Abstract
A survey of directors of midlevel practitioner training programs was conducted to analyze the projected impact of the Rural Health Clinics Services Bill (PL95-210). Sixty-eight percent of the directors responded. The majority of the respondents agreed that the bill would have a positive impact on accessibility and continuity of care and would increase the number of practitioners in rural areas. The directors of nurse practitioner programs disagreed with the directors of physician assistant programs over the issue of physician supervision and midlevel practitioner responsibility for care. Almost half of the respondents believed that the legislated method of reimbursment was not optimal, and 58% felt that financial abuses of the bill may occur. The legal implications of the bill and its impact on cost of care are discussed.
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Additional information
Dr. Rivara is with the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, 3747 15th Avenue, N.E., Seattle, Washington 98105. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Rivara would like to thank Dr. Noel Tichy for his encouragement to do the study and Dr. James P. LoGerfo for his helpful comments on the manuscript.
In this paper, NPs and PAs when grouped together will be referred to as “midlevel practitioners” MLPs).
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Rivara, F.P. Impact of the Rural Health Clinics Services Bill: A projection. J Community Health 6, 103–112 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01318979
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01318979