Primary care is in short supply across the US, and nurse practitioners are increasingly stepping in to provide this much needed care. Studies show that NPs provide high-quality primary care, which improves access to care in underserved areas and reduces costs of care.
University of Pennsylvania researchers have called for modernization of the way Medicare pays for training nurses. A recent study highlighted a successful new model of cost-effectively training more advanced practice nurses to practice community-based primary care.
The findings come from a five-state demonstration of an innovative model of graduate nurse education (GNE) authorized by the Affordable Care Act. Each GNE site, managed by one teaching hospital hub, combined the training capacity of entire communities across health systems, hospitals, private medical practices, clinics, long-term care facilities, and universities.
The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’sCenter for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) led the largest demonstration site, which included nine universities, multiple health systems, and more than 600 community health care providers in the region.
Penn Nursing is calling for Medicare to adopt and fund the nurse training model nationally, shifting Medicare funding from diploma nursing programs that produce entry-level RNs to permanent, national funding of training for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).
To learn more about Penn Nursing’s call to action for Medicare to adopt a national nurse training model to help alleviate the national shortage of primary care providers, visit here.
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