NURSE MANAGED HEALTH CENTERS AND PATIENT-CENTERED MEDICAL HOMES COULD MITIGATE EXPECTED PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN SHORTAGE

Des Moines University

ABSTRACT
There has been an enormous focus on the impending increase in baby boomers approaching the year 2025 and the predicted shortage of primary care providers. This focus has only increased with the implications the Affordable Care Act has created through its provisions of increased insurance coverage for the uninsured. The numbers that are being predicted as shortfalls of health care providers may be exaggerated under many estimates or under-represented in others. The authors in, “Nurse Managed Health Centers and Patient-Centered Medical Homes Could Mitigate
The authors found the forecasted physician shortage noted of 20 percent, could be nearly eliminated with continued growth in the emerging medical home and nurse-managed health center models. (Auerbach, Chen, Friedberg, Reid, Lau, Buerhaus 2013) Lastly, they found that their review and analysis of others work and data showed that medical homes and nurse-managed care centers could greatly impact some of the maldistribution projected the US will experience in the future. They found if the number of nurse-managed centers in primary care increased by a modest amount, the expected deficits could be lower related to the fact that the nurse-managed model relies heavily on nurse practitioners versus physicians or physician assistants. These three points lead to the overall conclusions that there are models out there, if utilized in a creative way, that have the potential to change the projected shortage of primary care physicians and address the surplus of physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Their conclusion is easy to embrace based on the readings of Shi and Singh around mal-distribution and the differences between the two. The proportion of active PCP has been declining since 1949. (Shi and Singh 2015) With the ACA focus on prevention and health promotion a nurse practitioner may be easier to obtain, promote funding for, and