Solidarity HealthShare president and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins The BS Show to discuss one of healthcare’s unsung heroes: nurse practitioners. Listen to the interview or read the transcript below.
Bob Sansevere (00:00):
We are joined by Christopher Faddis, co-founder and president of the nonprofit healthcare sharing ministry, Solidarity HealthShare, which is an ethical affordable alternative to traditional health insurance and is faithful to the moral teachings of the Catholic church. Chris, the other day had to take my daughter to the urgent care because she lost her big toe nail on her right foot and I think she might be susceptible to this throughout her life because a couple years ago a horse stepped on it and basically destroyed the toenail and I don’t think it comes back as strong anyway. We go and she had a nurse practitioner who was phenomenal. And I was talking to her and she said at one point she thought she might want to be an MD, but then she’d already been a nurse for like 10 years and she decided apparently it’s like four years to be a nurse practitioner, which is what, maybe half of what a doctor is because the doctors have to go through residencies and that could take another three or four years.
(00:57):
But if you’re a nurse practitioner, you’ve already likely been an RN, so you don’t have to go through that. But they have the same ability as any type of a medical doctor, not like a surgeon, but a doctor and write prescriptions. And I though she was terrific, great bedside manner. And physician’s assistants, they don’t have quite as much power as a nurse practitioner does because they have to get a doctor basically to okay if they want to write a prescription. But I just wanted to ask you, are you noticing through Solidarity and in your field, more and more nurse practitioners and PAs, I’ve noticed they are manning the urgent cares and maybe there’s one doctor on duty when it used to be all doctors. Has that been noticeable to you too?
Chris Faddis (01:42):
Yeah, absolutely. For some time now. I mean, I think the nurse practitioners and the PAs, I think there’s been an interesting nurse practitioners do have a lot more licensure, authority and training. So they can have their own practices, they can prescribe. I think they might still be limited on certain narcotic type pain medications. I’m not positive on that, but they may be in certain states. There’s some limitations, but in general, they can do a lot of things and they’ve really brought another layer to the medical system. Physician’s assistants truly work a little bit more like a physician’s assistant.
Bob Sansevere (02:19):
Yes.
Chris Faddis (02:19):
They’re like a junior doc almost. And so they’ve got to be attached and they can be great as well. I mean my wife’s OB/GYN uses physician’s assistants and she mostly sees the OBs, but sometimes she sees the PA. And a lot of times that’s actually helpful. After we had her last child, the follow-up was with the PA and it was really helpful and the PA’s also a mom. So there was a lot of good benefits to it. So I think some of those sort of subspecialty or subclinical positions are really helpful. I think the hope was that it would replace the reliance on doctors. I don’t think it will. Again, nurse practitioners will continue to thrive and grow in what they do. We’ve certainly worked with them. What I like about it is the idea of when you have just not run-of-the-mill things necessarily because they can do more than that, but when you just need to figure out what’s going on, I think nurse practitioners are very good.
(03:12):
Their training is different because nursing training is different. It’s more about bedside care, it’s about symptoms, those kind of things. So they come at it from a different angle, which I think is actually probably good to have someone that’s not just coming at it from a scientific angle.
Bob Sansevere (03:31):
Oh, I agree. Well, see, what I liked about this woman is she did had a great bedside manner and she was very knowledgeable. She knew as much as I think any doctor would in this circumstance. And again, it was a toenail, which my daughter insisted on having because she saved the other one too. Pretty soon she can make a necklace because she’ll have enough of them coming off. I mean, I just liked it and I liked the idea. Now our doctor we have had for about, he delivered all five of my kids and the oldest one is 30. And he also was my doctor. When I met my wife, he was my doctor and he was her doctor because my wife, and I think I told you the story, we met in Sweden. She was a Vikings cheerleader so he was the doctor for the cheerleaders too. So she had him, I had him.
(04:17):
Neither one of us ever had a different doctor, so it made sense to deliver. But he’s getting up there in years and at some point he is going to retire. And honestly, I would consider looking for a nurse practitioner who’s off on her own or his own that has an office. And what I wanted to ask is, do you have any affiliations with any… I know you have a lot with different doctors, but any with just nurse practitioners around the country or their offices? Because I just think it’s a great thing to… I would promote it if I found one and I would be very confident going there. I mean, obviously you’re not going to go if you’re dealing with a serious condition or you need surgery, but that’s not what they’re there for. It’s more like a family doctor.
Chris Faddis (05:02):
Yeah. One of the things you see a lot of with nurse practitioners is doing the direct primary care practice as well where you pay a monthly amount towards your care and then you have unlimited visits and cell phone access, those kind of things. So a lot of people do that and I’ve seen that with a lot of nurse practitioners. Obviously they’re also just in normal private practice. But yeah, I think those are great things. By the way, Bob, I mean talk about a time that’s long forgotten. When was the last time you heard of somebody’s family doctor also being able to deliver babies? I think that’s another part of the care model that needs to come back when they get certified in delivery because for one, the OB malpractice insurance is so expensive that many doctors are discouraged from doing that. And so it’d be interesting to see that come back because you have the same doctor who’s delivered your kids, who’s taking care of you and your wife and your kids. I mean that’s an old bygone of medicine that’s no longer going to be the norm.
Bob Sansevere (06:04):
I don’t have any problem saying his name is Dr. Sheldon Burns. Phenomenal. He is current still. I mean, I say he is getting up there in his 70s now, but he is still the team physician for the Vikings, the Timberwolves, and the Wild. The only team in Minnesota he’s not affiliated with is the Twins because they’ve had a different doctor for a number of years. I mean the number of babies he’s delivered has to be well into the thousands and he still does it. And he’s the only one we wanted delivering our kids. I will tell you a quick anecdote. Well, it was my first child and he walks into the room and my wife’s first words are, “Get this dang thing out of me. ” She didn’t say dang. She said the more forceful –
Chris Faddis (06:51):
The real word.
Bob Sansevere (06:52):
Yeah, the real word for dang. And he did. Worked out great. And like I said, he did all five and every one of them. I mean, it was a great experience. And our kids, we love the fact that he happened to be the one that delivered all of… Actually, he delivered four of the five. The last one as the baby’s coming out, he goes, “You want this one?” And he was kidding, I think, but I shoved him over and I delivered my youngest. And I don’t think he actually thought I’d move in there, but he was right there to grab in case he had to. So it worked out great. But kind of neat though, to bring her into the world. But that was fun.
Chris Faddis (07:33):
Well, I think we need, again, we need that, we’ve talked about this before, that relationship between you and your doctor is so pivotal and important. And it’s another thing we’ve lost. And I think whether it’s nurse practitioners or physicians, we need more and more of these small practice, independent physicians that are doing this kind of care. And look at it, he’s still practicing in his 70s. I have a priest friend of mine whose dad has been a doctor. He was practicing well into his 80s.
Bob Sansevere (08:00):
I have no doubt that he will too.That Dr. Burns will as well. Now are you –
Chris Faddis (08:04):
But the doctors today with the way the medical system works, none of them are lasting that long. I mean, they’re retiring early if they can because they’re so sick of the bureaucracy. So we’ve got to bring back that independence to medicine and letting these doctors work independently and take care of their patients and build their practice around the families that they serve.
Bob Sansevere (08:23):
Well,I’ll tell you, if I’m a nurse practitioner and I’ve wanted to move out in the country, I would look for a rural place because there are a lot of cities out there in need of doctors or communities, not cities. And I mean to me, that would work. Now do you have any nurse practitioners affiliated with your telehealth that you have? Because I know whatever I’ve called, it’s been a doctor.
Chris Faddis (08:45):
Yeah, we don’t manage that network of docs, but I think there likely are some. I don’t know that I’ve experienced one when I’ve called in, but I’m sure there are some. I know we have many affiliated with our preferred provider agreements-
Bob Sansevere (08:57):
Yup.
Chris Faddis (08:57):
And those kind of things.
Bob Sansevere (08:58):
Well, I’m just a big fan of them of the NP. And again, the PAs, I’ve had most of them are good experiences, a few that were not good at all because you get in everything, but I haven’t come across it with a nurse practitioner. You get an arrogant PA and they’re not right. They’re not giving good advice and that’s not good at all.
Chris Faddis (09:15):
No, that’s not good at all. I’ve had great success with… One of the things we’ve worked with a lot in the healthshare is a lot of these, they’re nurse practitioners who then become nurse midwives. So they’re licensed midwives who can deliver in the hospital. And that has been something we’ve experienced personally. My wife has had delivery with nurse midwives, and then we’ve also had that experience with practices that we work with. And that’s another model that’s really good because you’re getting that upper level clinical support, but the more hands-on kind of nurse midwife –
Bob Sansevere (09:47):
Well, they know if there’s a problem, they know what to do. I mean, they know what drug to get.
Chris Faddis (09:52):
The doctor on call in the hospital can step in. We actually had one where a doctor did have to step in, what ended up being nothing super major, but it was just things weren’t progressing and they needed help and the doctor had to do that part. But I think that’s a really, really good model. So yeah, it’s good to see more of that happening. It does seem like physician assistance is growing at a faster rate. I’m not sure why. I don’t know what the reason is, but that does seem to be the case. But I do think nurse practitioners offer a really great component. And to that effect, doctors too. We need more people. People are afraid to become doctors because of what they’re hearing, but I think we need more people to come out and be like Dr. Byrne.
Bob Sansevere (10:32):
Absolutely. Yep. And again, I just want people to know don’t worry because you’re going to see it if you go to urgent care. It’s going to likely be a PA or a nurse practitioner who helps you and not a doctor. So just know that it’s going to work out just fine. Also, it’ll work out fine if you check out Solidarity HealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org. How’s that for a transition?
Chris Faddis (10:54):
That’s good. I liked it. Thanks, Bob.
Bob Sansevere (10:55):
Great alternative to traditional healthcare. Chris Faddis, co-founder and president of Solidarity HealthShare. We’ll take a quick break and The BS Show will be right back.