Each year, Wendy Fletcher says, she and two partners see more than 5,000 patients at their practice in Morehead, KY. They are not doctors, but rather registered nurse practitioners who say they are able to increase access to healthcare and make it more affordable. "None of us are trying to play doctor," she said. The Kentucky Medical Association claims otherwise and is fighting proposed legislation that would lift some limits on the ability of about 3,700 nurse practitioners in Kentucky to prescribe medication and perform other, mostly routine tasks such as signing a child's immunization certificate or certifying the need for employee sick leave.
