With the passing of the recent historic health insurance reform, the focus has turned (see here and here and here ) to how will the system deal with the influx of approximately 31 million newly insured seeking access to care. All of these articles address the current shortage of primary care physicians in some way and creates a sense of urgency for patients to try and secure one before access becomes crippled (as it has in Massachusetts). What these articles fail to address is the true potential that NPs and PAs have to pick up this slack. There is this incorrect assumption that NPs, facing the same barriers in primary care, are flocking to lucrative specialties. Fortunately for patients, this is not the case. A recent survey by Advance for Nurse Practitioners, reveals that most of the NPs polled work in predominantly primary care or primary care-type settings. Also a very informal survey of the NPs that I know has a similar result. So what does all this mean? The good news is that ...
This is my blog that will highlight current issues, trends and policies affecting Nurse Practitioners and the health care system today.