OFFICE STAFF
Physician Assistants (PAs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Others
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PCPs might employ Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) to:
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According to the article by Robert Lowes, "What Do PA, NP, and CNM Spell?," Medical Economics (March 20, 2000), the answer for physicians is to redefine their roles - specifically, by relinquishing elementary tasks to Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) and concentrating on more advanced ones.
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Nurse Practitioners - working with or in place of Family Practitioners, Internists and Pediatriciains:
Physician Assistants:
Source: Ken
Terry, “What’s on the Horizon for Primary Care?,” Medical
Economics ( |
Deborah Grandinetti, "Make the Most of Your Staff," Medical Economics (April 24, 2000), indicates the importance of having staff doing the right work at the right time so that operations are seamless and that some practices are experimenting with "Care teams".
Ken Terr's article, "Re-Engineer Your Practice – Starting Today," Medical Economics (April 24, 2000), looks at same day access, triage nurses, cross-training staff members, and aiming to improve outpatient care.
Make the most of your office staff:
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Coding can be a revenue stream for providers when used accurately. For example, according to an article in Medical Economics (April 12, 2002), "Low-Level Codes Can Bring in High Revenue: So Called "Nursing Codes" can be Income Generators if you Use them Correctly", low level office visit codes, such as patient code 99211, often referred to as a "nurse visit" does not require the presence of a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant and is usually provided by an RN or LPN or certified medical assistant. According to this article, these type of visits are billed as "incident to" services and must follow appropriate guidelines. Education in proper use of codes is necessary.