Clinical Practice Guidelines: Not Just For Cancer Anymore

The lack of standardization of healthcare in the U.S. has led to shocking variations in treatment outcomes and equally shocking cost differentials, to the point that in some places, and for some conditions, more money is spent to deliver worse outcomes.

As a consequence, clinical practice guidelines will be developed and refined to achieve the goal of standardizing care across providers and geographies.

Oncologists are the Vanguard of the Guidelines-Centered Future

Do the Math: Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice Must Multiply

The expanding role of nurse practitioners will have to expand to fill the gap created by a physician shortage and to release some of the pressures on a system that's over-priced, over-burdened, and under-resourced.

The average primary care physician today carries an annual caseload of approximately 2,400 patients, requiring physicians to see patient after patient throughout the day at a breakneck pace. Even though there are many more diagnostic codes and therapies than ever before, the average patient spends far less time with his or her physician than at any time in the past.

In the next 20 years, both the number of people aged 65 and older, and the percentage of the U.S. population they represent, will increase substantially. Chronic illness affects over 80 percent of older adults and consumes disproportionate resources. Almost a quarter of older adults have five or more chronic conditions, regularly visit 13 different physicians, and fill over 50 prescriptions annually.