United Advanced Practice Registered Nurses of Georgia (UPARN) and Georgia’s Coalition of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (CAPRN) have formally consolidated under the UAPRN banner, as of June 1, 2022.  All governmental affairs and advocacy efforts on behalf of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) will now be overseen by UAPRN ( HYPERLINK "http://uaprnofga.org" uaprnofga.org).

“As one organization, we can speak even more strongly on behalf of the over 20,000 APRNs in Georgia,” said Ashley Blackmon, MS, CCRN, FNP-C, president of UAPRN of Georgia..  “We are delighted to have retained CAPRN’s extraordinary lobbyist, Julianna McConnell, who has worked diligently for nearly seven years to lift our state’s APRN practice restrictions, which limit our members’ ability to care for their patients to the full extent of their education and experience.  Thanks to her efforts, in August of 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill passed by the state’s House of Representatives and Senate which allows Georgia’s APRNs to order routine advanced radiographic imaging tests such as CAT scans and MRIs, and increases the supervisory ratios of physician assistants from 1:2 to 1:4.  This is an excellent start to ending what has been one of the most restrictive sets of APRN practice guidelines in the country.”

In addition to her lobbying efforts, McConnell has worked to advance the education and awareness of APRNs among the state’s elected officials and the general public.  She and the CAPRN and UAPRN leadership teams have represented APRNs at numerous political meetings and functions, nursing school lectures, professional nursing conferences and more.  In recent years, she and the leadership team have created educational and outreach programs inculuding LEAD (Legislative Education and Advocacy Development) and “Update @ Eight”.  McConnell has been inducted into the Georgia Lobbyist Hall of Fame, and thanks to her efforts, CAPRN was listed as one of the top 10 Business and  Trade Assosciations in Georgia by James Magazine’s Top Lobbyist Issue, 2021.

“We still have work to do to fully lift Georgia’s practice restrictions on APRNs,” said Blackmon.  “A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest healthcare philanthropic foundation, found that federal, state and institutional limits on APRN practice create delays in care, raise the cost of care and can make it difficult for many patients to locate primary care and other services.  The study suggests that removing practice restrictions on NPs and other APRNs has the potential to reduce costs and improve access to care without compromising the quality of that care.  UAPRN of Georgia is working hard to deliver full practice authority for APRNs across our state and to increase quality healthcare for all Georgians.”