Urgent Care Is Ahead of an Ever-Expanding Curve on Employing Advanced-Practice Providers

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants—or, collectively, advanced-practice providers (APPs)—have been essential members of the urgent care clinical team for years. Their presence on the payroll enables urgent care operators to offer high-quality care to more patients on a daily basis than would be possible without them, or with an all-physician team. Now it seems even more healthcare employers are waking up to the benefits of working with APPs. According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, two of the top 20 occupations expected to see growth between 2021 and 2031 are NPs (number-one on the list, with 45.7% growth expected) and PAs (17^th on the list, with 27.6% projected growth). The only other medical-related positions listed are medical and health services managers (28.3%) and physical therapy assistants (26.5%). Reliance on APPs is not without controversy among clinicians, some of whom have expressed concern about the relative difference between their training and that undertaken by physicians. JUCM published an article suggesting that there could be ways to narrow that gap, however. Read The Case for an Interprofessional, Postgraduate NP/PA Fellowship in Urgent Care in the JUCM for details.