HARRISBURG (TNS) — A bipartisan pair of state senators plan another push to allow nurse practitioners to work independently in Pennsylvania, enabling them to set up their own practices offering some of the care long provided by doctors.

Some healthcare reformers have long argued that giving more independence to nurse practitioners could help overcome the long-building shortage of primary care doctors. However, organizations representing doctors, including the Pennsylvania Medical Society, have argued that patients prefer having a physician responsible for their care.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have additional training in an area such as family medicine or caring for the elderly. They are qualified to do many of the things done by doctors, including diagnosing illnesses and prescribing treatment and prescription drugs.

Under Pennsylvania law, nurse practitioners must work under a collaborative agreement with a physician. They are often part of a team of caregivers in healthcare settings such as family medical practices. They often diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatment, with a physician seeing only the patients with unusually severe or complicated conditions.

In 26 states and Washington, D.C., nurse practitioners are allowed to operate more independently than in Pennsylvania, according to a bill co-sponsorship memo from state Sens. Lisa Boscola and Camera Bartolotta. Boscola is a Democrat from the Lehigh Valley and Bartolotta is a Republican from western Pennsylvania.

The two, who have tried previously to enable nurse practitioners to operate independently, plan to reintroduce their bill during the new two-year legislative session that begins this week, The Morning Call in Allentown reported on Monday.

According to The Morning Call, nurse practitioners say some restrictions on their scope of practice were waived during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn showed the benefits of allowing them to function more independently.

The memo from Boscola and Bartolotta says their bill “will expand access to high-quality health care by removing archaic restrictions on these [nurse practitioners] that no longer reflect modern medicine and the delivery of health care.”

Their proposed change to the law would grant nurse practitioners “full practice authority” after completing a three-year, 3,600-hour collaboration with a physician.