Success with VA May Inspire Others to Rely More on APPs in Urgent Care

It’s not news that there’s a shortage of primary care physicians that is expected to affect both primary care and urgent care practices more and more in the coming years. It’s also well established that advanced practice practitioners (APPs)—nurse practitioners and physician assistants—are being called on to shoulder more of the work load in medical practices of every stripe. A physician-penned opinion piece recently published by The Hill asserts that trend is a viable solution to the growing physician shortage. For evidence, editorialist Dr. Deane Waldman looks at a 2014 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that found “in primary and urgent care settings, there was no difference in the health status, quality of life, mortality, or hospitalizations” whether patients were treated directly by an advanced practice nurse or a physician. It’s important to note, however, that physicians must oversee the work of APPs, though the degree to which that’s the case varies by state laws. As JUCM Editor-in-Chief Lee Resnick, MD, FAAFP notes in an upcoming column, “most urgent care models already rely heavily on advanced practitioners.” With the physician shortage deepening, expect them to take on more of the workload in urgent care. You can read more about this issue from an urgent care-specific perspective in Dr. Resnick’s column in our January issue. Watch for it.