By Adam Reinebach, Chief Executive Officer, American Med Spa Association (AmSpa)

New Jersey is at a crossroads.

With the recent expiration of pandemic-era practice authority, hundreds of advanced practice providers across the state—including Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and Physician Assistants (PAs)—now face an abrupt and destabilizing reality: secure a collaborating physician on extremely short notice or shut down their practices entirely.

This is not, at its core, a debate about independent practice. It is a debate about process, fairness, and regulatory whiplash—and whether New Jersey will take a modern, pragmatic approach to healthcare delivery or revert to rules that no longer reflect how care is actually provided.

During COVID, New Jersey expanded practice authority out of necessity. What followed was not chaos or a decline in patient safety, but continuity of care. APRNs and PAs stepped up—opening clinics, hiring staff, serving patients, and investing in their communities. Many of these practices are small businesses, and many are women-owned. They operated legally, transparently, and in good faith under state policy.

What makes the current situation so troubling is not simply the policy change, but the timing and lack of transition.

It is now 2026. If these rules were truly “pandemic-era” measures, they should have expired years ago. Instead, providers were allowed to build sustainable care models under one framework, only to be told with little warning that the rules have changed again. The result is uncertainty for patients, potential job losses, and the real risk of unnecessary closures—particularly in outpatient, preventative, and non-emergency care.

That is not sound regulation. It undermines trust.

Senate Bill S-2996 offers one potential path forward for APRNs by establishing a durable, modern framework that reflects today’s healthcare realities while maintaining appropriate safeguards. It does not eliminate accountability or oversight; it acknowledges a reality New Jersey has already lived under for years without incident.

This moment also deserves clarity. It is not an attack on physicians, nor a rejection of collaborative care, which remains essential. Nor is it an effort to relitigate independent practice debates nationwide or signal blanket positions in other states.

Rather, it is about APRNs and PAs being left in limbo by an abrupt policy reversal with no meaningful off-ramp.

APRNs at least have a legislative proposal that could resolve this disruption. PAs do not. That disparity only reinforces the core problem: New Jersey has failed to provide a fair, orderly transition for qualified providers who followed the law and built practices patients rely on.

If expanded practice authority was safe enough to preserve for years—and did not result in widespread problems—it is reasonable to ask why reverting now, without warning, serves patients or the public interest.

Supporting a thoughtful solution like S-2996 is not about ideology. It is about avoiding unnecessary harm.

New Jersey lawmakers should act quickly to provide relief—through S-2996 or other immediate measures—before preventable closures disrupt care, eliminate jobs, and damage small healthcare businesses across the state.