California’s health care provider gap is severe, particularly among primary care and behavioral health providers. More than 11 million Californians – one-quarter of the state’s population – are affected by lack of access to health care services, with two-thirds being Latino, Black and Native American communities.

Nurse practitioners are critical to addressing these shortages. Not only do they accept greater numbers of uninsured, Medi-Cal, and Medicare patients compared to physicians, but NPs are also more likely to work in rural and underserved communities.

That's why the California Association for Nurse Practitioners and the Close the Provider Gap Coalition are strongly supporting SB 1451, authored by Senator Angelique Ashby. SB 1451 includes language to address implementation hurdles to AB 890 (Wood, 2020) that are preventing nurse practitioners from expanding access to care in the way the bill intended.

Please contact your legislators via our Action Center and help ensure California’s communities, families, and patients — especially in underserved medical deserts across the state — can access the high-quality, timely care they need.