On 02/09/2019 08:35 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
The medical schools only let in so many people each year to be doctors
and nurses. I remember when the machines to 'blast' the kindey stones
first came out. They would not let the local hospital have one because
it would make the treatment cost come down due to competition.


It varies by the state but the nurse practitioners have been lobbying to
be allowed to practice independently across the board and that's meeting
resistance. I have a yearly wellness physical coming up and a NP
certainly could handle that. In fact, when my doctor was on maternity
leave, the NP did. Still, many states require that they are under the
supervision of a doctor.