I wish to be very clear about how New Jersey arrived at this second, as a result of what we’re seeing now is just not an accident, and it’s not the results of confusion. It’s the results of choices—some made, and a few averted.
In February and March of 2020, then–Governor Phil Murphy signed Govt Order No. 103, declaring a COVID-19 public well being emergency and state of emergency. The intent was applicable and essential. New Jersey was dealing with an unprecedented disaster, and EO-103 grew to become the authorized basis that allowed the healthcare system to outlive. Beneath that authority, Superior Observe Nurses had been permitted to observe with full observe autonomy, clinics stayed open, and entry to care was preserved whereas hospitals had been overwhelmed.
Then, that system labored, and subsequently, the State relied on it, suppliers relied on it, and sufferers relied on it.
Regardless, emergency authority is just not everlasting. Beneath New Jersey regulation, emergency declarations are structured to run out or transition. Govt Order 103 was all the time short-term. By regulation, it ought to have phased out earlier than 2026—nevertheless it didn’t.
Governor Murphy was conscious of that actuality. And if he was not, then that failure itself deserves scrutiny. Both the Governor knew EO-103 had exceeded its meant lifespan, or he did not act on a duty that immediately affected 1000’s of healthcare suppliers and small companies. Neither clarification is appropriate.
What is clear is that this: on his last day in workplace, Governor Murphy signed Govt Order No. 415, rescinding EO-103 and imposing a exhausting expiration date of February 16, 2026, with a 30-day compliance window. That timing is just not coincidental. It was a deliberate act that shifted the implications of years of inaction onto the following administration—and onto the suppliers who had operated legally, transparently, and on the State’s request for practically 5 years.
The outcome was fast chaos.
Small healthcare companies—a lot of them woman-owned, minority-owned, and nurse-led—had been all of the sudden informed they have to restructure possession, safe doctor management that had by no means been required throughout the emergency, or shut their doorways fully. These weren’t unsafe practices. These weren’t dangerous actors. These had been the identical suppliers New Jersey relied on throughout its most weak second.
Governor Mikie Sherrill inherited this disaster on day one.
That issues, as a result of management is usually revealed not by the issues somebody creates, however by how they reply to the issues they inherit. Govt Order No. 7, signed at the moment by Governor Sherrill, is a reassuring and accountable response.
EO-7 locations a 90-day pause on the proposal, adoption, and implementation of recent state company guidelines and laws. Its goal is specific: to permit time for evaluate, assess financial and workforce impacts, and forestall unintended hurt to small companies and important providers throughout a interval of transition.
That language is just not generic. It immediately addresses the uncertainty now dealing with APN-led practices.
EO-7 doesn’t retroactively lengthen emergency authority. Nobody is asking for that. What it does do—lawfully and deliberately—is create room for administrative discretion, enforcement restraint, and considerate evaluate whereas everlasting legislative options are developed. That’s precisely what accountable governance seems like.
For practices like IVs By The Seas, a small, woman-owned healthcare enterprise based by a doctorately ready Superior Observe Nurse, EO-7 represents one thing profoundly essential: acknowledgment. Recognition that these companies didn’t seem in a single day. They had been constructed underneath a state-authorized framework. They make use of folks. They help households. They supply care. They usually deserve continuity—not punishment—for answering the decision when New Jersey wanted them most.
The menace they face at the moment doesn’t come from new regulation. It comes from an abrupt reversion to an outdated framework, made worse by the compressed timeline imposed on the very finish of the prior administration. EO-7 provides the State an opportunity to interrupt that hurt—not by ignoring the regulation, however by making use of it with judgment, proportionality, and care.
There are roughly 1,500 nurse-operated clinics and medspas throughout New Jersey, and roughly 70% are owned by girls. They supply major care, behavioral well being providers, girls’s well being, habit therapy, and restoration help. In the event that they shut, sufferers don’t disappear. They wait longer, journey farther, or find yourself in emergency rooms which can be already stretched skinny.
This isn’t about politics or skilled competitors. It’s about equity, reliance, and entry to care.
New Jersey already examined expanded APN observe underneath essentially the most demanding situations conceivable—however they thrived. EO-7 alerts that the brand new administration understands that lesson. It creates a bridge between emergency authority and everlasting reform. It provides lawmakers and businesses the possibility to align the regulation with actuality, quite than permitting silence and deadlines dictated by outdated deadlines to dismantle what has already confirmed efficient.
Governor Murphy left behind a deadline. Governor Sherrill has responded with management.
The answer now could be clear: apply EO-7 in a manner that protects present APN-led practices, workouts enforcement restraint throughout the evaluate interval, and advances everlasting statutory reform that displays what New Jersey already is aware of—that nurses and nurse practitioners should not expendable pawns. They’re the cornerstone of this state’s healthcare system.
There may be motive to be hopeful. Progress has begun. The selection now could be whether or not New Jersey will end the work—or permit the harm of the previous to outline its future.
Hyperlinks:
IVs By The Seas Web site
https://www.ivsbytheseas.com/
Govt Order 102:
https://www.nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-102.pdf
Govt Order 112:
https://www.nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-112.pdf
Govt Order 292:
https://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-292.pdfGovt Order 415:
https://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-415.pdf
IVs By The Seas Assertion:
https://www.ivsbytheseas.com/assist
Senate Invoice S2996:
https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2026/S2996
Signal Petition:
https://www.change.org/p/make-advanced-practice-nurse-expansions-permanent-in-new-jersey?recruiter=1399726772&recruited_by_id=4be3afc0-f55a-11f0-977e-c93b6bd8dc9d&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=starter_onboarding_share_personal&utm_medium=copylink
