See the link to the breaking news report below!
This is great news for all states where APRNs seek full practice authority since this ruling limits the ability of powerful state licensing boards from suppressing competition. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that state licensing boards, which regulate their competitors, must be supervised by state governments. This ruling sided with the Federal Trade Commission in a dispute with North Carolina’s dental board.
This is the first case that has gotten to the U.S. Supreme Court that now has potential implications for nursing scope-of-practice regulations in every state!
The four-year old case stems from the FTC’s claims that the NC Dental board violated federal antitrust law by sending letters to stop “non-dentists” from offering teeth-whitening services.Federal antitrust law generally prohibits individuals or businesses from collaborating to repel competition. Following this anti-trust action, many anticipate that now other state regulatory boards will face more challenges and will expect state legislatures to make more decisions about regulatory boards. Many are pleased with the Supreme Court’s recognition that the antitrust laws limit the ability of powerful boards to suppress competition through unfair state professional boards.
AANP and other national APRN organizations have followed this case closely and filed briefs supporting the FTC opinion. The Supreme Court upheld the FTC opinion.