DE Passes Two Bills for Women's Reproductive Health Services
Posted almost 2 years ago by Susan Conaty-Buck
Dear Delaware Nurse Practitioners
Two bills were passed by the Delaware legislature this session related to women’s reproductive health services. Here is what Delaware Nurse Practitioners need know:
HB 320 (signed by Governor Carney 4/28/22)
- APRNs eligible to prescribe medication for the termination of pregnancy are able to prescribe Mifeprex, Mifepristone, and Misoprostol for use up to the first 70 days (10 weeks) of pregnancy. Mifepristone (Mifeprex) and misoprostol (Cytotec) are used together for medication abortion, or drug-induced interuterine pregnancy termination.
- Any APRN who elects to prescribe these medications are required by law to enroll in the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy system for Mifeprex which includes completion of an established Prescriber Agreement and a Patient Agreement before ordering and dispensing these medications.
HB 455 (signed by Governor Carney 6/29/22)
- A Certified Midwife or Certified Nurse Practitioner is authorized to perform, recommend or provide reproductive health services.
- A Certified Midwife or Certified Nurse Practitioner who has successfully completed training approved by the DE Board of Nursing is authorized to terminate a pregnancy before viability.
- All healthcare providers are prohibited from disclosing communication and records concerning reproductive health services with exception of those records required for appropriate legal needs. (Please review the bill for additional information about these circumstances).
- A Certified Midwife or Certified Nurse Practitioner authorized to provide pregnancy termination is afforded certain protections and limitation against civil actions from other states related to the termination of a pregnancy. (Please review the bill for additional information about these protections).
- Insurers are prohibited from increasing premiums for subscribers receiving reproductive healthcare services.
- Insurers are prohibited from taking any adverse action against a healthcare professional or healthcare organization for performing or providing reproductive healthcare services that are lawful in Delaware.
- A medical professional authorized to prescribe medication for the termination of human pregnancy to an out-of-state patient is permitted to do this by means of telehealth.
No nurse practitioner is required to provide the care noted in this information.
Please consult the Delaware Board of Nursing for regulations and rules detailing prescribing/performing women’s reproductive care measures contained in these two bills before engaging in providing this care.
The Delaware Coalition of Nurse Practitioners is providing this information to all Delaware NPs as part of DCNP’s commitment to keep NPs up to date with laws and regulations that impact the practice of DE Nurse Practitioners. The DCNP encourages each DE NP to keep aware of legislation and laws passed that impact NP practice. A summary of the DE laws passed this past year will be posted the DCNP website for our members in the next week. Those who elect not to be DCNP members can perform their own review using Delaware General Assembly Bills and Resolutions and typing in the topic in the search area top right. Terms such as Nursing, Nurse Practitioner, APRN, or Healthcare will usually provide the information you need if you don’t have a bill number or title.
Thank you for being a DE Nurse Practitioner. DCNP has had an exciting and important year speaking on behalf of the NPs of Delaware and our work has been instrumental in achieving full practice authority, making sure NPs views are considered in important decisions such as increase payment to primary care providers, telehealth regulations, medical marijuana, reproductive health, and delegation to medical assistants.