AACN AWARDED CONTRACT TO DETERMINE
PROVIDER
MIX IN HEALTH SHORTAGE AREAS
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 2, 1997 -- The
federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
has contracted with the American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN) to recommend a key formula for determining
how three vital groups of primary care providers should
be utilized to meet health care needs in underserved areas.
Under the four-month, $28,109 contract,
AACN will evaluate the completeness of available databases
that list the numbers, locations and practice specialties
of nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, and physician
assistants nationwide. Following that review, AACN will
recommend whether and how a combined database on these groups
can be created, and how the three types of providers should
be included in formulas that determine the percentage of
primary care workers needed to meet demand in federally
designated Health Professional Shortage Areas.
"By seeking to incorporate nurse practitioners
(NPs) and certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) in its formula
for shortage areas, HRSA has provided powerful testimony
of the essential and central role of these advanced practice
nurses in delivering high-quality primary care to the nation's
underserved," says AACN President Carole A. Anderson, PhD,
RN, FAAN.
"While NPs and CNMs have a long history
of practice in underserved communities, they've also often
been the 'invisible providers' -- practitioners who were
not figured into federal calculations that focused exclusively
on physicians when determining how many primary care professionals
were needed in shortage areas," Dr. Anderson explains. In
addition, "so much of the data on these essential practitioners
are scattered in bits and pieces in a host of different
databases at state regulatory agencies, professional organizations,
and other sources, often making it difficult to quickly
access information so central to effective planning and
decisionmaking."
Designation as a shortage area is also critical
to determining which clinics are eligible for certain types
of federal funding and for providing scholarships and educational
loan programs to attract nursing and other health professions
students to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) --
the only source of health care for many Americans in rural
and other underserved communities. The Corps' health care
providers agree to serve in a shortage area in exchange
for student financial assistance through NHSC.
To develop its recommendations, AACN will
conduct telephone surveys of agencies, organizations, and
private industries (such as pharmaceutical companies and
publishers) that market to NPs, CNMs, and PAs to determine
the availability and specificity of national data on these
groups. AACN will also assess whether a new, centralized
database is needed, and if so, what information it should
contain. In addition, the Association will examine current
studies of workforce issues and review each state's laws
on scope of practice and supervision and collaboration for
the three provider groups.
As a prelude, AACN will convene federal
and professional organization representatives in a one-day
session in the Washington, D.C. area this fall to review
HRSA's formula for determining which shortage areas need
additional primary care providers. Based on their review,
the representatives will recommend how to incorporate NPs,
CNMs, and PAs into the formula in appropriate percentages
to assure that health care needs in shortage areas are effectively
addressed.
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
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CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
