(Beckham, 1994, 61). It is the purpose of this plan to propose the details of such a business. The name of the business would be NPA that would stand for Nurse Practitioner Associates and would be an updated version of the traditional nurse's registry services.
By definition, a Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a registered nurse with advanced academic and clinical experience who is capable of diagnosing and managing many common and chronic health problems (Bunis, 1995, A17). Exact figures of the number of NPs in the New York City area are difficult to come by because of the number of nurse's registry services. However, information from The Nurse Practitioner suggests that a figure of 6,000 is a safe estimate (Conklin, 1998).
There is likely to be a significant increase in demand for NPs who engage in preventive care services and wellness education efforts. Also, with the primacy of Primary Care Providers in the capitated health care system, it is likely that capitation will serve only to exacerbate the nation's shortage in physicians who provide general care, thereby paving the way for more RNs to provide as much primary care as possible to make up for this shortfall.
In addition, the staff reductions at many hospitals are creating a glut of nurses on the employment market, thereby providing sources of revenue through both recruitment and placement activities (Anderson, Gillis, Yoder, 1996, 210).
It is estimated that the potential market universe in the New York City metroplex is approximately 2,300,000 people that are receiving some sort of Medicare or managed care relief (Stat. Abs, 1997). That number is broken down into the following categories, based on 1994 estimates, the latest year available:
The American College of Nurse Practitioners predicts that because of managed health care policies, capitation by Medicare and insurance companies, and rising health costs that the market for NP services should continue gro...