6. Health Resources and Services Admnistration,
(say a bachelors' degree) would let employers
"The Registered Nurse Population: Findings from
and consumers select the appropriate level of
the March 2004 National Sample Survey of
expertise. At the very least, state legislators
Registered Nurses," ftp://ftp.hrsa.gov/bhpr/work
force/0306rnss.pdf.
should be alert to the self-interest of medical
professional organizations that may lie behind
7. American Academy of Physician Assistants,
the licensing proposals brought to the legisla-
"2004 Physician Assistant Census Report," http:
ture for approval. When physician groups
//www.aapa.org/research/04census-intro.html.
insist that changes in scope of practice be con-
8. U.S. Census Bureau, "2008 U.S. Statistical
tingent upon evidence of improved outcomes,
Abstract," Table 154, http://www.census.gov/com
politicians should remember that, at present,
pendia/statab.
there is no basis for the claim that patient safe-
9. American Academy of Nurse Practitioners,
ty is assured under the current system (an arti-
"Frequently Asked Questions," http://www.np
ficial construct of past legislative action) or the
finder.com/faq.pdf; "Information about PAs and
claim that patients are at greater risk when
the PA Profession," http://www.aapa.org/genin
state regulation is relaxed.
fo1.html.
10. American Hospital Association, "2007 Chart-
book" http://www.aha.org/aha/research-and-tr
Notes
ends/chartbook/2007chartbook.html.
1. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
11. American College of Nurse Practitioners,
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962);
"Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice," http://
Reuben Kessel, "Price Discrimination in Medicine,"
www.acnpweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3
Journal of Law and Economics 1 (1958): 2053; Reuben
465.
Kessel, "The A.M.A. and the Supply of Physicians,"
Law and Contemporary Problems 35 (1970): 26783.
12. The Drug Enforcement Agency gives Schedule
See also Shirley Svorny, "Licensing Doctors: Do
II status to drugs under the following conditions:
Economists Agree?" Econ Journal Watch 1 (2004):
"a high potential for abuse . . . a currently accept-
279305. For an empirical test suggesting that
ed medical use in treatment in the United States
physicians benefited at the expense of consumers in
or a currently accepted medical use with severe
the 1960s, see Shirley Svorny, "Physician Licensure:
restrictions [and] abuse of the drug or other sub-
A New Approach to Examining the Role of
stances may lead to severe psychological or physi-
Professional Interests," Economic Inquiry 25 (1987):
cal dependence." 21 USC Sec. 812, http://www.
497509.
usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/csa/812.htm.
2. Kenneth J. Arrow, "Uncertainty and the Welfare
13. University of California, San Francisco, School
Economics of Medical Care," American Economic
of Nursing, "Masters Specialty Areas," http://
Review 53 (1963): 94173, 957.
nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/ix-ms.shtml.
3. Shirley Svorny, "Foreign-Trained Physicians
14. American Academy of Physician Assistants,
and Health Care in the United States," (Ph.D.
"Issue Briefs: PAs and Specialty Practice," http:
Diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1979);
//www.aapa.org/gandp/issuebrief/index.html.
Shirley Svorny, "Consumer Gains from Physician
Immigration to the U.S.: 19661971," Applied
15. Richard O. Nenstiel et al., "Allied Health and
Economics 23 (1991): 33138.
Physician Assistants: A Progressive Partnership,"
Journal of Allied Health 26 (1997): 13335; Teresa M.
4. L. J. Goodman, Physician Distribution and Medical
O'Connor and Roderick S. Hooker, "Extending Rural
Licensure in the US, 1976 (Chicago: Center for
and Remote Medicine with a New Type of Health
Health Services Research and Development,
Worker: Physician Assistants," Australian Journal of
American Medical Association, 1977).
Rural Health 15 (2007): 34651; Justine Strand, Nancy
M. Short, and Elizabeth G. Korb, "The Roles and
5. Catherine Dower, Sharon Christian, and Ed-
Supply of Nurse-Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, and
ward O'Neil, "Promising Scopes of Practice
Physician Assistants in North Carolina," North
Models for Health Professions," Center for the
Carolina Medical Journal 68 (2007): 18485; Peter J. Zed,
Health Professions, University of California, San
Peter S. Loewen, and Peter J. Jewesson, "A Response to
Francisco, 2007, p. 10, http://futurehealth.ucsf.
the ACP-ASIM Position Paper on Pharmacist Scope
edu/pdf_files/Scope%20Models%20Fall%202007.
of Practice," American Journal of Health-System Pharm-
pdf.
13