244 CMR 4.00: Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (Redline Emergency Amendments)

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing made history by voting to approve emergency amendments to 244 CMR 4.00. The approved regulations can be found in the attached:

• 244 CMR 4.00: Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (Redline Emergency Amendments)

Please visit the Board of Nursing website at https://www.mass.gov/orgs/board-of-registration-in-nursing for more information.

On January 1, 2021, Massachusetts became the 23rd state to enact full practice authority for nurse practitioners with the passage of An Act Promoting a Resilient Health Care System That Puts Patients First. Signed by Governor Charlie Baker, the new law makes permanent the governor's executive orders expand access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original executive order, dated March 26, 2020, remove supervisory requirements for advanced practice registered nurses with at least two years of supervised practice experience.

Massachusetts now permanently empowers nurse practitioners to practice to the independently and to the full extent of their education and training after two years of supervised practice with a physician and lifts similar scope of practice restrictions for nurse anesthetists and psychiatric nurse mental health clinical specialists. You can read a bill fact sheet here.

ANAMASS applauds Governor Baker and the Massachusetts legislature, especially Healthcare Conference Committee Co-Chairs Senator Cindy Friedman and Representative Ron Mariano, for championing these crucial reforms to expand access to care for Massachusetts residents.