Are primary care physicians being replaced?

PPP member, Dr. Christopher Garofalo is quoted in a story on Medical Economics discussing rapid changes in the primary care field and the major concerns related to how NPs and PAs have been allowed to take on the roles of primary care physicians. This story emphasizes Dr. Garofalo’s insight on how “It’s not just the hours, but it’s the quality of their education, particularly nowadays, with many NPs simply graduating from an NP school that is completely online… So, all their learning is online and there is no experiential learning. When they do get out into the clinics, if they even get out into a medical setting, the requirements for them are minimal, if at all. Yet when they come out, they essentially want to practice independently, just like a physician.”