Southeast Mo. nurse practitioner talks financial costs of collaborating with physicians

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - We’re hearing from more people about a proposed bill in Missouri that would ease restrictions on nurse practitioners.

According to one local nurse practitioner, it could save those in her profession a lot of money.

Nurse practitioner Sheila Armbruster said she supports the Missouri Senate bill that would allow her to serve her patients independently, rather than paying to work alongside a local physician.

Armbruster serves 1,500 patients at Broadway Family Clinic in Cape Girardeau.

A second location in Bloomfield serves another 500 people.

She said, in order to practice, they have to pay the doctors they collaborate with; and easing that rule would make a big difference.

”I understand they feel insecure about our education, but we’ve done this for years,” she said. “This is not new for us and we have not decreased the excellence of our care and we have not improved it by having collaborators. They don’t help us do better, necessarily, than they can. Collaborations is always good but to charge for it is, to me, not necessary.”

Armbruster said working independently will allow her to help as many patients as she can.

State Representative Alex Riley of Springfield is sponsoring the nurse practitioner bill.

He told us on Wednesday afternoon, March 1, it continues moving through a house committee and, so far, has a lot of support.

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