Hip Hip Hooray! Join us in congratulating our Kansas ACNM Affiliate in becoming the 29th jurisdiction (28 states plus D.C.) to achieve FULL PRACTICE AUTHORITY for Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs). On Friday, April 15, 2022, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) signed HB 2279 into law allowing CNMs in the state to practice to the full extent of their education, clinical training and national certification without mandated conditions and/or physician oversight as a requirement for licensure and practice as a midwife.
Kansas CNMs have been working alongside other stakeholders to untether themselves from the costly burden of unnecessary paperwork and physician control of their practice for many years. “I have been working on this issue since I became a midwife 10 years ago and I have fought every single day to be able to practice in the state of Kansas,” stated Kansas ACNM Affiliate President Jamie Harrington, DNP, CNM. “At last the barriers have been removed, enabling CNMs to own and operate a freestanding birth center without restrictive regulations and providing families more options for maternal care.”
The Kansas ACNM Affiliate would like to send special thanks to all the stakeholders who helped make passage of HB 2279 a reality including, Kansas Advanced Practice Nurses, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Kansas ACNM members, Kansas State Nurses Association, Kansas March of Dimes, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity, and the Kansas chapter of the AARP. And none of this could have been possible without the leadership of champions from the Kansas Legislature, Representatives Doug Blex, Dan Hawkins, and Susan Ruiz and Senators Hilderbrand, Gossage, and Pettey who encouraged so many of their colleagues to sign-on and make better health care access a reality in Kansas.
Better integration of midwives and midwifery-led care into the care continuum is part of the solution to addressing our nation’s maternal health crises. ACNM applauds the Kansas Affiliate for their tireless work to improve access to midwifery care and help ensure that the people of Kansas are served by maternal health system that delivers safe, effective, timely, efficient, and patient-centered care.
Quickening is the official member publication and digital news site for the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Content is written by and for ACNM members and staff.