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February 25, 2009
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THE ANSWER:
NURSE PRACTITIONERS
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How do we address the physician shortage in primary care? Nurse Practitioners, of course. DC only has one (yes, one!) nurse practitioner with her own practice. Yesterday, we visited that lone soul, Erin Bagshaw, C-ANP, and learned NP's can do anything an internist can do, except they're also happy and profitable. (Our words, not hers. She's too polite for such an assessment.)
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In '07, Erin became DC's first private practice NP granted hospital privileges, bringing her even more in line with internists. That's on top of the fact NP's take many of the same classes as MD's and have prescriptive authority. (To call them "nurse" is to lop off an entire degree and board certification.) In DC, (and about a dozen states) NP's can work without MD supervision, so Erin opened Northwest Nurse Practitioner Associates in '04. She calls it "old school" because she spends time with patients and knows their histories, even while managing 3000. Even better, she has a business model to sustain it.
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Overhead is low because you're looking at the entire staff. As a nurse/clinician amalgam, Erin can treat patients, draw blood, analyze charts, and diagnose cancer. Her office manager, Rosalyn, takes care of the rest. They take no insurance (except Medicare), so administrative paperwork costs are returned to patients as low rates. She charges a flat, out-of-pocket fee, depending on the type of visit, and patients can submit to insurance on their own. This all happens under the cloud that Medicare only reimburses NP's about 85% of what family physicians receive for doing the exact same job. But Erin's not complaining. She gets to run her practice exactly how she wants. "I love it."
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Does your office have a lion standing guard? It does if you're across from the National Zoo. Erin also cuts costs by negotiating her own lab contracts and receiving lower liability rates. (Studies show NP's are less likely to be sued.) At the moment, she's interviewing to hire another NP, which will give her more time to slip away like she did over Inauguration, to snowboard at White Tail.
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| UMC's New Chief of Staff: "We're Hiring" |
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Even though he was just named United Medical Center's chief of staff, Dr. Julian Craig, left, says that's no welcome party behind him. For one, he's been medical director for respiratory care since '04. More importantly, the event was actually marking the hospital's recent Joint Commission accreditation. (And, it also happened to be Mardi Gras.) As chief of staff, Julian plans to strengthen ties with GW, G-town, and Howard to attract post-graduate fellows to join the private practice medical staff. In particular, he's seeking specialists in neurology, hematology, oncology, infectious disease, and cardiology. With Julian: chief medical officer Dr. Cyril Allen.
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With plate-spinning skills like these, no wonder his peers voted him chief. His recruitment pitch to potential docs is that UMC offers: the potential for a large volume of patients; unique challenges being DC's only hospital east of the Anacostia; and growing financial viability. A Jamaica native, Julian tells us UMC is aiming to improve hospital efficiency by working with the DC government to secure stimulus funds for electronic medical records. Until then, we hope he hasn't ruled out street performance as a fundraiser.
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| Fun Charity Alert |
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Tonight: Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund transforms Harry's Tap Room in Arlington from 7 to 11 PM into a Caribbean buffet and open bar with live music and silent auction; $75, to benefit its college and career prep programs. More info.
Send your story ideas to Curtis@Bisnow.com
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This newsletter is a journalistic news source which accepts no payment for featured interviews. It is supported by conventional advertisers clearly identified in the right hand column. You have been selected to receive it either through prior contact or professional association. If you have received it in error, please accept our apologies and unsubscribe at bottom of the newsletter. © 2009, Bisnow on Business, Inc., 1323 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036. All rights reserved.
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