Working together. Physicians, midlevel practitioners reach compromise on scope-of-practice issues

When the 74th Texas Legislature convened last January, lobbyists for the Texas Medical Association anticipated a bitter fight over attempts by advanced nurse practitioners to gain authority to independently prescribe drugs. After all, physicians and nurses had been fighting for several sessions over scope-of-practice issues. Near the end of the 73rd Legislature, in 1993, nurse practitioners (NPs) stalked away from the bargaining table, effectively killing a compromise that some thought was close to approval.