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Are you ready to get paid as a Faith Community Nurse?
Faith community nurses (FCNs) have typically been unpaid
professionals, but that could be changing! Are you ready?
The American Nurses Foundation (ANF) has launched a
well-funded Reimagining Nursing Initiative with a
Direct Reimbursement Model as a sub-initiative. This initiative
is generating important data to inform researchers as to what is
needed to create mechanism for registered nurses (RNs) to be
reimbursed for nursing services provided in the community.
This could include FCNs. There is a caveat. Nurses who
want to be reimbursed for nursing services must have a
National Provider Number, or NPI.
What is an NPI?
Medicare, Medicaid, and many private insurers require
clinicians (physicians, nurse practitioners, etc.) to have
an NPI to bill for services, and although RNs, including FCNs,
generally cannot currently bill for services, they can – and should
– also register for an NPI.
Increasing the numbers of nurses with NPIs demonstrates
advocacy for nursing care as a valuable service and not just
part of the hospital room fee. The ANF Direct Reimbursement
Model could transform how RNs are paid across the continuum
of care, and holding an NPI prepares the FCN and other RNs
for that eventuality.
The Health Ministries Association is the faith community
nursing affiliate to the American Nurses Association (ANA).
The ANA supports nurses obtaining their NPIs and states on
their website “now is the time for payment systems to fully
recognize the value of nursing. Currently, the impact of nurses
is hidden behind physician expenses or other service charges.
By registering for an NPI, we can push systems to extract
nursing services from the data and demonstrate the critical
role of nurses in patient care.”
Learn more!
The ANA has a landing page with information on obtaining an
NPI, an ANA position statement describing the value of the NPI
for registered nurses, and has created an infographic on unique
nurse identifiers. Get your NPI today!
Deb Fell-Carlson, BSN, MSPH, RN
Executive Director | Board Chair/President
Faith Community Health Network
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