NP's are definitely on the rise. In my little town's Mayo Clinic (MN), there are two NP's, 1 MD and 1 DO.
I have shadowed DO there and when NP stopped by several times to chat, I have asked family DO about their right and scope of practice. I thought that maybe NP's have to get approvals for diagnosis or for prescriptions from MD/DO. DO said that NP's have exactly same rights and privileges as DO/MD in primary care. He commented, though, that it took him 7-8 years and NP's only 3 years after bachelor's.
In my hometown in Missouri, main community clinic has 8 NP's compared to 2-3 DO's and NP's do the same thing as family DO's.
MD/DO world has nothing against NP's even though they have no formal medical education and residency completed. Is that because nursing world is so huge, while Pod world is so small?