Does Doctor's office practice need an RN

To run the business, no. If they are doing phone or in-person triage, or patient education, they do need a nurse if they aren't going to do it themselves. MAs cannot do those things. There are also certain aspects of med administration that may be outside the scope of an MA.

Sorry, didn't see your poll. Nurse visits are generally not billable services, in that a nurse cannot create a "level" visit. However, it can be billed as an "incident to" if at any point during the visit, the provider lays eyes on and says hello to the patient.

Esme, it sounds like RNs have to have an independent agency/practice in order to be able to bill independently? How would that work in an ambulatory clinic setting, when the agency is a physician practice?

Ahhh - this always gets my dander up. Since the dawn of (payment system) time, physicians have been the recipients of reimbursement for nursing tasks and interventions. Periodically over the years, I have seen studies describing the actual percentage of CPT codes that reflect this.. very depressing.

Physicians bill and receive payment for services provided by anyone in their employ. Nurse entrepreneurs are gradually overcoming the limitations (yipee!) - sometimes via very creative means. I have an acquaintance (retired now) who made a nice chunk of change as an independent provider of enemas (srsly) in Fl. She had a lot of referrals from physicians. Only accepted cash payments. Let's put on our thinking caps and carve out some more nursing opportunities ...

When I think "manage a practice", my head thinks administratively, and in that case NO, unless the RN has exceptional administrative skills, of course =)

Are you talking about an RN making house calls on behalf of the MD? I'd say a big fat no. No way would I assume any liability like that. Why would a nurses time be billable to Medicare for a visit to the MD's office? I'm confused by that part of your poll.