Overcoming Barriers to Healthcare Reform: A Call to Action.

The article focuses on systemic barriers to healthcare reform, emphasizing the need for policymakers, regulators, and administrators to enable all healthcare professionals, particularly nurse practitioners (NPs), to practice fully according to their education and certification. It highlights restrictive state-level NP scope-of-practice laws, financial incentives favoring indirect billing, and hierarchical organizational structures as obstacles that limit NP contributions despite their proven role in improving access to care, especially in primary care and rural settings. The article calls for standardized full scope-of-practice policies, equitable reimbursement practices, and supportive workplace cultures to advance interprofessional collaboration, reduce provider burnout, and improve patient outcomes. It underscores that healthcare reform requires dismantling hierarchical barriers and fostering team-based, patient-centered care aligned with the comprehensive education and certification of healthcare professionals.