Hooker Roderick S, Zobitz John M
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA.
Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Med Care Res Rev. 2024 Apr;81(2):156-163. doi: 10.1177/10775587231211966. Epub 2023 Nov 29.
Prescribing is a significant activity undertaken by physicians, physician associates/assistants (PAs), and nurse practitioners (NPs). We analyzed prescribing data to understand better the growing presence of PAs and NPs in older adults. A trend in frequently prescribed medications was compared with other physicians. All prescriptions in Medicare Part D were grouped into broad categories of drugs and linked to each type of provider. The analysis spanned 9 years (2013-2021). The results revealed that all five providers similarly prescribed the top three main drug classes (antacids, antihypertensives, and statins). In addition, there was a decline in the number of unique prescribers and prescriptions for all three types of physicians (family medicine, internal medicine, and general practice physicians). Concurrently, the number and share of prescriptions for NPs and PAs increased yearly. The findings are consistent with data that PAs and NPs are backfilling physician shortages in treating older adults.
开处方是医生、医师助理和执业护士所从事的一项重要活动。我们分析了处方数据，以便更好地了解医师助理和执业护士在老年人医疗中日益增加的参与情况。将常用处方药的趋势与其他医生进行了比较。医疗保险D部分的所有处方被归类为广泛的药物类别，并与每种类型的医疗服务提供者相关联。该分析涵盖了9年（2013 - 2021年）。结果显示，所有五类医疗服务提供者开出的前三大类主要药物（抗酸剂、抗高血压药和他汀类药物）相似。此外，三类医生（家庭医学、内科和全科医生）的独特开处方者数量和处方数量均有所下降。与此同时，执业护士和医师助理的处方数量和占比逐年增加。这些发现与有关医师助理和执业护士正在填补治疗老年人时医生短缺的数据一致。
