Researchers from Marshall B. Ketchum University Describe Findings in Insurance (Office Procedures for Older Adults By Physician Associates and Nurse Practitioners): Insurance

Health Policy and Law Daily

2025 MAR 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Research findings on Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting out of Fullerton, California, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “We hypothesized that physician associate (PA) and nurse practitioner (NP) procedural roles are expanding. We sought to describe ambulatory procedures these professionals performed in 2021 for older adults.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Marshall B. Ketchum University, “Retrospective observational cohort study of Medicare Part B data. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data were used to provide overall PA and NP employment context. Medicare Part B databases were probed for outpatient events by PAs and NPs using a modified list of the Council of Academic Family Medicine’s recommended clinical procedures that focused on 29 procedures organized into 9 categories called procedure clusters. These procedures were linked to Current Procedural Terminologycodes and PA and NP National Provider Identifier codes in Medicare Part B and then tabulated and analyzed for 2021. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provided NP and PA employment trends for context. The trend of the procedures and providers spanning 2014-2021 was analyzed.In 2021, 23,581 NPs and PAs filed 9.6 million Medicare Part B enrollee procedure claims. Most procedures (96%) involved skin or the musculoskeletal system. PAs filed more than twice as many claims for skin and musculoskeletal procedures as NPs, and NPs filed 1.25 times as many as PAs for the eye, ear, nose, and throat; pulmonary; genitourinary; gastrointestinal-colorectal; and women’s health categories. From 2014 through 2021, the number of PAs and NPs in clinical practice increased by 72%, and the number of those who filed procedure claims increased by 74%.Overall, PAs performed more skin and musculoskeletal procedures than NPs, and NPs performed more procedures in the other 7 procedure clusters than PAs. PA and NP employment growth does not fully explain these observations.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We suggest that outpatient procedural task-shifting activity presents an area for further research.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Office Procedures for Older Adults By Physician Associates and Nurse Practitioners. American Journal of Managed Care, 2024;30(4). American Journal of Managed Care can be contacted at: Managed Care & Healthcare Communications Llc, 666 Plainsboro Rd, Ste 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Robert E. Mckenna, Marshall B. Ketchum University, Sch Phys Assistant Studies, 2575 Yorba Linda Blvd, Fullerton, CA 92831, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2024.89532. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.