Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with at least one nurse practitioner or physician assistant visit in 2019. Data percentage, unless otherwise specified
| Characteristics | Patients with at least one visit (n=6 806 540) |
Patients with no visit (n=9 443 340) |
Estimated likelihood of at least one visit, percentage point difference (95% CI)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 41.9 | 58.1 | — |
| Race/ethnicity: | |||
| White | 43.1 | 56.9 | Reference |
| Black | 40.5 | 59.5 | −4.9 (−5.1 to −4.7) |
| Other | 34.7 | 65.3 | −5.8 (−6.2 to −5.5) |
| Asian | 20.3 | 79.7 | −19.0 (−19.3 to −18.7) |
| Hispanic | 38.5 | 61.5 | −5.3 (−5.5 to −5.1) |
| American Indian | 57.7 | 42.3 | 5.3 (4.6 to 6.1) |
| Sex: | |||
| Female | 44.1 | 55.9 | Reference |
| Male | 38.7 | 61.3 | −6.2 (−0.63 to −6.0) |
| Reason for Medicare enrollment: | |||
| Older age | 38.9 | 61.1 | Reference |
| Disabled | 50.9 | 49.1 | 5.6 (5.5 to 5.8) |
| Dual Medicaid enrollment†: | |||
| No | 40.3 | 59.7 | Reference |
| Yes | 47.2 | 52.8 | 2.9 (2.8 to 3.1) |
| Age (years): | |||
| 18-29 | 55.6 | 44.4 | 12.8 (12.0 to 13.5) |
| 30-39 | 56.3 | 43.7 | 12.9 (12.5 to 13.4) |
| 40-49 | 56.5 | 43.5 | 12.6 (9.6 to 10.2) |
| 50-59 | 53.7 | 46.4 | 9.9 (9.6 to 10.2) |
| 60-64 | 50.9 | 49.1 | 7.4 (7.0 to 7.7) |
| 65-79 | 40.9 | 59.1 | 3.8 (3.7 to 3.9) |
| 80 and older | 36.9 | 63.1 | Reference |
| Rural: | |||
| Metro (population of >1 million) | 34.0 | 66.0 | Reference |
| Metro (population of 250 000-1 million) | 45.9 | 54.1 | 10.6 (10.5 to 10.7) |
| Non-metro, non-rural | 51.4 | 48.6 | 15.1 (14.9 to 15.2) |
| Rural | 55.9 | 44.1 | 19.7 (19.4 to 20.1) |
| State scope of practice laws for nurse practitioners: | |||
| Restricted | 42.0 | 58.0 | Reference |
| Reduced | 40.8 | 59.2 | −0.4 (−0.6 to −0.2) |
| Full | 42.7 | 57.3 | 1.1 (1.0 to 1.3) |
Only patients with at least one visit in 2019 were included in analysis. To characterize which patients were more likely to receive care from a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, we used a multivariable patient level logistic regression of the likelihood of receiving any care from a nurse practitioner or physician assistant (defined as yes or no) among those who received at least one visit in 2019. We presented average marginal effects, which is the average of predicted changes in fitted values for a one unit change for a given covariate. CI=confidence interval.
Average estimated marginal effect are adjusted percent differences.
Medicaid is a public health insurance program that covers many Americans on low incomes.