Will new care delivery solve the primary care physician shortage?: A call for more rigorous evaluation

Team-based care: an expanded medical assistant role - enhanced rooming and visit assistance

Primary care practices face significant challenges as they pursue the Quadruple Aim. Redistributing care across the interprofessional primary care team by expanding the role of the medical assistant (MA) is a potential strategy to address these challenges. Two sequential, linked processes to expand the role of the MA, called Enhanced Rooming and Visit Assistance, were implemented in four family medicine residency clinics in Minnesota. In Enhanced Rooming, MAs addressed preventive services, obtained a preliminary visit agenda, and completed a warm hand-off to the provider. In Visit Assistance, MAs stayed in the room the entire visit to assist with the visit workflow. Enhanced Rooming and Visit Assistance processes were successfully implemented and sustained for over one year. MAs and providers were satisfied with both processes, and patients accepted the expanded MA roles. Mammogram ordering rates increased from 10% to 25% (p < 0.0001). After Visit Summary (AVS) print rates increased by 12% (p < 0.0001). Visit Turn-Around-Time (TAT) decreased 3.1 minutes per visit (p = 0.0001). Expanding the MA role in a primary care interprofessional team is feasible and a potentially useful tool to address the Quadruple Aim.

Nurse-managed health centers and patient-centered medical homes could mitigate expected primary care physician shortage

Numerous forecasts have predicted shortages of primary care providers, particularly in light of an expected increase in patient demand resulting from the Affordable Care Act. Yet these forecasts could be inaccurate because they generally do not allow for changes in the way primary care is delivered. We analyzed the impact of two emerging models of care--the patient-centered medical home and the nurse-managed health center--both of which use a provider mix that is richer in nurse practitioners and physician assistants than today's predominant models of care delivery. We found that projected physician shortages were substantially reduced in plausible scenarios that envisioned greater reliance on these new models, even without increases in the supply of physicians. Some less plausible scenarios even eliminated the shortage. All of these scenarios, however, may require additional changes, such as liberalized scope-of-practice laws; a larger supply of medical assistants, licensed practical nurses, and aides; and payment changes that reward providers for population health management.

Building a health care workforce for the future: more physicians, professional reforms, and technological advances

Traditionally, projections of US health care demand have been based upon a combination of existing trends in usage and idealized or expected delivery system changes. For example, 1990s health care demand projections were based upon an expectation that delivery models would move toward closed, tightly managed care networks and would greatly decrease the demand for subspecialty care. Today, however, a different equation is needed on which to base such projections. Realistic workforce planning must take into account the fact that expanded access to health care, a growing and aging population, increased comorbidity, and longer life expectancy will all increase the use of health care services per capita over the next few decades--at a time when the number of physicians per capita will begin to drop. New technologies and more aggressive screening may also change the equation. Strategies to address these increasing demands on the health system must include expanded physician training.

Primary care teams: are we there yet? Implications for workforce planning

Recent studies suggest that team-based primary care models could contribute to eliminating the predicted physician shortages. In this article, the authors explore existing team-based clinical care delivery models, comparing specialist and primary care teams, that include patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations. Next, the authors describe the barriers to adopting these models on a large scale, particularly the regulatory, financial, and cultural factors as well as scope of practice considerations for nonphysician providers. The authors' aim is not to evaluate the merits of team-based primary care models but, rather, to ascertain whether such models should be at the center of current physician workforce planning policies. The authors argue that although emerging evidence indicates that primary care teams can improve patient outcomes, few data exist to suggest that these models will drastically reduce the need for additional physicians or other providers. Thus, the authors conclude that additional research is needed to evaluate the ability of such models to alleviate provider deficits. And, while policy makers should work toward their ideal health care system, they also must expand the physician workforce to meet the growing demand for health care services in the existing one.