Concerned about the increase in policy initiatives, both in Maine and nationally, that seeks to diminish the physician’s role in patient care by expanding the scope of practice of non-physician practitioners, seven healthcare organizations came together to inform Maine people about the potential negative impacts to patient care that would result from scope of practice expansion.
The resulting Partnership for Expert Care was founded in 2021 to further educate Maine people about this important topic through statewide communication and outreach.
Maine Chapter of the ACOFP joined this partnership in late 2021. Jack Forbush, DO, chapter President shared his perspective in a video you can watch below!
A physician’s education and training has long been regarded as the gold standard when it comes to providing patient care, Jack Forbush, DO, shares in this video. “The proverbial buck stops with the physician,” he explains, '“And that’s not to take away from any other clinician whatsoever…. I have worked with a multitude of highly skilled physicians, nurse practitioners, et cetera. . . It only serves [patients] best to have a physician leading the healthcare team.”
In today’s movement toward a “replacement model” - in which physicians are often not able to be involved with important healthcare decisions - Dr. Forbush emphasizes the importance of the team model. In a team model, a physician oversees a team of non-physician clinicians to provide comprehensive and cost-effective patient care. There is a misconception that expanding the scope of practice for non-physician clinicians reduces cost, but it often does not. “It really doesn’t serve patients,” says Dr. Forbush. “For example, in a number of situations tests are duplicated or workups are incomplete,” which in the end, often leads to higher costs and poorer patient outcomes.
“It really should be a team effort. Physicians can’t replace bedside nursing, physical therapy assistants can’t replace physical therapists. There are situations when [certain functions] can be performed by non-physicians, but it should a collaboration and not a replacement.”
Jack Forbush, DO, is a family medicine physician at the Osteopathic Center for Family Medicine in Hampden, Maine. Dr. Forbush received his medical degree from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Maine, and completed his residency at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program in Bangor, Maine. He is the president of the Maine Chapter of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and president of the New England Direct Primary Care Alliance.