Many rural and low-income areas face shortages of doctors. These shortages are only projected to get worse and spread to more parts of the country, resulting in a shortage of more than 87 thousand primary care physicians across the U.S. by 2037. State policymakers need to start getting serious to address the current and looming shortage of physicians and change the laws currently preventing nurse practitioners (NPs) from filling these roles to help address the growing gap in primary care providers.
Currently, 23 states still restrict NPs from independently providing primary care needs. These restrictions—better known as “scope of practice” (SOP) laws—are set in every state for NPs and other healthcare personnel to determine what services they can provide independently, what services they require physician oversight, and what they are restricted from doing all together.
Certain tasks will always remain in the realm of physicians. Surgery and specialties require years of specific training that only a relatively small group of physicians have completed. But primary care is not one of those specialties, and NPs have already shown their ability to handle it just as well in 27 states and Washington D.C. With doctor shortages looming, the remaining 23 states should take a lesson before the problem gets worse.
Justin Leventhal is a senior policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on X @ConsumerPal.