The DNP degree is a rigorous academic and clinical program of study to provide standardized, formal training for nurses who aspire to a more complex advanced practice, with broader scope and responsibility than master’s degree education provides. Nurses have informally acquired the expertise for this expanded practice, and payers have begun to reimburse for it. The 1997 Balanced Budget Act, for example, authorizes Medicare reimbursement to nurse practitioners for all Medicare Part B services in any site. Other payers, including Medicaid, have authorized expanded services by nurse practitioners in underserved areas. Reliable quality and clear identifiable standards of education are now necessary for the legitimate expansion of practice and for broad acceptance by the public and by commercial insurers.
Founded in 2000, the Council for the Advancement of Comprehensive Care (CACC) is an international consortium of distinguished academic and health policy leaders who are committed to assuring quality and access to primary health care. Primary care that meets the current and emerging needs of patients is a scarce resource. Nurses, who are distinguished by the very practice components needed most, have the opportunity to not only fill the gap, but provide the kind of coordinated, comprehensive care that is central to fixing the broken health care system. CACC’s mission is to develop and promulgate the clinical doctoral role and competencies for nurses in the primary care delivery arena.
Robert Brook, MD, ScD, V.P. Colleen Conway-Welch, PhD, Dean Richard A. Cooper, MD, Professor Marie J. Cowan, PhD, Dean Donna Hathaway , PhD,
Dean Martha Hill, PhD, Dean Ada Sue Hinshaw, PhD,
Professor Judy Honig, EdD, DrNP,
Associate Dean Karen Ignani, President and CEO Robert Kane, MD,
Professor The Honorable Thomas Kean, Sr. |
Kenneth Kizer, MD,
Chair and CEO Lucy Marion, PhD,
Dean Mary O. Mundinger, DrPH,
Dean Marla Salmon, ScD,
Dean Joan Shaver, PhD,
Dean Patricia Starck, DSN, Dean Gail Warden, President Emeritus Myron Weisfeldt, MD, Chair, Medicine Nancy Woods, PhD,
Dean International Partners |