Interesting Study Comparing NP vs MD Outcomes for Cardiac Patients

Anyone read this report that compares outcomes for cardiac patients among MD and NPPs? It seems there were no differences in quality of care between MD and NP providers. The study will be published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, although I could not yet find the actual study. Here is the link to the article Routine Heart Care Similar From Nurse Practitioners, Doctors: Study: MedlinePlus

For this study, investigators evaluated the care of heart patients seen at 130 VA facilities between 2013 and 2014. Nearly 935,000 patients were attended to by physicians, while more than 252,000 were seen by either a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.All had a history of heart attack, stroke, arterial blockage and/or stent surgery. But all were deemed "stable" outpatients during the study time-frame.

All were seen in a primary care setting (rather than by specialists), and the analysis focused solely on three heart health services: blood pressure monitoring and control; cholesterol control; and statin and beta-blocker prescriptions and adherence.

Overall, only about 54 percent of patients had all three measures of care appropriately handled, the researchers found.

"However, in terms of who was attending patients, we saw only small differences in the quality of care here and there, and the differences were not statistically significant," Virani said.

"While there's clearly a lot of work to be done in terms of improving effective care delivery for all cardiovascular disease patients, the delivery of basic services is comparable among both physicians and non-physicians,"