Food insecurity among health care workers

When you think of health care workers, many think of physicians, nurses and hospital administrators, who often make an above average salary. Not all health care workers, however, are well-paid and many even suffer from food insecurity according to a study by Srinivasan et al. (2021): Using nationally representative data from the period 2013–18, this…

Nurse practitioner employment is growing

Nurse practitioner employment has nearly doubled between 2010 and 2017 according to Auerbach et al. (2020). If nurse practitioners can provide similar quality for some services at lower cost, nurse practitioners could save money. If nurse practitioners can help better leverage physician time for more complex services, and increase access to care, they may be…

Pharmacists as health care providers

Pharmacists are often seen as individuals who just dispense drugs.  However, pharmacists are increasingly considered as providers that are part of the broader health care team. My own research has shown that pharmacists are a more cost-effective and safe approach to getting vaccinations compared to primary care providers (see Fontanesi et al. 2009).  A Health Affairs Entry…

The pros and cons of retail clinics

Aaron Caroll does a nice job summarizing these viewpoints in his article in the N.Y. Times’ Upshot: Researchers for a study published in the American Journal of Medical Quality talked to patients who sought out care at retail clinics. Patients who had a primary care physician, but still went to a retail clinic, did so…