Associate Professor Hilary Barnes, director of the doctor of nursing practice program in the Jack & Nancy Dwyer School of Nursing, recently co-authored a new report from the Milbank Memorial Fund highlighting the growing role of nurse practitioners in expanding access to health care across the country.

The report, “Rapid Growth, Uncertain Impact: Nurse Practitioners and the Future of Primary Care Access,” projects that the nurse practitioner workforce will grow nearly 11% annually between 2023 and 2030, roughly 10 times the expected growth for physicians over the same period. The growth is largely driven by younger nurse practitioners, whose numbers have risen 389% since 2010.

With the growth of the nurse practitioner workforce, patients who live in poverty, have a disability or reside in rural areas may benefit from increased access to primary care. The report notes that nurse practitioners are more likely than physicians or physician assistants to care for patients in these communities. 

Despite the encouraging workforce growth, researchers estimate that only one-third to just under one-half of nurse practitioners work in primary care, with many instead entering specialty and acute care roles. The report terms this the “primary care pipeline leak,” driven by greater demand and higher compensation in those fields.

To help ensure this growth continues to translate into greater access to primary care, the report outlines recommendations for state policymakers, including closing gaps in Board of Nursing oversight, expanding the preceptor pipeline, investing in postgraduate training in safety-net settings and strengthening the primary care nurse practitioner evidence base.

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