Shifting Pharma Focus to Include Non-Physician Clinicians
As physicians become increasingly overloaded, non-physician healthcare providers, such as nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), are stepping in to pick up the slack, often taking the place of physicians in primary care settings.
The physician shortage is not the result of just one factor, but many conditions occurring all at the same time. For instance, by 2019 the estimated number of Americans with health insurance will increase by 32 million1. This huge increase puts more strain put on the healthcare system – and on physicians. Furthermore, the baby boomer generation that is set to retire over the next few years includes many physicians. In fact, one-third of all active physicians are over 55-years old2.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicts a net shortage of 24,300 US physicians across all specialties by 2020. Currently, 65 million Americans live in areas designated by the federal government as having a shortage of physicians.
The government is searching for ways to provide better healthcare for Americans in this strained environment. In 2010, the Obama administration allocated $32 million to support PA training in primary care, through the Prevention and Public Health fund of the Affordable Care Act. An additional $30 million will train 600 nurse practitioners, and $15 million will help establish 10 nurse-managed health clinics which assist in the training of nurse practitioners3.
The Non-Physician Clinician
NPs and PAs are often referred to as “physician extenders” since they have been granted expanded authority in recent years, allowing them to provide a full-range of services to patients. They can diagnose a disease and then provide appropriate treatment for the patient, including prescribing medication4. In fact, 270,000 practicing NPs and PAs today in the US prescribe in all 50 states without a physician signature needed5. The average NP writes 20 prescriptions each day and 60% of NPs see three to four patients each hour4.
And they are not just vital to primary care. NPs in particular can specialize in many areas including acute care, gerontology, pediatric health, psychiatric health, women’s health, allergy/immunology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, pulmonology among others4.
Implications for Pharma
Overall, the digital engagement of NPs and PAs is significant. They exhibit similar behavior to physicians in the time they spend online each week and in their increasing web access from mobile devices6.
The majority of nurses go online a several times a day and tap into all kinds of resources including drug reference information, CME, blogs, HCP forums, email newsletters, search engines and online audio/video. Almost 90% of nurses visited a corporate or product website of a pharma, biotech or device company in the last year6.
They also use mobile apps like Davis’s Drug Guide for Nursing, RNotes® and Taber’s7. According to Skyscape, the leading provider of mobile resources for healthcare professionals, the use of Skyscape among nurse practitioners has increased an average of 39% each year since 2007.
Case Study
Physicians Interactive worked with a pharmaceutical company on a multi-channel marketing campaign targeting non-physician segments with great success. To view the comprehensive case study, entitled Brand Increases Market Saturation by Targeting RNs, go here.
For more information please contact us at 800-794-6757 or info@physiciansinteractive.com.
- NPR, August 2010, “Bucking the Trend, Primary Care Docs Practices Solo”
- American Medical Association
- Department of Health and Human Services
- American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2010
- PM360, February 2011, “PAs and NPs: What Pharmaceutical Marketers Need to Know”
- eMarketer, October 2010
- Skyscape, 2011
