Physician practices are beneficiaries in a nursing shortage, but who cares for the patients?

Healthcare is in the midst of a patient care crisis and on the verge of a patient safety catastrophe, especially as nurses retire and turnover increases, and as nurses are siphoned-off to the physician offices and the allied health industry. All this is occurring at a time when there is a "Baby Boomer" patient care spike, which will increase exponentially, while physician compensation becomes sluggish. This article reviews the healthcare and physician practice environments and discusses the market competition for patients between these actors as well as the conflicting and opposing strategies in the hospital "C-suites" and in the practices. It also examines the nursing and physician shortages and their impact on healthcare, recruiting and staffing strategies, and the causes and costs for physician and nurse turnover.