05.03.12 Nurse practitioners and other advanced practice nurses met an unfriendly House committee Wednesday that rejected the profession's push to provide their services in certain locales without being affiliated with a physician.

The Health and Welfare Committee's 12-4 vote to spike House Bill 951 honored the wishes of the Louisiana State Medical Society, which asked lawmakers to leave in place existing requirements that the advanced practice nurses see patients only with a "collaborative agreement" with a physician.

Willmott's bill would have allowed specially trained nurses -- registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists or nurse practitioners -- to work independently in medically under-served areas after serving at least three years under a physician. The state Board of Nursing, which supported the measure, would have been charged with granting exemptions on a case-by-case basis.