Nurse Practitioners Provide the Majority of Home-Based Medical Visits, Study Reveals

​In 2013, nurse practitioners (NPs) performed more than 1.13 million medical visits to patients in their homes or assisted-living facilities, making up 22% (an increase from 19% in 2012) of all residential medical visits to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, according to a new study published December 28, 2016, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and reported by UVA Today. The research was conducted by the University of Virginia and other institutions. Of the three to four million older adults who reside in the community or home, many have difficulties obtaining access to office-based care because of transportation or scheduling problems. Increased healthcare costs often result, associated with ambulance or emergency department trips, hospitalizations or readmissions, and other postacute care. These difficulties also underscore the demand for home-based primary care. NPs now deliver the majority of home medical visits compared with family physicians and other healthcare providers.