Nurse Practitioners Could Be Poised to Fill Primary Care Gap

September 5, 2018

(Reuters) – With the U.S. lurching toward a severe shortage of primary care physicians, nurse practitioners may be poised to fill the void – but only if more can be convinced to live in underserved areas and laws in some states loosen up, a new study suggests.  Researchers found that in California, where shortages of primary care physicians are starting to be felt, nurse practitioners more often reside in counties where there are already plenty of doctors, according to the report in Health Affairs.