[NPInfo] Jeff's answer to doc attacks

[David Mittman]

Jeff:
Really good stuff, especially the last 2 paragraphs. EVERONE SHOULD SAVE
THIS along with the other great letters that have been written and cut and
paste when needed. 
Dave


On 9/2/07 7:30 AM, "Jeffrey Hazzard" <jeffnp27 at yahoo.com>
wrote:

>   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
>  
>