- Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are officially recognized as primary care professionals.
- NPs and PAs are an integral part of the care team at Carilion Clinic.
- As demand for healthcare grows, these advanced care practitioners (ACPs) will become even more important.
When you go to your doctor’s office, do you sometimes see a clinician with NP or PA after their name?
In 2010, the Affordable Care Act recognized both nurse practitioners and physician assistants as primary care professionals. As demand for healthcare grows in the US, these advanced care practitioners (ACPs) will become more and more important.
NPs and PAs are an integral part of the care team at Carilion Clinic, where primary care offices use the "medical home" model to coordinate patient care.
The first physician assistants were actually Navy Corpsmen. According to the American Academy of PAs, the profession began in 1965 as a solution for the shortage of primary care physicians. PAs are trained in generalist medicine and can transfer between environments and specialties; there are more than 115,000 PAs nationwide.
The first program for NPs also began in 1965 to bring patient-centered, accessible healthcare to communities across the country. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, there are currently more than 355,000 nurse practitioners in the U.S. They are trained in the nursing model and usually specialize in one main area of healthcare.
ACPs are licensed and certified. Both N.P.s and P.A.s diagnose, treat and prescribe medications. And both are valuable members of your care team.
As a teaching organization, Carilion Clinic offers ACP fellowships in primary care and many specialties, such as Orthopaedics, urgent care, rural health and Surgery.
"For a long time, ACPs fought for inclusion and recognition as providers," said Randy Howell, a PA. with Carilion Clinic Emergency Medicine. “Now that recognition is growing, the way that ACPs improve healthcare is much more appreciated than it used to be—and rightfully so."
Joel Bashore, a PA in Carilion Clinic Emergency Medicine, adds: "ACPs make it possible for us to see more patients and optimize the quality of care we give, and there is a lot of data and research that shows patients are very satisfied with the care they get from a P.A. or an N.P.”
The number of ACPs in healthcare is growing, and the likelihood is that you will visit one—or many.
So if your doctor's calendar is full, ask if an NP or PA is available.
For more information about these important healthcare professionals, visit the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Physician Assistants.
