Health Care Edition Health care
BY BROOKE SJOBERG
2024
Community Impact 's annual Health Care Edition features news on the timeliest topics in the industry. Content ranges from major health care developments to listings of nearby health care facilities. Articles within this guide are focused on local topics affecting your community, the metro and the state of Texas, and are written by our team of journalists to meet our mission of providing trusted news and information everyone gets. From Denise: Growing up in Leander we didn't have any options for urgent care clinics, so my parents would have to drive us into Austin. Now, still living in the area and with young children, it's very comforting to know we're just minutes away from an emergency room.
What's inside
St. David’s HealthCare reconsiders scope of Leander hospital (Page 23)
Denise Seiler General Manager dseiler@ communityimpact.com
Doctors encourage screenings for colorectal cancer (Page 27)
Cancer center, hospital to replace Frank Erwin Center (Page 31)
As Texas grapples with a shortage of primary care physicians across the state, patients may more frequently find their care managed by a nurse practitioner rather than a physician. This shortage can be attributed to a lack of medical students choosing to become primary care physicians, said Cara Young, an associate professor at The University of Texas, who is also the director of the university’s family nurse practitioner program. This was made worse, she said, by a wave of retirements that came during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the following years. To meet the needs of primary care patients, many medical practices and clinics are choosing to staff nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with an advanced education and clinical training in a health care specialty, which can include primary care, Young said. Nurse practitioners also choose their specialty before beginning their training, whereas a traditional physician would specialize after medical school. Due to gaps, nurse practitioners fill in
What to expect
About 72% of nurse practitioners in Texas are licensed in primary care, according to a 2022 report from Texas Nurse Practitioners. Young said the holistic model of care nurse practitioners are trained in may make them well-suited for primary care. “We focus much of our time on education and taking care of our patients from a holistic perspective, so that we can get a sense of what’s important to them and guide them in their health journey,” Young said. Statewide physician shortage projections Projected 12K Supply Demand
Since 2019, more than 6,000 nurse practitioners have been registered in Texas. With 84% of counties in the state experiencing a shortage of primary care physicians, patients seeking primary care may more frequently be seen by a nurse practitioner than a traditional physician. However, Young said patients might not know the difference, as there is a large overlap between the services both kinds of practitioners are able to provide.
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SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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LEANDER - LIBERTY HILL EDITION
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