Easing nurse practitioner laws may save money at clinics

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Relaxing restrictions on what services nurse practitioners can and can't provide may lead to cost savings at retail health clinics, suggests a new study. Researchers found care related to retail health clinic visits cost $34 less in states that allowed nurse practitioners to prescribe and practice independently than in states that required them to be supervised by a doctor. "It appears there are cost savings when those nurse practitioners are allowed to operate autonomously in the retail clinic settings," Joanne Spetz told Reuters Health. While $34 may not seem like much, the researchers estimate there could be cost savings of $472 million by 2015 if nurse practitioners are allowed to independently practice at retail health clinics.



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