Nurse Practitioner on their own?

How does an NP go about getting on their own? I heard that they can have their own practice. And I was also wondering if anybody knew then why PA's cannot go on their own.

In almost all states both NPs and PAs can own their own practices. Nationally the number is about the same at 2% of practicing PAs and NPs. The mechanism differs however.

NPs are licensed to practice advanced practice nursing. They can directly bill Medicare and Medicaid. Their scope of practice is determined by their NP training.

PA are licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. For the most part they have their own licenses but their scope of practice is dependent on the supervising physician. They cannot bill Medicare and Medicaid directly but instead must bill either through a physician or a business with a national provider ID.

For an NP to own their own practice they incorporate and bill directly under the NPs license. For a PA to own their own practice they can either hire the physician directly (not allowed in most states) or they can form a corporation (1% must be owned by someone else (mother, father, wife etc)) and the corporation hires the supervising physician and bills for the PA services (most common and the same mechanism that NPs use in states with mandatory supervision/collaboration).

For information on the NP practice acts look at the Pearson report:

http://www.webnp.net/downloads/pearson_report08/ajnp_pearson08.pdf

For information on PA practice acts look here:

http://www.aapa.org/advocacy-and-practice-resources/state-government-and-licensing/state-laws-and-regulations/517-summary-of-state-laws-for-physician-assistants-abridged-version

David Carpenter, PA-C