Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/945876
1 INCRE A SING RELIANCE ON NURSE PR ACTITIONERS NPs AND PHYSICIAN A SSISTANTS PAs A S WELL A S ON TELEHE ALTH AND REL ATED TECHNOLOGIES HAVE A COMMON ROOT: A L ACK OF PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS. ANALYSTS DO NOT SEE THESE TRENDS ABATING. " Telehealth is really a scalable solution for physicians, for hospitals, for payers and even for societies to ... grapple with the health of a population and kind of move it forward to achieve [improved] outcomes." TOM EDMONDSON, MD, CMD, AGSF, FACP, PHYSICIAN DIRECTOR OF AMBULATORY SOLUTIONS AT PHILIPS HOSPITAL TO HOME Driving Key Medical Trends BY HANNAH STUART BY 2030, the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts, the United States will face a shortage of potentially more than 43,000 primary care physi- cians. That has necessitated new ways of thinking about how to deliver care, and healthcare organizations are turning with greater urgency to NPs, PAs and telehealth. "When you look at the vast majority of our healthcare system today, over- whelmingly the greatest percentage of diagnostic and procedural tests come from about 14 percent of our population, and that's [individuals] over 65," says Travis Singleton, Senior Vice President at Merritt Hawkins, a Texas-based healthcare professional recruiting firm. "Not only are [these patients] likely to need di'erent types of services, but they access their physicians anywhere from five to seven times more per year than, say, a patient 20 to 30 years their junior." That has potentially staggering implications as the U.S. population ages and the incidence of chronic illnesses requiring frequent care continues to rise. Increased utilization of NPs and PAs as well as expanded use of telehealth may be indispensable contributors to better management of these patients. RIDING TO THE RESCUE? The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for NPs, nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives will increase 31 percent from 2014 to 2024, and PAs, who Shortage of Primary Care Providers 2 0