The nurse practitioner push for independent practice has been expanding. Recent data has shown that NPs bill more money to patients and provide a lower quality care than physicians. Why are states expanding independent practice rights for NPs instead of increasing medical school seats and offering more incentives for physicians to practice rurally?
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You don’t need an MD for everything, just like you don’t need an ER for everything.
NPs are much more cost-effective (at least on some jurisdictions) than MDs. They’re a nice middle ground between RNs and MDs for a lot of routine daily care that’s beyond what an RN is allowed to do but doesn’t require full MD capability.
Expanding NP independant practice rights can solve a problem (rural shortage of medical care in general) a lot faster than fattening the MD pipeline (which wont’ bear fruit for years) or changing incentives (which is just a subsidy for what’s still not cost-effective care in most cases).
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