SPRUCE PINE, N.C. - Nurses and nurse practitioners would play a bigger role in North Carolina's health-care system under some new legislation.

A bipartisan bill that has the support of more than 60 state lawmakers would make access to basic health-care services easier by cutting red tape for advanced-practice nurses and nurse practitioners. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Spruce Pine, said he introduced Senate Bill 143 so that nurses can provide more primary-care services in areas that need it most.

"Representing a rural area in western North Carolina, one of the challenges we find is that it's very difficult to recruit primary-care doctors to our region to practice," he said. "We really have a gap in people being able to access services, and this really allows us to use nurses to fill some of that gap."

Companion legislation, House Bill 185, is being carried by Rep. Josh Dobson, R-Marion.

Critics have pointed out that nurse practitioners receive less training than doctors and may not be fully prepared to work without a doctor's supervision. However, Hise said the need is great. Rural North Carolina has higher rates of drug and alcohol use, suicide and teen births, plus more uninsured patients and preventable hospitalizations. These areas also face a shortage of almost every type of provider.

"This is work that nurses already do," he said. "The requirements right now - they have to constantly be under a doctor's supervision in order to do that. This bill would allow them to operate in hours that they may not currently be able to, because there's not a doctor there, and would move them more into working to a team approach with their doctors."

Twenty counties in the state don't have a pediatrician and 26 don't have an OB-GYN, according to the North Carolina Health Professions Data System. Hise said the bills don't change what nurses are allowed to do, but lets them work within their current scope without unnecessary restrictions.

AARP North Carolina is one group lending its support to the bills. State president Cathy Sevier said it's a matter of the rising demand for health-care services, due in part to an aging population that's growing, even as the number of primary-care doctors is shrinking.

"Nurse practitioners, advanced-practice nurses in all of the fields - midwifery, anesthesia, clinical nurse specialists - all provide the level of care in a much more affordable way, and very safely," she said.

The Senate bill is working its way through the Rules Committee before being considered by the Health Care Subcommittee in coming weeks.

Texts of SB 143 and HB 185 are online.


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People who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, will be dropped from their CoveredCA health plans at the end of August.

The move comes after the Trump administration changed a Biden-era definition of "lawfully present" to revoke health care eligibility for thousands of immigrants.

Christine Smith, policy and legislative advocate for the nonprofit Health Access California, said people only have a few weeks to get medical appointments in before their coverage ends.

"If you're enrolled in Covered California and you're a DACA recipient, the Trump administration just ended your coverage," Smith emphasized. "People should use as much of your health care as you can before the August 31st deadline."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services defended the move, saying it will save taxpayers money. CoveredCA estimated the change affects about 2,400 DACA recipients in the state who make too much to qualify for Medi-Cal and have jobs not providing health insurance. They can still buy private insurance but it is much more expensive. People who prepaid for their coverage can seek a refund.

Smith predicted it will be a blow not just to those who lose coverage but to the state's health care system as a whole.

"The lines in the ERs are going to be longer because people are not going to be able to get affordable preventive care," Smith projected. "They're just going to get sicker and then end up in the ERs. People will overall incur more medical debt. Hospitals will have more uncompensated care."

The change is nationwide. As of mid-July, about 538,000 people in the DACA program across the U.S. are ineligible to enroll in any state-based insurance marketplace and are unable to access premium subsidies or cost-sharing assistance.

Artificial intelligence is appearing more prominently in many aspects of life and research suggests older populations are curious, yet remain wary of using the technology in their everyday lives.

According to Stats Indiana, there are more than 1.5 million Hoosiers aged 65 and older, or 18% of the state's population. Experts said it is likely the demographic will use AI in some form in the next few years, either by choice or necessity.

Dr. Shaun Grannis, vice president of data and analytics for the Regenstrief Institute on Aging, said AI offers real benefits.

"It can reduce loneliness through conversation, provide reminders for medications and appointments," Grannis outlined. "It can support cognitive stimulation via games, storytelling, news updates."

The technology can also offer a low-pressure way to access information on public services, he added, which is valuable for those with mobility issues or those who feel intimidated by technology.

Grannis cautioned any tool which can be used for good can also lead to problems. He noted AI can create a false sense of companionship and mask social isolation. Overdependence is a legitimate concern, he argued, if the technology becomes a "crutch" for all forms of interaction.

"All cognitive activities or decision-making, it can actually lead to and create a negative feedback loop, lead to a decline in engagement and even basic self-management skills," Grannis explained. "This is risky."

Grannis believes one solution is designing AI systems to complement, not replace, human interaction. He stressed it can be done though building broader support ecosystems including family, friends, caregivers and community services. Grannis emphasized it would encourage real-world activity, prompting the user to go for a walk, call a grandchild or attend a local senior event.

If you have an extra five minutes, you can save a life because you can learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation at no cost from a new mobile, hands-only CPR kiosk.

The new kiosk is in the lobby of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica. The machine's touch screen gives a brief overview of hands-only CPR and you can practice right there, on a mannequin.

Dr. Rigved Tadwalkar, cardiologist at St. John's, said it is an easy way for people to get more comfortable giving chest compressions in an emergency.

"It's a lot like a video game but of course, a lot more important than a video game," Tadwalkar pointed out. "It gives real-time feedback about the depth and rate of compressions, proper hand placement, which are all factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR."

The American Heart Association operates the St. John's mobile kiosk and a stationary model at L-A-X with support from the hospital. Santiago Canyon College in Orange County also has a mobile hands-only C-P-R kiosk now through September, sponsored by Edwards Lifesciences.

Steven Munatones, an Orange County business owner, said he survived what's known as a "widowmaker" heart attack which led to cardiac arrest nine years ago, thanks to his 17-year-old son, who gave him immediate CPR with instructions from a 911 operator.

"You don't have to put your mouth to anybody's mouth," Munatones explained. "You just put your hand on their chest and pump. He saved me, and others can do the same, anywhere. So, it's absolutely a lifesaving, heroic act that anybody can do."

Statistics show 350,000 Americans suffer from cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year and about 90% die, in part because they do not receive CPR. About 70% of those cardiac arrests happen at home, so people often depend on family or friends to give CPR before an ambulance arrives.