AUSTIN, Texas, March 31 Dr. Tay Kopanos has been named Director of Health Policy/State Government Affairs, by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Dr. Kopanos will oversee the state legislative and regulatory affairs program for AANP and will office in the Washington, DC area.
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"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Kopanos to our organization," said AANP CEO Tim "TK" Knetter. "She comes to us with a wealth of health policy experience and has been actively engaged in state and national public policy committees. Since this is a newly created position for AANP, we are fortunate to have someone with her expertise on state level policy issues focusing on improving patient's healthcare access, removing barriers to effective care delivery and working with stakeholders on health workforce development and utilization."
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Prior to joining AANP, Dr. Kopanos served two terms as the chair of the Government Affairs and Public Policy Committee at the Colorado Nurses Association. In addition to her knowledge of government and public policy, Dr. Kopanos draws on over a decade of primary and urgent care clinical experience in her role as the coordinator of the U. of Colorado College of Nursing's Family Nurse Practitioner program, helping inform and influence healthcare policy development. Dr. Kopanos has been recognized by the Colorado Nurses Association for Outstanding Contributions at the State Level and by the AANP for policy advocacy.
Federal legislative initiatives and representation will continue under the direction of Dr. Jan Towers, AANP Director of Health Policy/Federal and Professional Affairs. Dr. Towers has been instrumental in advocating for the recognition of nurse practitioners in the provision of primary, acute and specialty healthcare and will continue in this leadership role.
AANP, the oldest, largest and only full-service national professional membership organization for NPs of all specialties represents the interests of 135,000 NPs in the U.S. Created in 1985 to provide NPs with a unified way to network and to advocate for NP issues across all specialties at the local, state, and national levels, AANP has continually served as a major resource for NPs, their patients and other healthcare consumers, to promote excellence in practice, education and research; to provide legislative leadership to advance health policy; to establish healthcare standards and to advocate for access to high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered healthcare. For more information, visit www.aanp.org. To locate an NP in your community, go to npfinder.com.
SOURCE American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
