Mehdi Sinaki and Nicole Benalcazar take a deep dive into California’s expansion of nurse practitioner authority—and the critical question it leaves unresolved—in their recent Daily Journal article, “California expands nurse practitioner authority; ownership question remains.” As they explain, while Assembly Bill 890 meaningfully advances clinical autonomy for qualifying nurse practitioners, it stops short of addressing whether that independence extends to ownership of medical practices, leaving providers and investors navigating a complex intersection of scope-of-practice laws and the state’s longstanding corporate practice of medicine doctrine. Their analysis cuts through the statutory tension, outlining both the potential pathways and the real regulatory risks, and underscores a key takeaway: expanded authority without structural clarity creates uncertainty that only further legislative action can resolve.
