PMID- 37605521
OWN - NLM
STAT- Publisher
LR  - 20231009
IS  - 1552-7468 (Electronic)
IS  - 1527-1544 (Linking)
VI  - 24
IP  - 4
DP  - 2023 Nov
TI  - U.S. Primary Care Provider Needs: An Analysis of Workforce Projections and Policy 
      Implications.
PG  - 231-238
LID - 10.1177/15271544231190606 [doi]
AB  - The primary care (PC) physician workforce has consistently been projected as 
      requiring additional numbers to meet the needs of the U.S. The Health Resources 
      and Service Administration (HRSA) has reported the PC nurse practitioner (NP) 
      workforce to be 90,000 NPs more than required to meet the PC needs of the U.S. 
      With both clinician types contributing to the PC workforce in the country, it is 
      difficult to understand such an oversupply of NPs with continued deficit in PC 
      physicians. The purpose of this study was to investigate results and methods used 
      for HRSAs current PC workforce projections and compare those with the same used 
      for Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and American Association of Medical Colleges 
      (AAMC) projections. Methods included a review of technical documents, dashboards, 
      and published reports. Interviews with subject matter experts were also 
      completed. Projections were found to differ significantly, as did data and 
      assumptions. Two of the three projections modeled physicians as the sole provider 
      of PC. An integrated model gives the most comprehensive and accurate picture of 
      PC workforce needs. The utilization of NPs as PC providers has been demonstrated 
      to be safe and effective, with the potential to alleviate predicted shortages, 
      improve patient care outcomes, reduce cost, and address PC inequities. 
      Implications include improving workforce data, creating projections that mirror 
      clinical integration in PC, adjusting workforce preparation funding, 
      incentivizing interprofessional collaboration in research, addressing barriers to 
      practice among non-physician providers, and leveraging growth in the NP 
      workforce.
FAU - Zwilling, Jana
AU  - Zwilling J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1471-8438
AD  - College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines, University of North Dakota, Grand 
      Forks, ND, USA. RINGGOLD: 16138
FAU - Wise, Barbara
AU  - Wise B
AD  - Division of Graduate Studies in Nursing, School of Nursing, Indiana Wesleyan 
      University, Marion, IN, USA. RINGGOLD: 15622
FAU - Pintz, Christine
AU  - Pintz C
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9188-8791
AD  - School of Nursing, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
FAU - Bigley, Mary Beth
AU  - Bigley MB
AD  - National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, Washington, DC, USA.
FAU - Douglass, Brenda
AU  - Douglass B
AD  - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA.
FAU - Kirkland, Tracie W
AU  - Kirkland TW
AD  - Department of Nursing, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 
      RINGGOLD: 5116
FAU - La Manna, Stefanie
AU  - La Manna S
AD  - Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, Nova Southeastern University, Fort 
      Lauderdale, FL, USA. RINGGOLD: 2814
FAU - Lynch-Smith, Donna
AU  - Lynch-Smith D
AD  - UTHSC College of Nursing | Department of Acute and Tertiary Care, University of 
      Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis Tennessee, Memphis, TN, USA.
FAU - Mitchell, Sheryl L
AU  - Mitchell SL
AD  - College of Nursing, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. RINGGOLD: 
      2629
FAU - Stager, Sharon L
AU  - Stager SL
AD  - Department of Nursing, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, USA. RINGGOLD: 6008
FAU - Steed, Julia
AU  - Steed J
AD  - School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. RINGGOLD: 5718
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230821
PL  - United States
TA  - Policy Polit Nurs Pract
JT  - Policy, politics & nursing practice
JID - 100901316
SB  - IM
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - health care quality
OT  - health resources
OT  - health services accessibility
OT  - nurse practitioner
OT  - policy
OT  - primary care
OT  - workforce
COIS- Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts 
      of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this 
      article.
EDAT- 2023/08/22 06:42
MHDA- 2023/08/22 06:42
CRDT- 2023/08/22 02:54
PHST- 2023/08/22 06:42 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/08/22 06:42 [medline]
PHST- 2023/08/22 02:54 [entrez]
AID - 10.1177/15271544231190606 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 2023 Nov;24(4):231-238. doi: 10.1177/15271544231190606. 
      Epub 2023 Aug 21.