Nurse practitioners can allow primary care physicians to care for much larger panels of patients—if they’re used in the right way.
For now, in most jurisdictions, NPs can’t be a PCP under the Medicare Advantage program.
However, with more studies like these getting published (as well as the lack PCPs getting trained), look for more insurance industry lobbying for that to change.
Most docs just use NPs for limited illnesses, like colds and flu.
Or they use them for specific illnesses, like diabetes management.
What a waste!
Set them up as your patients “PCPs,”—even if you’re the name on the insurance card make the NP the one the patient thinks of as their “doctor.”
Make sure you pay your NPs far above the average for your area, but avoid putting any of their compensation “at risk.”
You’re paying them based on the relationships they create with their patients. NPs hate “hoop-jumping” compensation formulae as much as you do.
Grant them the respect of high-paying compensation, the freedom to practice how they want and the security of your wisdom as a backup—and they will work their hearts out for you.
And their patients