I strongly echo the sentiment that a licensed professional should be able to review capacity, or at the very least, that NPs should be included along with psychiatrists and psychologists.  Many facilities, including NVMHI, rely on Nurse Practitioners to assess and treat patients.  Removal of their ability to assess capacity will be to the detriment of patient care by delaying capacity evaluations, and subsequently, delaying treatment.  Our NPs have done an excellent job for many years, and have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and judgment to appropriately assess capacity.  If not all NPs, an NP who has obtained their PMHNP (Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner) certification should certainly be permitted to independently assess capacity for psychiatric patients.