Table 1 Characteristics of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and primary care physicians who prescribed select antihypertensivea prescription medications in Pennsylvania, 2011b
Characteristics | Nurse practitioner | Physician assistant | Primary care physician |
|---|---|---|---|
N = 504 | N = 591 | N = 4419 | |
Provider sex, % | -- | -- | -- |
Female | 93.1 | 76.8 | 34.2 |
Provider setting, % | -- | -- | -- |
Rural | 20.8 | 27.4 | 11.9 |
Provider prescribing | -- | -- | -- |
Annual prescription volume, mean (sd) | 433.3 (496.6) | 423.8 (496.0) | 1127.2 (853.8) |
Patient age, % | -- | -- | -- |
<64 | 59.1 | 60.0 | 47.7 |
65–74 | 19.9 | 20.2 | 22.6 |
75–84 | 13.4 | 13.0 | 18.5 |
85+ | 7.7 | 6.8 | 11.2 |
Source of payment for prescription, % | -- | -- | -- |
Cash | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.3 |
Commercial | 55.2 | 54.8 | 54.9 |
Medicaid | 8.7 | 9.1 | 5.4 |
Medicare | 30.7 | 30.6 | 34.3 |
Primary care medical group | -- | -- | -- |
Number of practice sites | 550 | 569 | 3277 |
Number of providers per site, mean (sd) | 45.1 (160.1) | 47.2 (148.9) | 20.7 (89.0) |