As We Move Quickly Intoour Legislative Session, We Would Like to Bring You up to Date On

Good Morning!

As we move quickly intoour legislative session, we would like to bring you up to date on what’s new in your own backyard of Florida. In this newsletter you will find the following:

Contents

• Loretta Ford inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame
• Legislative Update!
• FNPN ShiningStar
• Education Updates
• MembershipUpdate
• Job Announcement
• From YourAANP Representative
• FNPN PACUpdate
• Around the State and AroundtheNation
• News YouCanUse

Quote of the Month: When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,

it is useless to seek it elsewhere. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Loretta Ford will be inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Dr. Ford! Dr. Loretta Ford will be formally inducted into the very prestigious National Women’s Hall of Fame on October 1, 2011. Dr. Ford was nominated for this honor by AANP and AANP Fellows. Inductees are selected every two years based on their lasting contributions to society. From a group of over 200 nominations, a national panel of judges conducted a rigorous scoring process and selected 11 women for induction. The induction will take place in Seneca Falls, NY, the birthplace of the American Women’s Rights Movement in 1848. “Each of these women have demonstrated fortitude, perseverance, intelligence and hope,” said Christine Moulton, executive director of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. “Their experiences provide both an example for each of us to emulate and a challenge for each of us to embrace.” Read about this year’s inductees at . Dr Ford now resides in Florida. We are most proud of all that she has accomplished for nursing, patients, and health care overall.

You Inspire Us Dr. Ford and We Love You!

Legislative Update

Frances M. Rankin (Sahebzamani), Ph.D., ARNP, FAANP

This 3rd week of the legislative session brought some cautiously optimistic news. The Florida Nurse Practitioner Network was successful in finding sponsors for our Death Certificate bill which would allow nurse practitioners authority to assign cause of death and sign death certificates. Our bill was supported and sponsored by Rep. Mayfield, was heard in the Health Care subcommittee on Quality this past Tuesday and was unanimously passed on to the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, our bill as originally crafted was amended by the Florida Medical Association prior to the hearing. Despite changes in the substance and language of the bill that are not acceptable to nurse practitioners, Rep. Mayfield and the FNPN elected to proceed with the amended bill in order to allow it to be passed out of its first committee. With Rep. Mayfield’s full support of our position on this amendment and with the understanding among all concerned, the substance and language will be revised to meet the approval of the FNPN prior to being heard on the floor of the House of Representatives. Once the bill is heard by the House of Representatives, Sen. Rene Garcia, chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee, will attempt to place our bill on the committee’s agenda as soon as possible. Rest assured, we will not let the bill pass unless the FMA’s amendments are revised to meet our approval.

Overall, the positive news is that many legislators on the Health Care Subcommittee on Quality, as well as the Chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee support our legislation. This is the first FNPN sponsored bill that has made it onto the agenda of a health care, or health regulations, committee in several years and the first one to move forward. We are optimistic by this support of nurse practitioner practice concerns.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Doreen Cassarino, President FNPN, AANP Regional Representative, for her tireless work to bring this bill to fruition!

We also send our gratitude to those of you who wrote, or called, legislators in support of our bill…..your voice was heard and we appreciated your efforts! We also wish to congratulate and thank the FNPN members who took the time away from their practice to testify in committee on the importance of this bill to bridge the gap between state regulators and patients to improve the efficiency and speed with which death certificates are processed.

We will continue to need your help and support as this bill moves forward to the Senate. Our lobbyist, Ms. Allison Carvajal will let us know when our bill is scheduled as soon as possible so we can mobilize our support. If you are able to testify in support of this bill, please do!! Your participation and testimony is still needed and very influential!!

Talking points on the Death Certificate bill are posted on the FNPN web site.

FNPN Shining Star

Name: Francis Neuzil

NP as: Family Practice and Allergy, Sinus and Asthma

Years as an NP: 12

Location: Lady Lake and The Villages

Special mention: Dr. Neuzil, who holds five degrees including a PhD, graduated in 1999 as a nurse practitioner. His first job as an NP was with the Allergy, Sinus and Asthma Center. 3 years later Dr. Neuzil bought out the practice and in 2005 built his own building. Dr. Neuzil now has 7 employees, sees 20-30 patients a day not including the shot patients and is doing very well. In 2007 Dr. NeuzilI came up with a new product and has been working on developing that product ever since. After 3 years of development, getting a registered trade mark, and meeting all FDA compliance "Dr. Neuzil's Irrigator" was finally open to the market in July of last year.

Thanks Dr. Neuzil for being such a great inspiration!

Education Updates:

The following important educational opportunities have been posted for January and February; be sure to check back on our website at for additional updates and additions!

Apr 5 Nurse-Led Medical Homes --- Increasing Access to Quality Care: April 5, 2011 Symposium
Tuesday, April 05 2011 at 8:00am ET in Washington, DC
Apr 16 2011 Practicing Clinicians Exchange Symposia Series
Saturday, April 16 2011 at 8:00am ET in Dania Beach, FL

****Save the date**** July 29th and July 30th****8th Annual FNPN Conference****Featured speakers and guests are Dr. Loretta Ford, who of course needs no introduction to NPs! Dr Tay Kopanas, AANP Health Policy State Director;Mimi Secor, NP, national and international speaker and host of ReachMD radio; Rebecca McMurray, NP, Integrative Medicine Specialist and Fellow A4AM, and many other speakers on vital topics to aid you in your practice.****

Job Announcements!

There have been many new job postings around the state on our web site at for those of you that may have an interest. On our new website, the most recent postings are on the front page. A new feature will allow postings to be visible for 90 days. Please feel free to pass this along to your colleagues who may be interested in it as well, or who may have an interest in finding out more about our network. For those of you that have found jobs on our website, please be sure to let us know!

Do you know an employer who might find the FNPN Job posting a worthwhile site? If so, please be sure to tell them about the website and the fact that on average 20 or more jobs are posted each month. The traffic to our website is incredible and we have more and more folks seeking employment through this site than ever before. Let them know you saw it on the FNPN Website!

Membership Update

Armando Riera-Membership Chair

Dear Members,

In order for us to have our voices heard in Tallahassee, we will need to increase our membership, at the same time working hard to retain current members. One of our goals this year will be to actively work on recruiting new members to FNPN to make our organization stronger.

Renewal Reminder-Membership in FNPN runs on an annual basis Jan-Dec. Please renew your membership today. Membership in FNPN can beas agroupor individual member.

Individual members belong and receive many benefits as part of their membership-frequent communication during the legislative session (or special sessions), a paid lobbyist based in Tallahassee,access to posted job opportunities, access to posted upcoming conferences and many more benefits. If youbelong to your local NP group you are not an FNPN member until you join FNPN individually, group and individual membership are two separate levels of membership.I encourage you to visit our newly redesigned web page today while you're there you can renew online.

Group Presidents- please renew today and continue to be an integral part of our growing organization. We value our group members as this creates a vital network of NP groups throughout the state. These groups help disseminate information about trends,issues and changes impacting NP's at the state and national level. As a group member we will also assist with conference planning and obtaining approval for CEU's if offered. We will also assist with promoting your conferences and activities and can provide assistance or link you with support in web design.

FNPN now has several options for membership:

2 year Renewal (2011 & 2012) -$ 100

1 year Renewal (2011) -$ 60

Student/Retired 2 year Renewal (2011 & 2012) - $ 50

Student/Retired 1 year Renewal (2011) -$ 30

Student group membership waive first year member fee Free!

To pay by check click here

To pay by credit card click here

As the Chair of the Membership Committee I am always open to suggestions and new ideas. If you have any questions, please contact me. This year, when joining/renewing, we also ask you to consider ‘bringing a friend’ to the registration table and helping build our organizations to where they should be. With the numbers of Advanced Practice Nurses nearing 15,000 in Florida, we should have a strength that can overcome any push from our medical community. We hope you will let us nurture that side of you if you need it and engage those around you to do the same. Please be sure to contact us should you have questions about legislation, membership, education and more. Our Executive Assistant, Regina, is always available either by phone, computer and even skype!

Thank you in advance for all your support.

Respectfully,

Armando Riera, MSN, ARNP-BC

FNPN, Membership Committee Chair

From your AANP Representative

Doreen Cassarino MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, BC-ADM

The AANP Election site is now open. All members who are eligible to vote should have received email notification when the site opened on Thursday, March 10. If you did not receive an email notification from "AANP election coordinator," please check your "junk" mail or spam filter as it may have been caught there. For technical support (available Monday - Friday, 8 am - 5 pm central time) call (952) 974-2339 or email . Click below to meet the candidates in the 2011 election. We hope that you will participate in this important opportunity to help shape the future of your organization through the election process.

FNPN PAC Update

Marifrances Gullo - PAC Chair

The purpose of the FNPN-Political Action Committee (PAC) is to promote the ARNP profession through advancing the outcome of political issues or legislation. This is accomplished by contributing to the support of worthy candidates for State or Local offices who we believe have demonstrated their support of the principles to which this professional organization is dedicated. To further their purpose the PAC is empowered to solicit and accept these voluntary personal contributions (up to $500 per year per person). These contributions are used to attempt to influence the selection, nomination, or election of any individual to any State or Local office. Your decision to make a PAC contribution will help to continue our efforts wherever possible. Contributions can be made @ via Pay Pal…or your check payable to FNPN-PAC sent to 4637 Golden Apples Tr.Port Orange, FL 32129. Let’s make things happen together! Thank you for your support!!

Around the State andAround the Nation

Nurse Practitioner Rallies Attract Supporters Across Florida

ByKenric Ward

Created02/26/2011 - 9:26pm

Hundreds of nurse practitioners were joined by doctors, patients and health-care workers at rallies in five cities across Florida on Saturday.
Nurse practitioners, promoting legislation that would grant their right to practice at the full scope of their profession, rallied for their cause in Miami, Sarasota, Orlando, Tallahassee and Pensacola.
The Florida Council of Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP) cited a recent study, which found that nurse practitioners and physician's assistants are already attending one third of all office visits. That study by the Legislature's Office of Program Policy and Analysis and Government Accountability estimated that the state would save more than $339 million a year by allowing nurse practitioners to practice at their full ability and scope.
State Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, is sponsoring HB 4106 to bring Florida's regulations into line with 48 other states in authorizing full-scope practice by nurse practitioners, including writing prescriptions for controlled substances.
"Allowing Florida's 13,000 nurse practitioners to practice at their full ability and training, which includes increased prescription authority, will allow a million more patients to be seen in a timely manner," said Stan Whittaker, president of the ARNP council.
Supporters for lifting restrictions on ARNPs include Florida TaxWatch, the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Center to Champion Nursing of the AARP, Bipartisan Policy Center, the Brooking Institution, the Cato Institute, the Center for American Progress, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Medicine.

News You Can Use

The Florida NP Network has taken the next step to keep our members informed. Keep abreast of changes in your practice around the state and around the nation.You can join us today on Facebook under Florida Nurse Practitioner and Twitter under FloridaNP. We hope to hear from you.

National Women’s Health Week 2011 is approaching. The 12th annual initiative kicks off on Mother’s Day, May 8, and is celebrated until May 14, 2011. With the theme “It’s Your Time,”National Women’s Health Week encourages women to make their health a top priority and take simple steps for a longer, healthier and happier life.

Nurses and nurse practitioners are on the front lines of women’s health, and have the opportunity educate women every day on prevention and the screenings they need to stay healthy and prevent disease. To see more click here.

What would you do?

Mary Ellen is a nurse practitioner who serves one of the most rural areas of Florida. She is one of thousands of nurse practitioners nationwide that’s standing in the gap, providing primary healthcare when and where it’s needed. But unlike her nurse practitioner colleagues in other states, in Florida Mary Ellen isn’t allowed to treat patients who suffer from excruciating pain or chronic conditions requiring special prescription medication. Why? Florida is one of only two states in the entire country where the law restricts nurse practitioners from prescribing “scheduled medications” or controlled substances.

For more click here