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CMS-1403-FC
nursing. Such an enrollment would be contrary to our
policy, as explained further below.
We discussed the NP qualifications and our intent to
move progressively toward requiring a master’s degree in
nursing as the standard for all new NPs enrolling and
participating under the Medicare Part B benefit in the CY
2000 PFS proposed rule (64 FR 39625) and the subsequent
final rule (64 FR 59411). In the CY 2000 PFS final rule,
we stated, “the requirement that a NP applying for a
Medicare billing number for the first time must have a
master’s degree in nursing as of January 1, 2003, will
provide NPs without a master’s degree with enough time to
earn such a degree. We believe it is reasonable to require
ultimately, a master’s degree as the minimum educational
level for new practitioners independently treating
beneficiaries and directly billing the Medicare program.”
In the CY 2009 PFS proposed rule (73 FR 38576), we
also proposed to amend our regulations at §410.75(b)(4)
which require that NPs must have a master’s degree in
nursing. We proposed to also recognize a Doctor of Nursing
Practice (DNP) doctoral degree (which can be obtained
without a master’s degree in nursing). In addition, we
proposed to amend a similar qualification standard for
clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) at §410.76(b)(2) that
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