The purposes/goals of the NP Forum MIG are to:

1. Protect and advance the role and practice of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses through active membership involvement in WNA’s structure and functions.
2. Influence the quality and quantity of continuing education for the annual Nurse Practitioner Conference.
3. Provide a forum for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to organize and act around professional, educational, economic and legislative issues, within the guidelines of the WNA.
4. Serve as resource to the WNA Board of Directors, structural units and/or other MIGs.
5. Award the Mary Barker Scholarship annually.

Membership:

Membership is open to all Wisconsin Nurses Association members who are Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. This includes Nurse Practitioners (NPs), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) who is certified by recognized certification bodies or eligible for such certification, or members who are studying for an APRN eligible role.

Legislation and Regulation:

WNA is working on a variety of policy related to APRNs including:

• APRN Modernization Act.
• Emergency Rule on APNP Collaboration with Dentists
• Legislation impacting APNPs during the 2017-2018 Biennium

Resources

• Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act
• Wisconsin Administrative Code for Nurses
• APRN Roundtable
• APRN Coalition
• AANP

News and Practice Updates

• 1/22/2019 Primary Care Workforce Data and the Need for Nurse Practitioners Full Practice Authority
  For the past six years, we have tracked primary care workforce numbers, comparing the annual primary care residency match data with the primary care nurse practitioner (NP) graduation rates. The trends for physicians and NPs have been striking in their contrasts, and those contrasts continue with the data presented in the latest reports. This year, the number of NP graduates continued to rise, while the number of physician graduates, both allopathic and osteopathic, remained essentially flat.
• 1/22/2019 Primary Care Nurse Practitioners and Physicians in Low-income and Rural Areas, 2010-2016
• 11/29/2018 DHS Notice that Prior Authorization is required for only “nonpreferred” buprenorphine-containing products
• 11/20/2018 NP Week 2018: Record Number of Proclamations
• 11/01/2018 Final Policy, Payment, and Quality Provisions Changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for Calendar Year 2019

Historical Background

• The NP Forum is a MIG (Mutual Interest Group) of WNA
• Originally called the WNA Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner Council, initiated in the mid-1970s
• The name was changed to the NP Forum around 1993
• The name was then changed to the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) Forum
• In 2012, the name was changed to the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Forum
• In mid-2018, the name was changed back to the NP Forum to reflect the largest percentage of APRN members in WNA.
• Past Chairpersons
• Past AANP Award Winners
• Past Pharmacology and Therapeutics Conferences