of Labor Statistics) But that […]