Virginia Certified Nurse Midwives have been safely practicing for the last 6 years without supervision by other professions. With the new law and these regulations we are no longer in a collaborative practice which restricts our ability to practice by our current standards. The American College of Nurse Midwives, our national organization, provides the Standards for our practice which the State of Virginia should follow. Our Standards allow for independent practice with consultation, colloaboration and referral to our obstetrical colleagues as needed.

These current rules increase the burden of regulation on Nurse Midwives unecessarily, hampering our ability to practice and increasing costs of care while decreasing accessibility to our services for women in the State of Virginia.

Please remove the Certified Nurse Midwife from this bill.