Effective Thursday, April 26, the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts (MBHA) and the Missouri Board of Nursing (MBN) loosened the regulatory requirements which dictate the maximum distance between the location at which an Advance Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) practices and the location at which his/her collaborating physician practices.
Under prior law, this distance could be no more than 30 miles. The maximum distance limitation was increased to 50 miles if the APRN practiced in a federally-recognized Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA).
In their new rulemaking, MBHA and MBN have increased the maximum distance limitation such that the location at which an APRN practices now can be no more than 75 miles by road from the location at which the APRN’s collaborating physician practices. As part of this change, MBHA and MBN have also eliminated the difference in treatment between those APRNs practicing in an HPSA and those practicing outside an HPSA. Under the new rule, the 75 mile maximum distance limitation applies in both situations.
According to the announcement in the Missouri Register, this change in the maximum distance limitation is considered an Emergency Amendment to the existing rules and, as a result, is going into effect immediately. Per this same announcement, this change in the maximum distance limitation will automatically expire on February 5, 2019, unless otherwise extended by MBHA and MBN.
This blog post was drafted by Donn Herring, a Partner in the St. Louis, MO office of Spencer Fane LLP. For more information, visit spencerfane.com.