Letters: Allow nurse practitioners to do more

ISSUE | HEALTH CARE

Nurses can do more

I take issue with Dr. Scott Shapiro's assessment that allowing nurse-practitioners "full practice authority" is "a solution that doesn't work for a problem we don't have" ("Expanding the role of nurse-practitioners," Aug. 28).

The shortage of primary-care physicians is a huge problem, and nurse practitioners fill that gap. The Family Practice and Counseling Network, the largest nurse-managed health-care network in the country, operates largely in underserved and vulnerable communities. Our convenient care clinics are filled with people who come to us because they can't get in to see a primary-care physician. The network sees 22,000 patients a year, with outcomes similar to or better than traditional practices. People choose us because they know we provide access to quality health care.

Nurse-managed health centers like ours are forced to pay several thousand dollars to doctors for collaborative agreements. Those funds could be better spent on patient care, but the law requires an administrative arrangement that forces us to put doctors on the books who don't see our patients.

I would never say nurses can do everything alone. The network is proud of the collaborative environment in which we care for our patients. Nurse practitioners are there for our patients. That's why the network supports legislation allowing nurse practitioners to serve patients to our fullest potential.

|Donna Torrisi, executive director, Family Practice and Counseling Network, Philadelphia, dtorrisi@fpcn.com