Advocacy and Government Affairs

Reflecting on NPWH's Efforts in 2023

Dear NPWH,


The National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health is dedicated to being a strong advocate for certified women's health nurse practitioners (WHNP-BCs) and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) who provide women's and gender-related healthcare. By promoting the unique role and expertise of certified WHNPs in providing comprehensive and compassionate healthcare to women and people across the lifespan, NPWH works tirelessly to ensure you have the support and resources needed to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care. Through education, advocacy, and collaboration, NPWH champions the WHNP profession and strives to improve the health and well-being of the women and people you care for.


At the heart of our advocacy efforts are you and the women and the patients you care for daily.


One way that NPWH supports advocacy for the profession and membership is by working with like-minded organizations to raise the collective voice for certified WHNPs and Advanced Practice Providers. We contribute to sign-on letters, answer requests for information, provide testimony, and file Amicus Briefs in support of your ability to practice to your full scope.


Our advocacy work includes educating policymakers about the certified WHNP role and the scope of practice, including perinatal maternal healthcare, reproductive healthcare, peri/menopause, and healthcare across a woman’s life span. In addition, we are working to develop a suite of advocacy-related tools to support your efforts at the federal, state, local, and professional levels.


On November 13, 2023, President Biden announced the first-ever White House (WH) Initiative on Women’s Health Research, an effort led by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council. The WH Initiative will engage a wide range of external stakeholders, including researchers and academics, women’s health organizations, philanthropic leaders, and industry stakeholders. NPWH applauds the White House on this initiative and responded to the White House requesting that they ensure that research conducted by certified WHNPs who have doctoral degrees be included in their priorities and on the research teams. In early January 2024, in response to their call to collaborate, NPWH submitted a letter and received confirmation of receipt to collaborate with the White House on this initiative.


At the end of last year, the NPWH Advocacy and Government Affairs Committee, made up of volunteer members, developed a new tool to help educate the public, hiring teams, the federal government, and Congress about the maternal healthcare scope of the certified WHNP. View here, Maternal Healthcare in the U.S. and The Role of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP).


Please visit our advocacy webpage to learn more and access various tools we have developed to support you. Also, you can visit our resources page to access additional resources, handouts, information, etc. And always feel free to contact me with how we can help and support you.


Enjoy the highlights of our collective efforts to support you and the patients you care for.


With warm regards,


Heather L. Maurer, MA, CAE

Chief Executive Officer

The National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health

www.npwh.org


P.S. Follow me on my professional Instagram. IG: @heatherlmaurer

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS


NPWH remains committed to protecting and promoting a woman's right to make her own choices regarding her health and well-being within the context of her lived experience and her personal, religious, cultural, and family beliefs.


To this end, we have actively participated in efforts to preserve women’s access to the full range of reproductive health services. We joined collaborating advanced practice and nursing organizations to advocate for the WHNP profession as well as other APPs who provide women's healthcare, including abortion care.

Amicus Brief: Advanced Practice Clinicians Protect Access to Mifepristone

In October, NPWH with the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), and the Association of Physician Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology (APAOG), filed a new amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court to emphasize the profound harms to American healthcare that would likely flow if medically unnecessary restrictions were placed on access to Mifepristone. The brief, filed in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine vs. FDA, urges the court to respect the qualifications of Advanced Practice Clinicians to provide the full spectrum of healthcare services within their scope of practice, including providing safe and effective abortion care. Read more.


Amicus Brief: Advanced Practice Clinician's Qualifications to Provide Care Using Mifepristone and Misoprostol

On May 1, 2023, NPWH submitted an Amicus Brief to the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas in support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s "stay" issued in response to the preliminary injunction in the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine vs. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The preliminary injunction would have temporarily blocked nurse practitioners and APRNs who provide women's healthcare, including certified nurse midwives, from prescribing or administering mifepristone. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) partnered with NPWH on this brief.


Amicus Brief: Upholding Montana Abortion Access for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and Midwives

On May 12, 2023, NPWH and ACNM celebrated a groundbreaking court decision that preserves safe and qualified access to medication abortion care in Montana. The ruling, handed down by the Montana Supreme Court, recognizes the critical role of advanced practice nurses and midwives in providing safe and essential reproductive healthcare services. NPWH and ACNM filed an Amicus Brief. Read more.

January 2024/December 2023


Letters of Support: These letters indicate NPWH’s support for initiatives and legislative and regulatory actions. They include joint statements regarding pertinent issues, such as the availability of the maternal RSV vaccine. We joined numerous organizations in providing letters of support, including Workplace Violence Prevention Action, Title VIII, I CAN Act, Nurse Corps Tax Parity Act, Workers’ Comp for Injured Federal Workers Act, Momnibus Act, the National Nursing Workforce Center Act of 2022, and U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.


Letters of Request: These letters are directed to legislators, Cabinet members, and federal agency heads. They often include requests for funding for federal agencies, the nursing workforce and education. The 2023 topics included: requesting legislators and regulators to make emergency provisions affecting APRN practice during the pandemic permanent; funding for support for Federal public health agencies (HRSA, ARHQ, Office of Research in Women’s Health); funding for workforce development, and more.


Welcome Letters: We sent joint letters welcoming newly appointed Cabinet members and federal agency heads, and expressing the importance of women’s and gender-related healthcare their roles.


Comments and Requests for Information: These are responses to requests for comment published in the Federal Register or by federal agencies and usually refer to APRN reimbursement and funding.


Letters of Opposition: We signed on to letters of opposition with regard to Medicaid work requirements and Medicaid cuts, and funding cuts to Title V and other Federal MCH programs as this would significantly disadvantage women and pregnant people.


Endorsements: We endorsed pieces of legislation including: The Reintroduction of the Stillbirth Health and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act; The Right to Contraception Act; and the Reintroduction of the Access to Infertility Care Act.

February/March 2023 – NPWH former President Shawana Moore and Treasurer of the Board of Directors Danielle Grimm participated in a Leadership & Advocacy Training focused on advancing the contributions of nurses to advance equitable and just climate policy and create sustainable and resilient communities, hosted by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and members of the Nursing Collaborative on Climate Change and Health. NPWH is committed to supporting policy and research in support of environmental health to improve women’s health.

May 2023 – Susan Kendig, WHNP-BC, JD, NPWH Director of WHNP Practice and Policy, participated in a CDC-sponsored maternal mortality panel during a preconference at the ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting. She also presented an update on the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative with Dr. Julie Woods, AAFP Senior Vice President of Research, Science and Health of the Public.

Opill Hearing and Public Comment: NPWH submitted written comments to The Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee to support the over-the-counter status of Opill, a progestin-only oral contraceptive.


On May 9, then-NPWH President-Elect Dr. Komkwuan P. Paruchabutr provided oral comments to the Advisory Committee supporting the over-the-counter status of Opill.


In July, Opill became the first oral contraceptive approved for over-the-counter use in the U.S. Read more. 


Susan Kendig, WHNP-BC, JD, NPWH Director of WHNP Practice and Policy, participated in a CDC-sponsored maternal mortality panel during a preconference at the ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting. She also presented an update on the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative with Dr. Julie Woods, AAFP Senior Vice President of Research, Science and Health of the Public.

June 2023 – NPWH served as a partner in the CDC-funded, ACOG-led Maternal Immunization Coalition, representing the voice of the WHNP-BC at the immunization coalition meeting and planning session, where we shared information about our maternal immunization fact sheets and other resources.

August 2023 NPWH CEO Heather L. Maurer, MA, CAE and the Director of WHNP Practice and Policy, Susan Kendig, WHNP-BC, JD, joined staff from a variety of health care provider and advocacy organization for the Black Maternal Health Caucus Summit, focused on the Momnibus package.

September 2023 – NPWH Director of WHNP Practice and Policy Susan Kendig, WHNP-BC, JD, was named co-chair of the March of Dimes Mom & Baby Action Network (M-BAN) National Advisory Council, bringing the voice of the WHNP to the forefront of the maternal mortality discussion.


NPWH CEO, NPWH President-elect and Director of WHNP Practice and Policy attend the Free the Pill Coalition celebration of Opill becoming the first over the counter oral contraceptive available in the U.S.

October 2023 – Skye Perryman, President of Democracy Forward, headlined the 26th Annual NPWH Annual Women's Healthcare Conference in San Diego, emphasizing the important role of WHNP-BCs in championing women’s health and autonomy.

November 2023 – NPWH Director of WHNP Practice and Policy Susan Kendig, WHNP-BC, JD, participated in an HPV Coalition-led discussion with representatives from the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative, stressing the importance of the HPV vaccine as a prevention strategy.

December 2023 – NPWH participated in a Women in Government panel discussing access and barriers to the newly approved maternal RSV vaccine. The panel, led by Connecticut state representative Kathy Kennedy, included representation from Healthy Woman, Mannatt Health, and UnidosUS. The complete presentation is available on the Women in Government website.

NPWH Board member Mary Hickey led efforts to articulate WHNP-BC specific competencies as part of larger national initiatives regarding NP curriculum. In 2024, NPWH will begin its competency review process.


NPWH partnered with the March of Dimes and Human Rights Watch in a survey of doula’s needs to support birthing people in understanding and addressing the effects of climate change on pregnancy and postpartum health.



NPWH participated in the Society for Women’s Health Research Heart Health policy working group, providing input to policy recommendations related to prevention, detection, and intervention for cardiovascular disease in women across the lifespan.

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