NPs Are Not the Same as Physicians
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Colleagues:
Pay for a steak, but only get a hamburger. This does not sound like a fair deal to me. Yet this is what the Nurse Practitioners want with their recently filed class-action lawsuit. They want the courts to rule that they should be paid the same as physicians. Although the case is directed against NYS as an employer of NPs, it has wider potential implications for insurance reimbursement.
Specious arguments will be made that this is an issue of same pay for same service. Yet such arguments ignore the studying and training that licensed physicians undergo to become medical experts. Patients benefit when physicians are available to provide expert perception when guideline medical care is not enough or not appropriate. Patients benefit when physicians are present as the head of their medical team, by providing their background and depth of knowledge in ways that either improve their care or serve as quality assurance. NPs and PAs are important members of a medical team. However, it must be stated that an NP practicing independently is practicing without that supervision, and without a physician head of the team.
While the legislature in its wisdom now allows NPs to practice independently, that does not mean that patients are receiving the same level of care and expertise as that from a real physician.
A hamburger comes from the same cow as a steak, has the same amount of protein, and provides iron and other similar nutrients. McDonalds is allowed to sell hamburgers just as Ruth’s Chris Steak House is allowed to sell steaks. But all of those facts are irrelevant. A McDonalds hamburger is not the same as a steak. And if McDonalds were billing an insurance company, it would be ludicrous to expect it to be reimbursed as if a hamburger is a steak. And if NYS hires an NP instead of a physician, then NYS (and the taxpaying public) shouldn’t be forced to pay as if a physician had been hired.
MSSNY is looking into whether the AMA Litigation Center may be willing to file an Amicus Curae Brief in this case.
If you agree with these arguments, donate to MSSNYPac today.
All the best,
Jerome C. Cohen, MD
MSSNY President
