2026 Summer Reading · Part 4 of 4
What’s Next
The 2026 session is behind us, but the work of advocacy does not stop in June.
This article reflects the issues NHNPA identified in its July 2026 review while preparing for the 2027 session.
Three areas we are watching closely will shape how NHNPA prepares for 2027, and we want our members thinking about them too.
Artificial intelligence in healthcare
Artificial intelligence is beginning to arrive on the legislative agenda in New Hampshire, and the bills introduced so far have been vaguely written and difficult to interpret.
As the Legislature starts to wrestle with how to regulate AI in healthcare, NHNPA will follow closely—with a particular focus on protecting APRNs’ ability to use tools that support patient care and ensuring that any new legislation is written with clinical practice in mind, not around it.
Vaccine legislation—expect more intensity in 2027
Vaccine-related bills were one of the defining themes of the 2026 session. NHNPA tracked a significant cluster that sought to repeal or weaken immunization requirements, remove specific vaccines from required schedules, expand exemptions, and restrict how providers communicate with families.
NHNPA actively engaged on several proposals, including opposing efforts to remove Hepatitis B from the required school immunization schedule. Most did not advance this year, but the volume and intensity of the legislation is a trend we expect to return in 2027.
As front-line providers who counsel patients about vaccines every day, APRNs have a direct stake in how these debates unfold.
Unfinished legislative business
Three NHNPA priorities carried directly into planning for 2027:
- Telehealth reimbursement parity, HB 1232: stalled in committee and remains on the agenda.
- APRN authority to order seclusion and restraint: died in committee of conference and will be brought back.
- Patient-data privacy protections, HB 1317: died on the House floor and remains a priority.
Eleven bills were also retained for interim study and may return in revised form. NHNPA will monitor interim committee activity and engage wherever our members’ interests are at stake.
Get involved this fall
We will begin building our 2027 legislative strategy through the Government Affairs Committee this fall. If you have encountered a policy issue in your practice that deserves attention at the State House, now is the time to bring it forward.
Are you running into practice barriers?
A documentation requirement, credentialing issue, reimbursement gap, or scope-of-practice constraint may be getting in the way of caring for patients. NHNPA wants to hear what members are seeing. The strongest legislative priorities come directly from real experience on the ground.
To every APRN who testified, signed in, called a legislator, or simply stayed informed this session—thank you. Your engagement gives NHNPA standing at the State House, and legislators notice when members show up.
NHNPA 