Learn the Facts

There are more than 270,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) licensed in the U.S.¹

• More than 26,000 new NPs completed their academic programs in 2016-2017²
• 99.1% of NPs have graduate degrees³
• 87.1% of NPs are certified in an area of primary care, and 72.6% of all NPs deliver primary care³
• 82.9% of full-time NPs are accepting Medicare patients and 80.2% are accepting Medicaid patients³
• 41.7% of full-time NPs hold hospital privileges; 11.7% have long term care privileges³
• 95.7% of NPs prescribe medications, and those in full-time practice write an average of 20 prescriptions per day³
• NPs hold prescriptive privileges, including controlled substances in all 50 states and D.C.
• In 2018, the mean, full-time base salary for NPs was $105,903³
• The majority of NPs (57.4%) see three or more patients per hour³
• Malpractice rates remain low; only 1.1% have been named as primary defendant in a malpractice case³
• NPs have been in practice an average of 10 years³
• The average age of NPs is 49 years³

Sources:
¹ AANP National Nurse Practitioner Database, 2019
² American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2018) 2017-2018 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing. Washington DC: AACN.
³ 2018 AANP National Nurse Practitioner Sample Survey

Source: 2018 AANP National Nurse Practitioner Sample Survey