The difficulty too many Rhode Islanders have finding new doctors would be even more of a crisis if not for the growth in nurse practitioners in the state.
In 2019 there were 1,103 nurse practitioners in the state. By 2024, there were 1,475, a 34% increase.
Nurse practitioners are able to provide routine exams and medical treatment, easing the burden on overworked and increasingly scarce primary care doctors. The number of nurse practitioners is expected to continue to swell nationally over the next decade.
As this week’s cover story reports, however, limited clinical training has restricted efforts to expand the local pipeline to meet the growing need for medical care.
Sen. Pamela J. Lauria, D-Barrington, has been a nurse practitioner for 27 years. Last year she proposed a new state program that would provide grants to health sites that offer primary care training, including to nurse practitioners.
The bill passed the Senate but died in the House. But the funding made its way into the fiscal 2025 budget and will help eventually boost the number of training slots.
Lawmakers who originally opposed it need to take a deeper look into Rhode Island’s growing health care crisis.
The American Medical Association has been among the most vocal critics of expanded use of nurse practitioners, noting correctly they don’t have the same level of training as doctors.
But in a state with an estimated 300,000 residents without primary care providers, seeing a nurse practitioner is inarguably better than seeing no one at all.