Let’s give Kimberly Hogan the benefit of the doubt and do some quick math. She points to a briefing that says a nurse practitioner can “manage 80-90% of the care provided by a physician.” (“Nurse practitioners are essential to fill the health care gap” — July 17). Let’s use the higher figure of 90% for our calculations.
In my practice, I would see about 100 patients a week. That means that 10 patients a week would have issues that a nurse practitioner could not manage. Multiply that by 50 weeks and you get 500 patients a year. There were 12 physicians in my practice. That means that even if the figures are correct, 6,000 patients a year would get inferior care. That is in my practice alone! How many other practices are there across the city? State? Country? Is that figure acceptable? Would it be acceptable to you if you were one of the 6,000 patients?
