Dive Brief:
- The AMA has issued a recommendation calling for doctors to determine how members of physician-led care teams are paid.
- In this model, physicians would make disbursement decisions based on such elements as volume and intensity of care provided, profession, training and experience of each team member and quality of care provided.
- The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, for its part, calls the arrangement anti-competitive and outdated; it also suggests that this arrangement fails to recognize Institute of Medicine recommendations on team-based care.
Dive Insight:
While physician-led team care might achieve positive results, it's understandable that nursing professionals might sound the alarm if payment is put firmly in the hands of these physicians. Nurses with advanced practice training could easily feel slighted if they're not being paid nor given the scope of practice which that training merits. It will be interesting to see whether the AANP comes up with a well-articulated alternatve to the AMA's proposal.