The Functional Nurse Podcast - Nursing in Functional Medicine · Brigitte Sager, DNP

AANP Health Policy Conference Key Takeaways

·27 min·1 clip

Bridget says the definition of a lobbyist is someone who tells politicians what they need to know.

1. The Functional Nurse Podcast episode centers on Bridget Sager’s first visit to the AANP Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. 2. Bridget Sager is the host, a family nurse practitioner who teaches functional medicine, nutrition, and entrepreneurship to functional and holistically minded nurses. 3. The episode is meant to show what nurse practitioner advocacy looked like at AANP and why Bridget thinks it matters for patient access. 4. Bridget says the conference took place over several days, with two full days of meetings and a third day on Capitol Hill. 5. She estimates that about 300 nurse practitioners attended and then split into state groups to meet politicians and staff. 6. The policy focus was Medicare and Medicaid access, especially bills that would make it easier for nurse practitioners to order needed services. 7. Bridget names diabetic shoes, cardiopulmonary rehab, and hospice as examples of services nurse practitioners still cannot order in some settings. 8. She says those gaps can delay discharge, prolong hospital stays, and reduce timely access to comfort-focused care. 9. Bridget connects the policy work to rural practice, saying some states make it difficult for nurse practitioners to open independent practices in areas with few primary care providers. 10. She gives a statistic that nurse practitioner numbers in the United States rose from 290,000 in 2020 to 431,000 in 2024. 11. Bridget also says roughly 80% of nurse practitioners see Medicaid patients and 74% of full-time nurse practitioners see Medicare patients. 12. She notes that nurse practitioners perform nearly a billion patient visits each year. 13. Bridget says Dr. Valerie Fuller spoke about misinformation and disinformation around nursing and how the profession has been minimized. 14. She gives an example of webinar forms that list professions like physician, pharmacist, health coach, and nurse practitioner but omit registered nurse. 15. Bridget says Fuller showed advertising and media examples that made nursing look cute, sexy, or less serious, and she ties that to the need for nurses to respond. 16. Bridget says Dr. Betty Ramber discussed payment reform and the fact that nurse practitioners are reimbursed at 85% of a physician rate for the same service. 17. The episode has a practical, reflective tone, with Bridget mixing conference notes, policy examples, and personal reactions from the Hill. 18. Her delivery is conversational and advocacy-focused, and she includes specific scenes like talking to legislators, staffers, and the AANP president. 19. Nurses, nurse practitioners, and health professionals interested in advocacy will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting clinical teaching without policy discussion may skip it.

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