Nurse practitioners’ perspective

Clinics and location-based services / Data and clinics / Driving forces / Health care practitioners / Health care venues / Nurse practitioners' perspective / Retail clinics / Retail clinics: field reports / The Little Clinic / Walk-in clinics — No Comments
06
May 13

A Nurse Practitioner’s Ear-View of Retail Clinics

Nice ~14 minute interview conducted by ReachMD nurse practitioner Mimi Secor with The Little Clinic’s Dr. Roger Green (VP Western Division). Good sound quality, and an information-filled brief overview of the state of retail clinics in 2013.

Good start for National Nurses Week!

Driving forces / Health care practitioners / Nurse practitioners' perspective / Reports, white papers, studies, presentations — Comments Off
29
Jun 11

Who’s More Consumer-Friendly: MDs, or NPs?

NPs in a walk, suggests a small study by University of Michigan researchers* which was referenced by FierceHealthcare (Sara Jackson, Study: Patients prefer NPs over physicians, FierceHealthcare 6/28/11).

Patient satisfaction, a major indicator of quality healthcare, was higher among low-income primary care patients treated by nurse practitioners than among those treated by physicians, according to researchers at the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 26th Annual NP meeting.

We feel the results are attention-worthy, with two important caveats:

The study was very small – the survey results reflect analysis of fewer than 200 patients’ responses;

The researcher’s assertion that “this is just more proof NPs can operate effectively independently without supervision by physicians” does not appear to coincide with the purposes of the study, and is not supported by the results.

We found it surprising – almost as noteworthy as the study itself – that this was the first time the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s well-known Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient satisfaction survey included NPs. What took them so long?

* Shoutout to Clinical Advisor, which on a brief scan looks to be a great resource for nurse practitioners

Nurse practitioners' perspective / Physicians' perspective / Public policy — Comments Off
03
Feb 11

Sometimes Convenient Care is…Inconvenient…for Carers

Mad medicine (Steve Shaw, Louisville Eccentric Observer, 2/1/11)

One of the most rancorous battles of the 2010 Kentucky General Assembly is expected to restart this week with the filing of a bill that allows nurse practitioners autonomy to prescribe non-narcotic drugs such as antibiotics, insulin and blood pressure meds…..

….Now-retired Sen. Gary Tapp, R-20, of Shelby County, the sponsor of Senate Bill 75, the measure under siege [noted]….

“There are too many specialists,” Tapp added, “and not enough family physicians.”

If you are confident that transformation of US health care – even something simple, like the expansion of retail clinics – will come without hard-fought disputes over fundamental issues like “what are the “right” standards of quality for primary care”, we suggest you follow the course of Kentucky Senate Bill 75. Or others like it that could well crop up in other states.

Driving forces / Fierce Healthcare / Health care practitioners / Nurse practitioners' perspective / Strategic initiatives / Tactical innovation — Comments Off
09
Nov 10

NPs as Independent Primary Care Providers in Maryland

This is the kind of event whose significance typically is only remarked upon years after it took place:

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Opens Networks and Primary Care Medical Home Program to Nurse Practitioners (Fierce Healthcare, November 8, 2010)

[Baltimore MD-based] CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) today announced that, effective immediately, it will permit nurse practitioners (NPs) to participate in its health care provider networks as independent primary care providers.

….[NPs] must attest that they have a written collaborative agreement with a physician of the same specialty who is a member in good standing of the same CareFirst provider networks as the NP. Similarly, NPs who meet network participation criteria will be able to participate with primary care physicians as part of a medical panel or form their own medical panels as part of CareFirst’s PCMH.

While the “attested collaboration” requirement sounds like it could meaningfully throttle the numbers of NPs who can qualify as primary care practitioners, we’re enthused about the initiative overall, and are especially keen about the “effective immediately” aspect.

Here’s the story as reported in the Maryland Gazette.Net:

Insurer Expands Primary Provider Status to Nurses (Gazette.Net, November 6, 2010)

The nonprofit insurer previously let nurse practitioners practice independently of physicians only in certain medically underserved areas that had limited access to primary care physicians, company officials said in a statement Thursday.

Clinics in pictures / National/regional/local TV coverage / Nurse practitioners' perspective / Retail clinics — Comments Off
08
Nov 10

The Rockford Files: Retail Clinics Making IL News

Video clip from WIFR Channel 23 in Rockford IL centers on a local Take Care Clinic:

[Take Care Nurse Practitioner] Donna Cox Rodriguez sees 20 patients a day, double the amount last year. Of those, a quarter of them are uninsured.