NIHCR Research Brief No. 13
February 2013
Tracy Yee, Ellyn R. Boukus, Dori A. Cross, Divya R. Samuel
Amid concerns about primary care provider shortages, especially in light of health reform coverage expansions in 2014, some believe that revising state laws governing nurse practitioners’ (NP) scope of practice is a way to increase primary care capacity. State laws vary widely in the level of physician oversight required for nurse practitioners, with some states allowing NPs to practice independently, while others limit NPs’ authority to diagnose, treat and prescribe medications to patients without supervision. In six states with a wide range of scope-of-practice laws—Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan—the laws in and of themselves do not appear to restrict what services NPs can provide to patients, according to a new qualitative study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). However, scope-of-practice laws do appear to have a substantial indirect impact because requirements for physician supervision affect practice opportunities for NPs and may influence payer policies for nurse practitioners. Such policies include whether NPs are recognized as primary care providers and included by health plans in provider networks and whether NPs can bill and be paid directly. States with more restrictive scope-of-practice laws are associated with more challenging environments for NPs to bill public and private payers, order certain tests, and establish independent primary care practices. To ensure effective use of NPs in primary care settings, policy makers may want to consider regulatory changes beyond revising scope-of-practice laws, such as explicitly granting NPs authority as primary care providers under Medicaid or encouraging health plans to pay nurse practitioners directly.
This article is available at the National Institute for Health Care Reform Web site by clicking here.