[NC_RN_2B]

As a future NP, I love reading articles like this!


"Increasingly, patients are being treated by health care professionals with N.P. after their name instead of M.D. or D.O..."

Full story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060625/...he_nurse_is_in

[HARRN2b]

my doctors office just let the NP's go. I think it is just the area I live. I plan to relo anyway to an area where the population is growing. It is steadily declining here.

[NurseguyFL]

The article says NPs are practicing in all states "except Georgia". Why?

[RN4NICU]

Originally Posted by NurseguyFL

The article says NPs are practicing in all states "except Georgia". Why?

Actually, it said NPs in all states except Georgia have some degree of independent prescriptive authority. The article is a bit outdated in its info. Georgia NPs gained prescriptive authority earlier this year.

[multicollinearity]

I adore my NP. I think the general public will begin to discover NPs for primary care and that will force many PCP physicians to examine how they treat patients. I find NP's listen better, focus on preventative care better, and are more cautious in prescribing medications.

[HARRN2b]

I moved north from Atlanta (no longer in GA), but NP's can now write scripts in GA. The OB office I went to, I never even saw the dr., only saw the NP.

[SharonH, RN]

That was an unusually good article, complete with perspectives from nurse practitioners, patients and physicians. Very well rounded.

[Retired R.N.]

Originally Posted by HARRN2b

I moved north from Atlanta (no longer in GA), but NP's can now write scripts in GA. The OB office I went to, I never even saw the dr., only saw the NP.

If there had been an adverse incident whose insurance company would be liable for damages? That of the OB-GYN or the NP? Also, if many OB-GYNs are leaving their practices because, as they are claiming, their insurance rates are too high, how is it that insurance companies are willing to cover NPs working in OB-GYN?

[azhiker96]

Originally Posted by Retired R.N.

If there had been an adverse incident whose insurance company would be liable for damages? That of the OB-GYN or the NP? Also, if many OB-GYNs are leaving their practices because, as they are claiming, their insurance rates are too high, how is it that insurance companies are willing to cover NPs working in OB-GYN?

The rates are pretty high. I know my dad dropped OB the last 10 years of his general practice because he didn't have enough OB patients to pay the premium. Here's an article about the rates.

Malpractice insurance premiums vary widely from state to state. Florida is the highest-premium state, with an average 2004 premium of more than $195,000, followed by Nevada, Michigan, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Connecticut, Illinois and New York.
The 10 lowest-premium states are Oklahoma, at about $17,000 on average, and Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Indiana, Idaho, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas and South Carolina.
Many areas of the country, especially around major metropolitan areas, are experiencing large increases in the average costs of premiums. Between 2003 and 2004, Dade County in Florida, which includes the city of Miami, went from $249,000 to $277,000, an increase of about 11 percent.
In that same period, Cook County in Illinois, which includes Chicago , jumped about 67 percent from $138,000 to more than $230,000. Wayne County in Michigan , which includes Detroit, went up 18 percent, from almost $164,000 to nearly $194,000.

Do the math. If you charge $1000 per ob just to cover the premium, not counting your overhead (building, office staff, and supplies) you'd have to have about 200 OB pts to break even in Florida. If you just had an OB practice then it could work. But if you were a GP seeing a couple dozen OBs a year you'd lose money or have to increase your rates dramatically.

[Retired R.N.]

Originally Posted by azhiker96

The rates are pretty high. I know my dad dropped OB the last 10 years of his general practice because he didn't have enough OB patients to pay the premium. Here's an article about the rates.


Do the math. If you charge $1000 per ob just to cover the premium, not counting your overhead (building, office staff, and supplies) you'd have to have about 200 OB pts to break even in Florida. If you just had an OB practice then it could work. But if you were a GP seeing a couple dozen OBs a year you'd lose money or have to increase your rates dramatically.

So, if a nurse practitioner charges less than a physician does, how in the world could s(he) earn enough to pay for the malpractice insurance?