Pages

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Nurse Practitioners Push To Help Care For Health Law's Newly Insured

More than 27 million Americans will soon gain health coverage under the health law. But who will treat them all?

"With such a large coverage expansion, and with an anticipated shortage of primary care physicians available to serve them, some states have or are considering allowing so-called advanced practice nurses -- those with advanced degrees -- to treat more patients. David Hebert is at the issue’s center. Hebert, a veteran health care lobbyist and former CEO of the American College of Nurse Practitioners, is the first CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) -- a new group with 42,000 members recently formed from the merger of the American College of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners."

KHN's Alvin Tran sat down recently with Hebert to discuss the changing role nurse practitioners may soon have, as well as some physicians' efforts to stop them.

Click here to read edited excerpts of that discussion: