Opinion: Why doctors' group is wrong about empowering nurse practitioners

In September 2013, just as Covered California was preparing to enroll a million new patients in the state's healthcare system, the state Senate caved to pressure from the California Medical Assn. and voted down a bill that would empower nurse practitioners to see patients without supervision by a medical doctor. Last week, it corrected its error, passing a similar bill despite renewed opposition from the state doctors' guild, which whined, as it has for years, that allowing nurse practitioners to operate independently would put patients at risk. A guild protects its own. Its goal, whether it's an association of medieval blacksmiths or of 21st century forensic accountants, is always the same: to keep its numbers low and its services expensive.