National estimates of physician assistant productivity

Analysis of productivity data from a nationally representative sample of physician assistants (PAs) showed that PAs performed 61.4 outpatient visits per week compared with 74.2 visits performed by physicians, for an overall physician full-time equivalent (FTE) estimate of 0.83. However, productivity of PAs varies strongly across practice specialty and location, with generalist PAs performing more visits than their specialist counterparts. Rural PA productivity is higher than urban productivity because of the concentration of generalist PAs in rural settings. A generalist PA physician FTE estimate of 0.75 appears to be more accurate than the 0.5 currently under consideration in proposed modifications to Health Personnel Shortage Area designation regulations.     

Use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in primary care, 1995-1999.

Federal policies and state legislation encourage the use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in primary care, although the nature of their work has not been fully analyzed. In this paper we analyze primary care physician office encounter data from the 1995-1999 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys. About one-quarter of primary care office-based physicians used PAs and/or NPs for an average of 11 percent of visits. The mean age of patients seen by physicians was greater than that for PAs or NPs. NPs provided counseling/education during a higher proportion of visits than did PAs or physicians. Overall, this study suggests that PAs and NPs are providing primary care in a way that is similar to physician care.     

Trends in the supply of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in the United States

In 2001 an estimated 103,612 nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) were in clinical employment in the United States. The roles of PAs and NPs in providing comparable physician services are similar; they differ in that NPs are predominantly in primary care, while PAs are divided between primary and specialty care. PA and NP education processes also differ in the student pool and trends in the output. The combined number of graduates totaled 11,585 in 2001. However, the annual number of NP graduates is declining, while the number of PA graduates is increasing. These observations have implications for the future in the types of patients they see and the degree of health care services they provide.     

Use of midlevel practitioners to achieve labor cost savings in the primary care practice of an MCO

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the savings in labor costs per primary care visit that might be realized from increased use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in the primary care practices of a managed care organization (MCO). STUDY SETTING/DATA SOURCES: Twenty-six capitated primary care practices of a group model MCO. Data on approximately two million visits provided by 206 practitioners were extracted from computerized visit records for 1997-2000. Computerized payroll ledgers were the source of annual labor costs per practice from 1997-2000. STUDY DESIGN: Likelihood of a visit attended by a PA/NP versus MD was modeled using logistic regression, with practice fixed effects, by department (adult medicine, pediatrics) and year. Parameter estimates and practice fixed effects from these regressions were used to predict the proportion of PA/NP visits per practice per year given a standard case mix. Least squares regressions, with practice fixed effects, were used to estimate the association of this standardized predicted proportion of PA/NP visits with average annual practitioner and total labor costs per visit, controlling for other practice characteristics. RESULTS: On average, PAs/NPs attended one in three adult medicine visits and one in five pediatric medicine visits. Likelihood of a PA/NP visit was significantly higher than average among patients presenting with minor acute illness (e.g., acute pharyngitis). In adult medicine, likelihood of a PA/NP visit was lower than average among older patients. Practitioner labor costs per visit and total labor costs per visit were lower (p<.01 and p=.08, respectively) among practices with greater use of PAs/NPs, standardized for case mix. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care practices that used more PAs/NPs in care delivery realized lower practitioner labor costs per visit than practices that used less. Future research should investigate the cost savings and cost-effectiveness potential of delivery designs that change staffing mix and division of labor among clinical disciplines.     

Patterns of ambulatory care for AIDS patients, and association with emergency room use.

OBJECTIVE. We examined the association of patterns of ambulatory care for AIDS patients with any use of the emergency room (ER) and the monthly rate of ER visits in the six months after AIDS diagnosis. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING. The study population was obtained from the New York State Medicaid HIV/AIDS Research Data Base and includes patients diagnosed with AIDS from 1983 to 1990. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS. To examine patterns of care and ER use not leading to hospitalization, we studied patients who survived at least six months after their first AIDS-defining diagnosis. The data base included person level information on visits to different provider sites and patient demographic and clinical characteristics. STUDY DESIGN. We defined the dominant provider as the site delivering the majority of ambulatory care for patients with a minimum of four ambulatory visits in the six months after AIDS diagnosis. Dominant providers were classified by specialty and setting: generalist physician; general medicine clinic; AIDS specialty clinic; and other specialty clinic or physician (e.g., cardiology). Patients without a dominant provider were grouped into those with four or more visits and those with fewer than four visits. Regression analysis was used to estimate relationships between ER use and patterns of ambulatory care and patient demographic and severity of illness characteristics. PRINCIPAL RESULTS. The study population included 9,155 AIDS patients aged 13 to 60 years at diagnosis, continuously Medicaid-enrolled, and surviving at least six months after AIDS diagnosis. Among those with four or more visits (56 percent), over 70 percent had a dominant provider. Overall, 39 percent of the study population visited the ER while, in the group with four or more visits, 53 percent of those without a dominant provider had an ER visit. Patients without a dominant provider were estimated to have 32 percent higher odds of ER use than patients with a dominant provider. Among patients with a dominant provider, patients with a generalist or primary care clinic dominant site of care were estimated respectively to have 18 percent and 23 percent lower odds than patients with an AIDS specialty clinic as the dominant site of care. Drug users had higher odds of ER use, as did women. CONCLUSIONS. In this Medicaid AIDS population, a dominant provider delivering the majority of a patient's care was associated with less use of the ER by the patient. Among patients with a dominant provider, ER use was lowest for those with a primary care provider. Further examination of the type and availability of ambulatory services in AIDS specialty clinics and primary care settings, as well as more detailed information on patient characteristics, may reveal reasons for these patterns of ER use.     

Modeling the Mental Health Workforce in Washington State: Using State Licensing Data to Examine Provider Supply in Rural and Urban Areas

CONTEXT: Ensuring an adequate mental health provider supply in rural and urban areas requires accessible methods of identifying provider types, practice locations, and practice productivity. PURPOSE: To identify mental health shortage areas using existing licensing and survey data. METHODS: The 1998-1999 Washington State Department of Health files on credentialed health professionals linked with results of a licensure renewal survey, 1990 US Census data, and the results of the 1990-1992 National Comorbidity Survey were used to calculate supply and requirements for mental health services in 2 types of geographic units in Washington state-61 rural and urban core health service areas and 13 larger mental health regions. Both the number of 9 types of mental health professionals and their full-time equivalents (FTEs) per 100,000 population measured supply in the health service areas and mental health regions. FINDINGS: Notable shortages of mental health providers existed throughout the state, especially in rural areas. Urban areas had 3 times the psychiatrist FTEs per 100,000 and more than 1.5 times the nonpsychiatrist mental health provider FTEs per 100,000 as rural areas. More than 80% of rural health service areas had at least 10% fewer psychiatrist FTEs and nonpsychiatrist mental health provider FTEs than the state ratio (10.4 FTEs per 100,000 and 306.5 FTEs per 100,000, respectively). Ten of the 13 mental health regions were more than 10% below the state ratio of psychiatrist FTEs per 100,000. CONCLUSIONS: States gathering a minimum database at licensure renewal can identify area-specific mental health care shortages for use in program planning.     

Autonomous ambulatory care by nurse practitioners and physician assistants in office-based settings

Data from the 1997 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were used to examine the autonomous provision of ambulatory medical care by nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) in physician-managed office-based settings. An estimated 6.81 million office visits involved autonomous care by NPs and PAs, for an overall rate of 2.55 visits per 100 persons. The visit rates were greatest for patients over 64 years of age, females, blacks, and patients from the Northeast. The visits encompassed a broad range of acute and chronic problems, with a greater proportion of non-illness care visits when compared with visits to physicians. While NPs and PAs provided diagnostic services and pharmacotherapy, there was more emphasis on therapeutic or preventive services in their practices than among physicians' practices. Predisposing, enabling, and need factors were differentially associated with visits to NPs and PAs. Utilization of NPs and PAs as autonomous providers in office-based settings appears limited. Public policy and educational initiatives can focus on predisposing, enabling, and need factors to increase access to autonomous practice of NPs and PAs in ambulatory care.     

Growth of Physicians and Nurse Practitioners Practicing Full Time in Nursing Homes

ObjectivesThe objective was to describe the growth of physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs) who practice full time in nursing homes, to assess resident and nursing home characteristics associated with receiving care from full-time providers, and describe variation among nursing homes in use of full-time providers.DesignRetrospective cohort study.Setting and ParticipantsA 20% national sample Medicare data on long-term care residents in 2008 to 2018 and the physicians, NPs, and PAs who submitted charges to Medicare for their care.MethodsWe measured the percentage of provider charges for services rendered in nursing homes, in addition to resident and facility characteristics.ResultsFull-time nursing home providers increased from 26.0% of all nursing home providers in 2008 to 44.6% in 2017. The largest increase was in NPs: from 1986 in 2008 to 4479 in 2017. Resident age, sex, Medicaid eligibility, and race/ethnicity had minimal association with the odds of having a full-time provider, whereas residents with an NP primary care provider were 23.0 times more likely (95% confidence interval = 21.6, 24.6) to have a full-time provider. Residents who received care from both a physician and an NP or PA increased from 33.6% in 2008 to 62.5% in 2018. There was large variation among facilities in the percentage of residents with full-time providers, from 5.72% of residents with full-time providers in the bottom quintile of facilities to 91.44% in the top quintile. Individual nursing homes accounted for 59% of the variation in whether a resident had a full-time provider.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe percentage of nursing home residents with full-time providers continues to grow, with very large variation among nursing homes.     

Health status and health professional visits in a rural area.

Visits to physicians (MDs), physician assistants (PAs) or nurse practitioners (NPs) by residents of a rural county in the upper-middle west of the United States were analysed in this study. A telephone survey yielded 250 responses. The dependent variable was the natural logarithm of the number of times the respondent had seen a health professional (MD, PA or NP) in the past two years. Predisposing, enabling and medical need variables were tested as potential predictors of visits. Self-rated health status, being unable to perform usual activities, and feeling upset or 'down in the dumps' proved to be important predictors, as was having a usual source of care. Health insurance coverage and family income was not, however. Unexpectedly, smokers also reported more visits. The implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Primary Health Care in Community Health Centers and Comparison with Office-Based Practice

We examine the roles of nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and nurse midwives (CNMs) in community health centers (CHCs). We also compare primary care physicians in CHCs with office-based physicians. Estimates are from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative annual survey of nonfederal, office-based patient care physicians and their visits. Analysis of primary care delivery in CHCs and office-based practices are based on 1,434 providers and their visits (n = 32,300). During 2006–2007, on average, physicians comprised 70% of CHC clinicians, with NPs (20%), PAs (9%), and CNMs (1%) making up the remainder. PAs, NPs, and CNMs provided care in almost a third of CHC primary care visits; 87% of visits to these CHC providers were independent of physicians. Types of patients seen by clinicians suggest a division of labor in caring for CHC patients. NPs and PAs were more likely than physicians to report providing health education services. There were no other differences among services examined. Office-based physicians were less likely to work alongside PAs/NPs/CNMs than CHC physicians. CHC staffing is contingent on a variety of providers. CHC staffing patterns may serve as models of primary care staffing for office practices as demand for primary care services nationwide increases.     

The effects of clinical decision making on nurse practitioners' clinical productivity

The degree of clinical decision making and clinical productivity among nurse practitioners (NPs) is of great interest to policy makers and planners involved in providing appropriate outpatient primary care services. The authors performed a statewide mailed survey of all NPs practicing either full-time or part-time in Wisconsin (response rate of 72.1%) to address the following research questions: Do the demographic characteristics, practice attributes, and primary practice settings of NPs impact their level of clinical decision making (e.g., the autonomy to order laboratory and radiological tests or to refer a patient to a physician specialist other than their collaborating physician)? Do NPs' levels of clinical decision making correlate with their outpatient clinical productivity, adjusting for demographic characteristics, practice attributes, and primary practice settings? The multiple linear regression results indicated that having more years in practice as an NP, practicing in the family specialty area (vs. a combined other category, which included pediatrics, acute care, geriatrics, neonatal, and school), treating patients according to clinical guidelines, practicing in settings with a fewer number of physicians, and practicing in a multispecialty group practice versus a single-specialty group practice were associated with greater levels of clinical decision making. However, NPs who primarily practiced in a hospital/facility-based practice, as compared with a single-specialty group practice, had lower levels of clinical decision making. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, practice attributes, and primary practice settings, NPs with greater clinical decision-making authority had greater outpatient clinical productivity. The conclusions discuss the policy implications of the findings.     

How does provider supply and regulation influence health care markets? Evidence from nurse practitioners and physician assistants

Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) now outnumber family practice doctors in the United States and are the principal providers of primary care to many communities. Recent growth of these professions has occurred amidst considerable cross-state variation in their regulation, with some states permitting autonomous practice and others mandating extensive physician oversight. I find that expanded NP and PA supply has had minimal impact on the office-based healthcare market overall, but utilization has been modestly more responsive to supply increases in states permitting greater autonomy. Results suggest the importance of laws impacting the division of labor, not just its quantity.     

Expanding the role of nurse practitioners: effects on rural access to care for injured workers.

CONTEXT: A 3-year pilot program to expand the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in the Washington State workers' compensation system was implemented in 2004 (SHB 1691), amid concern about disparities in access to health care for injured workers in rural areas. SHB 1691 authorized NPs to independently perform most functions of an attending physician. PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to (1) describe the contribution by NPs to Washington's workers' compensation provider workforce, (2) evaluate change in provider availability attributable to SHB 1691, and (3) evaluate the effect of SHB 1691 on timely accident report filing. METHODS: Administrative data were used to evaluate this natural experiment, using a pre-post design with primary care physicians (PCPs) as a nonequivalent comparison group. FINDINGS: NPs served injured workers with characteristics similar to those served by PCPs, but 22.0% of NPs were rural, compared with 17.3% of PCPs. Of claimants with NPs as their attending provider, 53.3% were injured in a rural county, compared with 24.7% for those with PCP attending providers. The number of NPs participating in the workers' compensation system rose after SHB 1691 implementation, more so in rural areas. SHB 1691 implementation was associated with a 16 percentage point improvement in timely accident report filing by NPs in both rural and urban areas. CONCLUSIONS: Authorizing NPs to function as attending providers for injured workers may improve provider availability (especially in rural areas) and timely accident report filing, which in turn may improve worker outcomes and system costs.     

The feminization of the physician assistant profession

Although the physician assistant profession has historically been male-dominated, women now comprise over sixty percent of physician assistants (PAs) in the U.S. This paper explores the reason for the increase of women into the physician assistant profession in recent decades and whether gender differences exist in how PAs are utilized. Twenty-one qualitative interviews with male and female physician assistants and key informants were conducted to assess the reasons for the influx of women. In addition, data from the American Academy of Physician Assistants Census Survey (n = 16, 569) were analyzed to assess current gender differences in employment characteristics of PAs. In the interviews, female PAs reported entering the profession because it allowed them to practice within the medical model without having the high expense and demanding schedule of medical school. In fact, they claimed that the profession was quite compatible with family life. Significant gender differences were found in work characteristics, primary employer type, and practice specialty. Although women tend to concentrate in practice areas of women and children's health, evidence suggests that they are moving beyond these traditional roles into areas such as internal medicine and surgery.     

Rural Health Research: Rural and Urban Physicians: Does the Content of Their Medicare Practices Differ?

Rural and urban areas have significant differences in the availability of medical technology, medical practice structures and patient populations. This study uses 1994 Medicare claims data to examine whether these differences are associated with variation in the content of practice between physicians practicing in rural and urban areas. This study compared the number of patients, outpatient visits, and inpatient visits per physician in the different specialties, diagnosis clusters, patient age and sex, and procedure frequency and type for board-certified rural and urban physicians in 12 ambulatory medical specialties. Overall, 14.4 percent of physicians in the 12 specialties practiced exclusively in rural Washington, with great variation by specialty. Rural physicians were older and less likely to be female than urban physicians. Rural physicians saw larger numbers of elderly patients and had higher volumes of outpatient visits than their urban counterparts. For all specialty groups except general surgeons and obstetrician-gynecologists, the diagnostic scope of practice was specialty-specific and similar for rural and urban physicians. Rural general surgeons had more visits for gastrointestinal disorders, while rural obstetrician-gynecologists had more visits out of their specialty domain (e.g., hypertension, diabetes) than their urban counterparts. The scope of procedures for rural and urban physicians in most specialties showed more similarities than differences. While the fund of knowledge and outpatient procedural training needed by most rural and urban practitioners to care for the elderly is similar, rural general surgeons and obstetrician-gynecologists need training outside their traditional specialty areas to optimally care for their patients.     

Physician assistants in occupational medicine: how do they compare to occupational physicians?

BACKGROUND: Physician assistants (PAs) have been present in occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) in the USA since 1971, yet remarkably little is known about their activity. METHODS: An administrative study of PA activities was undertaken and compared with the activities of physicians in the same occupational medicine setting. Patients were not triaged to either provider and all resources of care were recorded for the visit. An episode of care approach was used for the analysis. RESULTS: The characteristics of patients seen by each provider were similar in age, gender ratio and severity of injury. Physicians saw a mean of 2.9 patients/h and PAs 2.5, but PAs worked more hours and saw more patients per year than physicians. The average charge per patient visit and total charge for an episode of care were similar. Differences between PAs and physicians were seen in the areas of 'limited duty' duration given to patients and on average PAs prescribed 15 days and physicians 17 days. PAs referred a patient 19.7% of the time, while physicians referred 17.4%. Most of the referrals were to physical therapy. The salary of a physician, based on an hourly rate, was approximately twice as much as a PA. CONCLUSION: The use of PAs in OEM may represent a cost-effective advantage from an administrative standpoint. Clearly, more research is necessary in determining the role and utilization of PAs in OEM and how they may improve the delivery of physician services.     

Efficacy Expectations for Colorectal Cancer Screening in Primary Care: Identifying Barriers and Facilitators for Patients and Clinicians

Physicians (MDs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs) in primary care (PC) specialties, as well as patients, participated in a series of peer-level focus groups to explore how colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is approached in PC. Twenty-seven focus groups were conducted, including 8 groups composed of MDs (n = 56), 7 with NP/PAs (n = 47), and 12 with patients (n = 103). Clinicians (MDs, NPs, PAs) reported discussing CRC screening during well visits and were alerted to patients in need of screening through flow sheets, chart reminders (paper, electronic) or by office personnel, and cited lack of time, patient reluctance, and challenges related to scheduling colonoscopy as barriers to screening. Clinicians identified communication skills and the convenience of office-based screening procedures as facilitators of CRC screening. Patients recalled discussing CRC screening during PC office visits and most commonly identified colonoscopy and fecal occult blood test as common CRC screening tests. Physician recommendation and knowing someone who has/had cancer were the most common factors motivating patients' decision to complete CRC screening. Results are framed according to patient and clinician perceptions of self-efficacy related to CRC screening.