National Policy

NNCC is a national leader advocating for nurse-led care. Our Policy Team provides up-to-date information and education on issues that affect nurse-managed health centers and other nurse-led practice settings. Our team ensures nurse advocates have a seat at the table with insurers, policymakers, and business leaders at the national level.

NNCC promotes nurse-led health care to improve access to high-quality care, particularly for vulnerable populations. A primary area of focus is nurse-managed health clinics, which often serve a dual function in offering community-based care and training a health care workforce prepared to address complex needs.

Nurse-Managed Health Clinics (NMHCs)

Nurse-managed health clinics provide a full range of health services, including primary care, health promotion, and disease prevention, to low-income, underinsured, and uninsured clients. We work with congressional champions to secure well-deserved recognition for nurse-managed health clinics, and support sustainable federal funding for nurse-managed health clinics that care for low-income patients with complex health conditions.

Graduate Nurse Education 

In 2012, several nurse-managed health clinics were chosen to serve as clinical education sites in a federally funded demonstration project to test the effectiveness of creating a graduate nurse education program. We are a part of a coalition drafting legislation that would make the graduate nurse education program permanent.

Title VIII Nursing Workforce Funding

For over 50 years, the Nursing Workforce Development Programs in Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act have provided funding for nursing education, practice, recruitment, and retention. Title VIII’s grant programs a major funding source for academically-based nurse-led health centers. Each year we work with a coalition of national nursing groups to make sure Title VIII’s programs are fully funded.

Medicaid Credentialing

Nurses across the country are experiencing long delays when attempting to enroll in state Medicaid programs. We are working with congressional champions to test a dual Medicaid/Medicare credentialing process that would streamline the enrollment process by allowing providers who are already enrolled in Medicare to be automatically enrolled Medicaid.

Scope of Practice

Our Policy Team advocates for a practice environment that recognizes the unique contribution of the nursing model and encourages nurses at every level to practice to the full extent of their licensure and training. Our policy is partnering with other national nursing organizations to ensure that nurses in the federal system can exercise full practice authority. Most recently, this work prompted the Veterans Administration to grant advanced practice nurses full practice authority.