So with all the NPs and PAs being released into the workforce, how will family medicine shape up in the next 10 years? Are we looking at horrendous paycuts or will salary go up due to baby boomers?
I have noticed an INCREASE in salary due to our clinic having midlevels. They generate RVU's and allow us to carry a larger patient panel. Patients are happy with the ability to get in fairly quickly with the midlevels for acute things if they cannot see their PCP. We cap the ratio of midlevels to physician in clinics (for supervisory purposes etc) so no risk to me of losing my job to them any time soon.
Considering that the majority of PA's actually go into specialities, this is a medicine/surgery problem not a "family med" problem.
How long will it be before a "cardiologist" NP sets up their own practice? or a "derm" NP? How long will it take before NP's start trying to become Primary surgeon?
All fields will continue to have trouble with midlevels, not just family medicine.
I have noticed an INCREASE in salary due to our clinic having midlevels. They generate RVU's and allow us to carry a larger patient panel. Patients are happy with the ability to get in fairly quickly with the midlevels for acute things if they cannot see their PCP.
We cap the ratio of midlevels to physician in clinics (for supervisory purposes etc) so no risk to me of losing my job to them any time soon.
And then I just read an article by an NP saying they go mostly into primary care...so who is to be believed?
I say the reality is they will go to whatever pays them the most that happens to be available at a given moment
Where are you located? I have never seen a private practice PCP office that was mostly midlevels. Around my area, the private practice (AKA those with insurance) population KNOW if their provider is a MD or midlevel. They would not tolerate having a NP primary care provider.I'm sure if you ask the NP whose article I quoted she will also give you all kind of numbers and cute graphical pies and whatnot too to support her claim that most NPs go into primary care...
I'll tell you what I see in my city. Most outpatient FM/IM employers hire midlevels and one (non-residential) physician to serve as medical director.
For many (if not most) of offices they're not even hiring FM docs. The moment they pay one offsite FM doc, a fee to be medical director they have midlevels do all the medical care.
They [employers] in FM and other areas of practice, are heavily pushing (e.i. controlled rx rights for midlevels) so that they do not have to pay a doc.
If it wasn't because of current state licensing regulation everybody and their mother would pay only midlevels to see patients...and many patients (if not most) of course will think they're seeing a doc when the office sets them up with a midlevel.
Where does that leave job security for a physician?
Let's see how things will look in a few years, but following the money trace one would think things might not be too rosey for physician in the future.
Where are you located? I have never seen a private practice PCP office that was mostly midlevels. Around my area, the private practice (AKA those with insurance) population KNOW if their provider is a MD or midlevel. They would not tolerate having a NP primary care provider.
I'm sure if you ask the NP whose article I quoted she will also give you all kind of numbers and cute graphical pies and whatnot too to support her claim that most NPs go into primary care...
Funny they tell legislators they're the solution to primary care.Only 1/4 of PAs are in FM. The rest are in other fields. So, it's not an "FM problem."
Source: http://www.pg2pa.org/DITL/index.html
![]()
In fact, despite the increase in the number of non-physician providers, more and more of them are going into non-primary care specialties.
Source: http://www.ruralmedicaleducation.org/basichealthaccess/Too_Many_Specialists.htm
![]()
Is that anywhere near BFE? 😉
Miami is quite different from the rest of the country; it's not even quite the same as other parts of Florida. That's like extrapolating your entire understanding of the US by spending all of your time in NYC or SF.
That is the future of FM when Walmart is planning to have walk-in clinics all over the US and staff them with NPs... They will charge $40/visit to see your (the) doctor who happen to be a nurse practitioner...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiam...ls-new-primary-care-clinics/?partner=yahootix
Considering that the majority of PA's actually go into specialities, this is a medicine/surgery problem not a "family med" problem.
I know of a psych NP who has their own practice (no MD involved), I know of ER's staffed ONLY by PA's (no MD's on site). I know of suboxone/addiction clinics run ONLY by PA's. I know of women health clinics that ONLY have NPs. CRNA's, which are nurses, have won independence in many states.
How long will it be before a "cardiologist" NP sets up their own practice? or a "derm" NP? How long will it take before NP's start trying to become Primary surgeon?
All fields will continue to have trouble with midlevels, not just family medicine.
While this is certainly the dream of corp-med, there are a few shining lights.
1) people want to see a doctor. A few patients may not notice, but overwhelmingly patients know that they haven't seen a physician. If it's just a sinus infection they don't care, but when their chronic condition isn't improving as they hoped they are going to question the quality of medical advice they are receiving. It is a natural response.
2) All this hoopla about NPs doing independent practice is predicated upon the assumption that they actually want to do primary care medicine. Most evidence, and personal experience, would indicate otherwise. The money is in specialist care, that's why you always see NP/PAs in a derm office or a cardiology group. If money is already tight in FM for physicians, then why do you think an NP, who currently gets reimbursed 85% of the doctors rate by CMS, will magically be able to make money? They won't, and they don't. NP/PA's don't want primary care.
3) Lastly, if any NP/PA does want to enter FM I would gladly stand side by side with them if it means turning around the way we focus on speciality medicine vs primary care, intervention vs prevention. I see any " encroachment" by an NP into FM as an opportunity to widen our political pull, because currently there is very little "encroachment" coming from the medical school down the road.
That is the future of FM when Walmart is planning to have walk-in clinics all over the US and staff them with NPs... They will charge $40/visit to see your (the) doctor who happen to be a nurse practitioner...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiam...ls-new-primary-care-clinics/?partner=yahootix
Most (if not all) NP will disagree with that first highlighted statement and they will point out studies that say they have equal or better outcomes to the MD/DO... Not that I agree with them or these studies. They will also say that all the time physicians spend in med school is not needed to be a PCP.1. Good = more access to basic care (not "primary care") for poor people. If they have a stable illness a NP should be at least somewhat capable of handling it (how hard is it to prescribe hctz for example in an otherwise healthy 50 yo M). It will also increase compliance with health maintenance aspects of primary care which doesn't take medical school to learn. It will decrease ER utilization.
2. Bad = walmart calling it "primary care" diminishes what primary care doctors actually do. Some people may never seek out a physician if things aren't going well. The NP may not refer to a physician if things aren't going well. NPs have been shown that their primary care skills are poor and overall more expensive to the system.
So overall I don't think walmart will be successful. Unless people buy from their retail store the medical care aspect won't be profitable and walmart will close these clinics. And I think eventually laws will be passed limiting what NPs can do. Not sure when but it will come eventually.
Most (if not all) NP will disagree with that first highlighted statement and they will point out studies that say they have equal or better outcomes to the MD/DO... Not that I agree with them or these studies. They will also say that all the time physicians spend in med school is not needed to be a PCP.
Law will pass limiting what NPs can do? You are not serious with this statement! They are getting their scope expanded every day by state legislatures and you think these states will go back and limit what NPs can do... Maybe you should visit allnursesdotcom so you can see how these NPs think...they think now they should have some kind privilege to do 'minor' surgeries after 1 year of training... If you think they can take away the scope they have already given to these people, I really don't know what to tell you...
I don't agree with it at all... I was pointing out how irrational these people can be.I'm sure you don't agree with the bolded part above being that you are in med school. But in case you do agree and want to be a super subspecialist and think primary care is easy take it from me and probably most people here that primary care is pretty challenging. Yeah sure there are plenty of "easy" cases in healthy people that don't really need medical school and residency training to care for... e.g. most health maintenance things, simple sinusitis, uncomplicated influenza, etc. But when you start having issues more vague and complicated in older/sicker patients, or difficult issues in seemingly younger healthy patients you'll be glad you had all that training. And when you are in residency and see patients in the hospital and also in clinic who recently saw an NP in clinic you'll see how ridiculously incomplete their training is. If anything NPs are more suited for helping subspecialists than primary care because subspecialists are, by definition, more focused.
In regards to laws, nurses can fight all they want but in the end they will get hit. In the short term laws may favor them but I don't see it happening in the long term.
So you thought NPs weren't interested in primary care?
Nurse practitioner opens concierge practice:
http://www.waaytv.com/news/decatur-...5c-2990-11e4-9d91-001a4bcf6878.html?success=1
Report back in a year.
It looks like they are still at it. Better join now so you too can have 24/7 access to a "practitioner" :Fair enough, let's see if in a year she has gone into something like derm lol
If you're in private practice, the midlevels are working for you, "independent" or not. Plus, you're likely making money off them.
I'm heavily biased but if your working for a hospital or paid by Medicare and the insurers, then you're a fungible commodity and can be replaced my midlevels as soon as they have enough of them.
Market your extra training directly to patients and work for them. I'm happy to have my bedside manner, degree and training compete with the midlevels' in that market.
A lot of $$$ "off them"
There's no true independent. It's a total BS.
If you're in private practice, the midlevels are working for you, "independent" or not. Plus, you're likely making money off them.
Actually, in a lot of states like Maine, NPs can be fully independent.
What is your state medical society doing about it?
Thanks for pointing that out. I'll use that. I thought AAFP, like a broken clock that's right twice daily (The other time being its DPC support), briefly put out some material like this a couple of years ago but can't find it online this morning.
Yes, NPs are COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT (no physician oversight needed) in 22 states so far. They are working on becoming independent in the other states (I believe there are bills allowing them to be independent in TX and PA pending right now) :
AANP - State Practice Environment
We need to take this threat seriously if our profession is going to survive. Pretty soon, NPs will be able to function on the same level of physicians in every state and they will outnumber us. Pretty soon, people won't even remember that doctors used to be physicians because it will just be the norm to go see a DNP who calls him/herself "Doctor" for your care.
What is the AMA doing about this? What is your state medical society doing about it? To me, this should be the #1 priority for these organizations, because if we don't have a job or aren't making enough to pay back our student loans, there is no point to becoming a physician and none of the other issues on AMA's agenda matter at all.