title: Insurers' contracting policies on nurse practitioners as primary care providers: the current landscape and what needs to change.
abstract: A national survey showed that most insurance companies refuse to credential nurse practitioners as primary care providers in nurse-managed health centers. These prohibitive policies, along with weak federal and state laws, threaten the long-term sustainability of nurse-managed health centers as safety-net health care providers and limit the ability for nurse practitioners to become an accepted primary health care source in the United States. Interviews with national managed care organizations revealed that these companies' current business practice and policies are unlikely to change without regulatory change at state and/or federal levels.
authors.affiliation: National Nursing Centers Consortium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hansen-Turton
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ritter
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Begun
authors.forename: Sandra L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Berkowitz
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valdez
mesh_terms: D003284:Contract Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003406:Credentialing; D033161:Government Regulation; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007355:Insurance, Nursing Services; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D014481:United States