Role of Midlevel Providers in Sports Med Growing

Midlevel providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants have been playing an increasingly important role in orthopedic sports medicine, but little is known about the patient perspective on their role in their treatment.

A new study, “Patient Perspectives of Midlevel Providers in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine,” published on April 10, 2018 in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, looked more closely at how patients perceive midlevel providers in a sports medicine physician’s office and found that patients seriously consider the credentials of a physician’s midlevel provider when selecting a new doctor.

During this cross-sectional study, 690 consecutive new patients of three orthopedic sports medicine physicians were given an anonymous questionnaire before their first visit. They were asked about their perspectives on the importance of the midlevel provider in the selection of a physician, the optimal scope of the practice and reimbursement equity with physicians.

Of the 690 surveyed, 605 (87.7%) of the patients responded. The breakdown of patients was 51.9% men and 48.1% women, mean age of 40.5±15.7 years.

According to the data, more than half of them didn’t perceive any difference in training levels between physician assistants and nurse practitioners, but 62.9% did report that a physician’s midlevel provider is an important factor in their selection of a new physician.

However, there was a lack of agreement on reimbursement equity for midlevel practitioners and physicians.

The researchers wrote, “Patients had specific preferences regarding which services should be physician provided. Patients also reported specific preferences regarding those services that could be midlevel provided.”

They added, “As health care becomes value driven and consumer-centric, understanding patient perspectives on midlevel providers will allow orthopaedic sports medicine physicians to optimize efficiency and patient satisfaction. Physicians may consider these data in clinical workforce planning, as patients preferred specific services to be physician or midlevel provided.”