Nurse Practitioners Could Be Key
Even without reform, experts on the health-care labor force estimate there is currently a 30% shortage in the ranks of primary-care physicians. Fewer than 10% of the 2008 graduating class of medical students opted for a career in primary care, with the rest choosing more lucrative specialities. That could pose problems if a national health-care bill is enacted. After Massachusetts enacted mandates for universal health insurance in 2006, those with new coverage quickly overwhelmed the state's supply of primary-care doctors, driving up the time patients must wait to get routine appointments. It stands to reason that primary-care doctors could be similarly overwhelmed on a national scale.
But there is an existing group of providers that health reformers are hoping can help fill this gap: nurse practitioners. Depending on the state in which they practice, nurse practitioners, NP, with advanced training often including master's degrees in nursing, can often treat and diagnose patients, as well as prescribe medication. And they can do these things at a lower cost than doctors - Medicare, for example, reimburses nurse practitioners 80% of what is paid to doctors for the same services.
The entry-level training for NPs is a graduate degree. At this time, NPs complete a master's or doctoral degree program. This means that NPs earn a bachelor's degree in nursing (4 years of education), then their graduate NP degree (2-4 years of education). Both types of programs provide the knowledge and clinical skills needed by NPs to perform as independent healthcare providers. Almost 350 universities and colleges have one or more NP program.
In addition to providing many of the same services more cheaply, nurse practitioners offer something else that makes them darlings to health reformers: a focus on patient-centered care and preventive medicine. "We seem to be health care's best-kept secret," says Jan Powers, health-policy director for the Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Nurse practitioners may have less medical education than full-fledged doctors, but they have far more training in less measurable skills like bedside manner and counseling. "In the United States, we are so physician-centric in our health system," says Patton. "But it should be about wellness and prevention, not about procedures and disease management."
For additional information: American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
Source: Time, Kate Pickert, 8/3/09
