Policy Studies Finance and Trade

Medical Licensing Reform Can Provide Better Access To Primary Care

by Courtney Joslin

Dec 11, 2019

Download PDF Print

Author

Courtney Joslin

Resident Fellow and Senior Manager, Project for Women and Families

Key Points

The projected primary care shortage in the U.S. threatens the ability of Americans to receive the health care they need on a regular basis. Virtually every state is facing an alarming impending shortage of primary care doctors, and reform measures must be taken.

As it stands, medical licensing for advanced health care professionals like nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pharmacists overly restricts their ability to contribute to primary care services that they are able to perform. Licensing reform in the states would help these practitioners better contribute to the primary care field.

Scope-of-practice reform, or reform that expands the duties that these medical professionals can perform, would benefit patients and the primary care workforce.

Press Release

How Scope-Of-Practice Laws Can Empower The Medical Community & Patients

Media Contact

For general and media inquiries and to book our experts, please contact: pr@rstreet.org

Introduction

A 2016 study from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services found that by 2025, 37 states will experience shortages of primary care physicians. This is hardly good news, as primary care in the United States is already under strain. In fact, 44 million Americans currently live in areas with a shortage of primary care doctors, and the projected demand for primary care services in the United States will continue to outpace supply over the coming decades. For this reason, recent years have seen a push to allow advanced medical professionals like physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists to perform expanded roles in primary care as a way to address the shortage.

As it stands, medical licensing in the United States overly restricts the ability of these advanced medical professionals to take on expanded roles in the primary care space. For this reason, fixing these limitations through scope-of-practice reform would greatly benefit both patients and practitioners. For patients, greater access to primary care would mean better health outcomes. For practitioners, expanded duties would take better advantage of their education and training, both of which are often underused due to licensing restrictions. It would also benefit primary care physicians who are currently overworked and experiencing burnout. Accordingly, states should consider expanding the scope of practice for all advanced medical professionals.

Toward that end, the present study provides an overview of the primary care shortage and how expanded scope of practice can help to alleviate it. It then explores the ways in which physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists are currently restricted by state scope-of-practice regulations.

Read the full study here.