[NPInfo] Re: NPInfo Digest, Vol 18, Issue 4

[Tracy Klein]

Choose your favorite NP outcome study to insert into
Jeff's letter:
http://www.acnpweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3321.
Or better yet, conduct your own...
Please, however, move beyond why doctors are doing
this or why its not fair. Prove it and call it what it
is. Learn how to figure out how much you are
contributing to their bottom line.
Tracy Klein, MS, WHCNP, FNP
Portland, Oregon

___________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 04:30:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jeffrey Hazzard <jeffnp27 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [NPInfo] Jeff's answer to doctor attacks
To: npinfo npinfo <npinfo at nurse.net>, ACC Listserv
	<acc-circle at listserve.com>
Cc: SGrtWhite at aol.com
Message-ID:
<971290.48063.qm at web31304.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

    Steve,  
        
     [  Here's what I'd say. I tried to prioritize, so
that if you can
 only say some of it, the points are in descending
order of importance.
  The last tag line in the last paragraph should be
said last in any
 interview.  This is the written form.  If it is
spoken in a soundbite, it
 should be said a lot less formally, or it will come
out sounding as
 though it is being read aloud.  ]
   
        "The doctors are running scared.  Their fear,
however, is for
 their pocketbooks, not their patients.  ALL evidence,
including a large
 study by the Federal Government Accountability Office
(GAO) and another
 head to head prospective, randomized clinical trial
published in
 ____________(either JAMA?? or NEJM??) each strongly
concluded that NPs and
 PAs provide safe, comprehensive care comparable to
that of a doctor, and
 at lower cost.  For doctors to say that patients are
placed at risk
 when they are cared for by a NP or PA is not accurate
and smacks of turf
 protection and scare-mongering, not scientific
reality.
   
        "In more than 15 states NPs practice
INDEPENDENTLY (no
 relationship to a doctor at all) providing all
aspects of primary care.  Most
 rural NPs and PAs function autonomously in clinics
without a physician
 present.  Both professionals are usually the only one
in a patient room
 synthesizing myriad data and health parameters to
diagnose and
 prescribe diagnostic tests and medications
INDEPENDENTLY.  Rates of patient
 satisfaction, health statistics, and malpractice
rates in primary care are
 at least as good, and sometimes BETTER, for NPs and
PAs when compared
 to doctors.
   
    "Doctors pride themselves at employing scientific
method in an
 evidenced-based practice.  All evidence would show
that spokesperson
 doctors representing professional organizations are
willing to part from
 scientific data when their long-held monopoly on
power and money are at
 risk.  

     "We are now hearing a lot about NPs and PAs
because they are
 individually visible, employed in places like retail
clinics and
 community-based offices.  Doctors never objected to
NPs and PAs working in clinics
 by themselves at health departments, migrant health
clinics, urban
 ghetto outreach clinics for the poor, or in public
school systems.
  Doctors only started thinking about 'patient safety'
when those patients had
 health insurance and the ability to pay."
   
    "When doctors try to limit the medical practice of
NPs and PAs they
 are directly hurting the public.  One out of six
Americans has no
 health insurance.  We have a shortage of health care
providers that is
 rapidly growing worse.  It is time for doctors to put
the American public
 ahead of their own interests.  It is time for them to
back off and
 realize that NPs and PAs are not nearly as large a
threat to their incomes
 and power as having all Americans realize trust
placed in doctors has
 been violated by the doctors themselves."
   
      Jeff