Talking Points from AANP:

Nurse Practitioners, also known as NPs, are expert clinicians with advanced training who provide primary, acute and specialty health care.

• NPs offer high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered health care.
• NPs provide a full range of services, such as ordering, performing and interpreting diagnostic tests; diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions; prescribing medications and treatments; and managing overall patient care.
• There are more than 234,000 NPs licensed to practice in America today, providing solutions to the health care provider crisis.
• NPs have master’s degrees, and many have doctoral degrees, as well as advanced education and clinical training.

There are more than 234,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) licensed in the U.S.

• An estimated 23,000 new NPs completed their academic programs in 2015-2016
• 97.7% of NPs have graduate degrees
• 89.2% of NPs are certified in an area of primary care
• Nearly three in four NPs are accepting new Medicare patients, and 77.9% are accepting new Medicaid patients
• 49.9% of NPs hold hospital privileges; 11.3% have long term care privileges
• 95.8% of NPs prescribe medications, and those in full-time practice write an average of 23 prescriptions per day
• NPs hold prescriptive privileges, including controlled substances, in all 50 states and D.C.
• Nurse practitioners have been in practice an average of 11 years

For more information about nurse practitioners, click here.