Advanced-care practitioners treated injured workers in 37% of nonemergency visits for evaluation and management, more than double the 18% reported in 2013, according to the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The institute has been studying the rise of advanced-care practitioners working with injured employees, a trend experts have said is the result of physician shortages, especially in rural areas. Such professionals are not doctors and are typically licensed as nurse practitioners or physician assistants. In most states they can treat patients and prescribe medications, typically under the guidance of a physician.
Injured workers first treated by nurse practitioners rather than primary care doctors had a 2.3% shorter time from injury to the first nonemergency evaluation and management service, driven by a 9.9% shorter time in rural areas, the WCRI said in a study released Thursday.
The study found that workers first treated by physician assistants had a higher use of some specialty services, at 0.9 percentage points, and a 2.4% to 3.9% faster time to radiology, neurological/neuromuscular testing and pain-management injections.
Medical payments per claim were 4% higher for those first treated by physician assistants, but indemnity benefits per claim were 5.2% lower, according to the study.
This article was first published in Business Insurance.
