Should retail clinics manage chronic disease?

if NPs, PAs, and pharmacists can now practice primary care, so be it.

Perhaps ultimately RNs will be licensed to prescribe meds too (after all, an NP’s training is MUCH closer to that of an RN than an MD).

Maybe then LPN’s can be “providers” too. Then perhaps CNA’s.

Then the x-ray tech can interpret MRIs of the central nervous system.

And the physical therapist can perform joint injections & minor surgery. The slippery slope argument is clear, isn’t it?

But this will be the nail in the coffin of primary care MEDICINE. And for myself & my family, I’m glad i’m a DOCTOR (not a “provider”).

it is hard enough for physicians to handle many patients, i just dont think primary care should totally be in the hands of nonMd or nonDO’s. i really dont care if NP’s, PA’s, or others take over primary care, but i sure as hell will look for an MD or a DO and get regular checks by them. ie., its ok to see these other providers, provided you have an MD or a DO that you can always go to. i know a lot of patients that dont have a doctor, this is sad, cause when it comes to something serious, they are gonna end up in the ER and perhaps lost thru the cracks