Monday, August 3, 2009

On Nurse Practitioners

Interestingly, I learned today here that Nurse Practitioners refer 1/3 of patients, while Family Care doctors refer 1/10 of patients - raising costs because of the need for 2 visits.

I have often pushed for allowing nurses to do more, but that's a damning statistic.

That said, if you allowed uninsured patients the OPTION of a nurse or a doctor (instead of the doctor-only option now), allowing them to pay less for the nurse option with the understanding they may need a referral.

This will raise the ire of the "health care is a right not a good" people, but relative to the status quo, it could entice some people unwilling to pay a doctor to pay a nurse to see them.

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