There was a lot of re-imagining to be had at the 2018 Midwest Region Dual Track NP Entrepreneurship  Conference in Minneapolis.  For one thing, we 4Mothers (Lynn, Lorraine, Beth and me) are beginning to think of NNPEN as industry “Conveners” and we like the way that fits us!  And I have some conference takeaways on the content side that challenge our vision of the future.

I moderated a Rural/Urban nurse-led practice session that looked at Minnesota Nice, Inc a commercial Direct Primary Care model in urban Minneapolis that is co-owned by 2 NPs and a medical economist, and sells medically necessary primary care services  to employers on a subscription basis.  This DPC does not take  commercial insurance.  And it does not have a brick and mortar component; instead it relies on telehealth imaging and home visits, including delivery of the meds they prescribe.  They provide all the backroom services the mobile practice needs.  They are considering franchising the model, including the  back room services and the marketing to local employers/consumers.  Now compare that mobile nurse-led primary care practice model in MN with S Dakota State University School of Nursing’s MSO [management services organization ] vision [and grant]to support rural South Dakota NP indie practices  that may have no brick and mortar base.  Like MN Nice, Inc., the MSO will provide a digital platform that becomes the virtual brick and mortar, allows the practices to share data and contract as one Virtual Group for value-based reimbursement contracts with payers.  And like MN Nice, Inc, the MSO offers NP practices an outsourced backroom function and an organizational structure that is poised for the best aggregation and leveraging of NP cost-effective and quality outcomes with payers.

We recognized several common features embedded in both these Midwest primary care models–the commercial DPC in MN and the academic MSO in South Dakota — that may foreshadow what a sustainable indie NP-led practice will look like in a few years—and maybe what we should be working toward now:

• No brick and mortar
• Telehealth platform (needs to integrate w/ multiple E H R versions )
• Back-room functions delegated
• Not insurance company reliant
• Openness to, but balance in, cash medicine product mix
• NP Virtual Groups created for payer contracting

I haven’t even gotten to the NP Value in Value-based Reimbursement session takeaways.  Or the HUGE popularity of our Getting Started Speed Dating 10 minute “Ask Anything” sessions with NPE heavy-hitters!  We Owe You More—but it’s mutual.  You need a Convener and we need you and your critical mass to make us smart. Please commit to membership and join NNPEN now!

Sandy Berkowitz

Co-Founder and CEO of NNPEN