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Vermont nurse practitioners ask Health & Welfare committee to consult clinicians on pending bills
Summary
Members of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that nurse practitioners provide full-scope care across settings, highlighted workforce and rural-access challenges, and asked to be included in legislation on birthing centers, a statewide health-care plan and payment reform.
Members of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that nurse practitioners provide full-scope primary and specialty care and asked lawmakers to involve them in pending bills, including a birthing-center bill, a statewide health-care planning measure and payment-reform proposals.
Doctor Virgen Vienbreese, a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner at Gifford Medical Center who serves on the association’s legislative committee, summarized the profession’s training and scope: “Nurse practitioners are highly skilled advanced practice providers. We all begin our studies as registered nurses … we attend a master's or doctoral program geared toward the population which we serve.” She also said, “In Vermont, we have full practice authority,” allowing nurse practitioners to evaluate, diagnose, prescribe and manage care across settings.
The association’s presenters described a broad scope of practice that includes primary care, hospital medicine, emergency care, psychiatric care, anesthesiology, obstetrics and specialty clinics; practice settings named included clinics, hospitals, emergency departments, schools, skilled nursing and home health. Vienbreese gave a rural example, saying she “is the only provider in a 20 mile radius” in one community.
Michelle Wade, president of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association and a hospitalist at Gifford, asked the committee to treat the group as a resource during legislative drafting and review. “We would like to invite you to have an ongoing conversation with us,” Wade said, offering the association as a point of contact for lawmakers and staff.
Certified nurse midwife Janet Kaplan, who described 22 years of practice in Vermont and current work at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, said certified nurse midwives are a small portion of advanced practice registered nurses in Vermont but play a significant role in childbirth care. “According to the birth certificate data of 2022, we delivered more than 30 percent of the babies born in Vermont,” Kaplan said, and she told senators midwifery services provide 24/7 coverage at some labor-delivery units.
Senators and presenters also flagged workforce development as an ongoing concern. Committee members noted prior work on incentives such as loan repayment and tuition reimbursement to attract nurses and pressed for evidence of return on investment; Wade said she would email information about outcomes for nurses who used loan programs and stayed in the state.
The presentation was informational. No committee votes or formal actions were recorded during this segment.
The presenters asked lawmakers to contact the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association for testimony and to coordinate when bills relevant to advanced practice clinicians appear on committee agendas.
