Forbes article...

[physasst]

Anyone else see this?

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2014/06/29/paging-nurse-practitioners-as-demand-soars-under-obamacare/

 

This is pretty good...

 

Excerpt:

 

A new study by physician staffing firm MerrittHawkins indicates the number of search assignments the company did for physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) jumped by 320 percent over the last two years. Only until recently, MerrittHawkins, a subsidiary of AMN Healthcare (AMN), and its affiliated companies, were focused largely on finding doctors for their clients. But that is rapidly changing, the study indicates.

“Combined, advanced practitioners, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners were fifth on the list of Merritt Hawkins HWKN +0.37%’ most requested recruiting assignments, though neither were in the top 20 three years ago,” the report said.

[physasst]

Will be interesting to see how this balances out from a labor economics perspective. There are 93 new PA programs that have either been accredited, have provisional accreditation, or are seeking accreditation since 1-1-2012. Demand has been increasing dramatically, and will likely continue to increase secondary to deflationary market pressures (ACO's, Reference Pricing, and Bundled payments IE; prometheus). Much of the current consolidation and rapid dissolution of the small practice is actually a normal economic response, as consolidation will help to dampen deflation and help preserve pricing. I have been playing with some mathematical economic models on my Sheldon board (what I call my whiteboard in my office) to try and model whether or not demand will remain constant, and under what scenarios it will change. So far, there isn't going to be much change in demand for the next 30 years under almost every scenario I use (for PAs, haven't modeled other providers or specialists). It's a great time. This has also resulted in salary increases. This will likely continue to increase, although will taper off secondary to the deflationary pressures and consolidation efforts. Good stuff.

[Guest Paula]

Keep up the research and interpret it for those of us that have no idea what decision analysis-triadic communication models are.  I appreciate that you have interest, drive and determination to research the PA profession.  Someday I will be able to say.....I knew him when he posted on the forum and now look at where he is today!

 

So far my position should be safe and I will be retired way before 30 years are up. 

[DJ Bunnell MSHS PA-C]

This article rings true with my personal experience of dramatically increased contact by healthcare recruiters.  In addition to the Primary Care piece of the puzzle, I am noticing a vital need in the in-patient and specialty settings.  Resident work rules and large patient volumes make a strong PA and NP workforce an attractive option for hospital administrators.  

 

Physasst, I would be interested in seeing links to your work.  It sounds like an interesting and vital piece for the PA world to understand to have a view of the future.   

[Guest JMPA]

there certainley has been a tremendous increase in demand for PAs. I would strongly advise the masses to use the leverage widely. ex. wages ect.

[gbrothers98]

I went to SEMPA last year in Vegas, AAPA this year in Boston. Many recruiters of all shapes and sizes, anecdotally I would estimate near 50% of vendors. Definitely a significant change from the near 100% pharma support and participation I witnessed early in my career. Now if this demand could translate into upward salary pressure across the board.

G Brothers PA-C