Physician shortages and restrictive scope of practice laws enacted across the United States have long contributed to significant health care workforce inefficiencies, limiting patient access to quality and cost-effective care. As the physician workforce continues to lag far behind patient demand, non-physician practitioners and advanced practice providers present a more promising outlook. In a new insight, Director of Health Care Policy Michael Baker and Nicholas Montenegro discuss why policymakers should consider  expanding the roles of non-physician practitioners (NPPs), as shortages are expected to worsen into the next decade due to an increasingly sick and aging population.

Executive Summary:

• Rising physician shortages in the United States, in tandem with restrictive state-level scope-of-practice (SOP) laws that often unnecessarily restrict the practice authority of NPPs, have contributed to an inefficient health care workforce and suboptimal access to quality and cost-effective care for patients.
• While SOP laws nominally promote safety by restricting the types of care NPPs can provide – and often require them to render their services under the supervision of a physician – NPP providers with full practice authority have demonstrated meaningful improvements to the health care system, including in access, cost, and quality, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
• Encouraging nationwide reforms, possibly through federal guidance or interstate collaboration, to provider SOP laws and promoting NPP practice authority may both mitigate physician shortages and produce favorable patient and workforce outcomes in the U.S. health care system.

Read the analysis.