Nurse Practitioners in New York Increase Access to Primary Care in Underserved Communities

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are making substantial contributions to primary care in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) in New York State, according to a recent study from the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at University at Albany's School of Public Health. The report, A Profile of New York State’s Patient Care Nurse Practitioners, found that more than one-third of all active NPs in the state provide primary care services and half of them work in primary care HPSAs.

Other key findings include:

• Statewide, there are 74 NPs per 100,000 population
• Regional distribution varies widely
  • Greatest supply in the Finger Lakes and Central New York regions (107 NPs per 100,000 and 104 NPs per 100,000, respectively)
  • Lowest supply in the Hudson Valley and the North Country regions (53 NPs per 100,000 and 55 NPs per 100,000, respectively)
• The percentage of Black and American Indian NPs is comparable to their presence in the state’s population (12.9% vs 14.3%, 0.1% vs 0.2%, respectively)
• Hispanic NPs remain underrepresented in the state’s NP workforce, compared to their presence in the state’s population (5.3% vs 19.0%)

“It’s essential that primary care services are made available for New York’s vulnerable populations, and NPs are helping with that,” said CHWS Director Jean Moore. “We need to further study NP impacts on population health as well as to examine COVID-19 impacts on supply of and demand for NP services.”

CHWS at the University at Albany's School of Public Health conducts studies of the supply, demand, use, and education of the health workforce, and collects and analyzes data to better understand health workforce dynamics and trends.

To view the full report, visit the CHWS website.

Established in 1996, CHWS is an academic research organization, based at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). The mission of CHWS is to provide timely, accurate data and conduct policy relevant research about the health workforce. The research conducted by CHWS supports and promotes health workforce planning and policymaking at local, regional, state, and national levels. Today, CHWS is a national leader in the field of health workforce studies, and the only one with a unique focus on the oral health workforce.