SB161 Summary

• Creates the licensing category of "advanced practice registered nurse" in Arkansas nursing law, replacing previous terminology and establishing standardized qualifications and certification requirements.

• Defines four advanced practice registered nurse roles: certified nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists, each with specific education and national certification requirements.

• Establishes that advanced practice registered nurses may obtain certificates of prescriptive authority to prescribe drugs in Schedules III-V, subject to having a collaborative practice agreement with a licensed physician.

• Requires the Arkansas State Board of Nursing to include one licensed advanced practice registered nurse member with at least five years of experience and prescriptive authority, and increases the Prescriptive Authority Advisory Committee from five to six members with four advanced practice registered nurses.

• Authorizes advanced practice registered nurses and registered nurse practitioners to enter into direct reimbursement agreements with the state Medicaid program and permits them to supervise certain nursing student activities.