Virginia Legislators,

I am a certified nurse midwife caring for the uninsured and underinsured population of pregnant women in Prince William County. My practice setting is a Federally Qualified Health Center. It is a CNM practice and we collaborate and consult with  physicians in obstetric hospitalist groups at 2 local hospitals. Our practice has been directly responsible for a dramatic decrease in the drop in with no prenatal care delivery rate at our  local hospitals during the 3 years we have been in existence.

Virginia CNMs have been safely practicing for the last 6 years without supervision by other professions. With the new law and these regulations we are under a team leader physician which is not a collaborative practice. This leads to limitations in practice, difficulty in opening midwifery owned and midwifery run practices and restricts hospital admitting privileges. These rules increase the regulatory burden on certified nurse midwives, increase cost of care, and decrease access to care while providing no benefit to the public.Nurse -midwifery practice in Virginia should follow the Standards of the American College of Nurse Midwives which allows for independent practice.

Respectfully,

Lisa Wiener, CNM, Prenatal Director GPWCHC