Prominent PA Researcher Speaks at Health Affairs Event
Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil invited Perri Morgan, PhD, PA-C, director of research at the Duke University PA program, to present her recent work at a briefing event held in Washington, DC.
Morgan’s research, published in Health Affairs, is titled “Impact of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants on Utilization and Costs for Complex Patients” and examines the association between provider type (PA, physician, or NP) and health care utilization and cost outcomes. Her research used Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic health record data and included 47,236 medically complex veterans with diabetes and a high illness burden from 556 VA facilities who received consistent primary care over a two-year period (2012 and 2013). Morgan and her collaborators found that the use of PAs and NPs as primary care providers for complex diabetic patients was associated with less use of acute care services and lower total costs.
Morgan’s groundbreaking work was part of a Health Affairs event highlighting the publication of a journal issue dedicated to the topic of Community Care for High-Need Patients. She was joined on the panel by researchers from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, the Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, and Boston University School of Public Health.
A prolific PA researcher and author, Morgan received funding for this work through the Health Services Research and Development Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and has been a recipient of several PAEA funded grants including a Don Pedersen Grant and Faculty Generated Research Grant.
