Scope of practice and opioid prescribing behavior of nurse practitioners serving Medicare beneficiaries
研究执业范围扩大对执业护士阿片类药物处方行为的影响，发现扩大执业范围不会导致处方滥用或误用，对政策制定者评估执业护士自主权有参考价值。
Policymakers aiming to increase access to health care while simultaneously keeping costs low and quality high are considering expanding the practice authority and prescriptive authority of nurse practitioners in order to address primary care shortages. While we know this increases access, some researchers argue that the expansion of job autonomy of nurse practitioners can compromise the quality and safety of rendered medical services. This paper investigates quality and safety outcomes in prescribing behaviors of nurse practitioners who have prescribed opioids for Medicare Part D beneficiaries using a unique source of policy variation, nurse practitioners with the ability to prescribe medication who move to either states with or without physician supervision. We find that scope of practice expansions do not compromise quality and safety in terms of potential abuse or misuse of prescriptive authority.