Two of the nation’s top nurse practitioner associations, The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP), announced they are considering a plan to join forces.
The merger would give 155,000 nurse practitioners a single voice and enhance their ability to ensure they continue to play a vital role in the healthcare system. Following the announcement, the web was abuzz with nurse practitioner bloggers expressing their excitement over the possible merger. “By consolidating efforts and working together, I am certain that we will see a further reduction in barriers to nurse practitioner driven care at both the Federal and State levels,” Dr. Stephen Ferrara wrote on the Online Nurse Practitioner Program blog.
“I have been a long-time advocate of a unified nurse practitioner voice and it is the right time to be working together with a razor sharp focus.”
Barbara C. Phillips, manager of Nurse Practitioner Business Owner Blog, sent the following statement to her social media followers, “I was very pleased this morning to see an email from AANP discussing “potential” (probable I’d say) consolidation of the organization and resources. It’s past time we had one national organization speaking in one voice for NPs in general.”
The merger would mean that NPs would no longer struggle with deciding which professional association to join. Both associations provide educational opportunities, research, conferences, regulatory efforts, and other valuable resources to their members. The AANP is the slightly older organization, founded in 1985, while the ACNP was founded in 1993.
