Greetings:

As chairman of our society I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for your membership. As you are undoubtedly aware patients who get the chance to see a nurse practitioner generally prefer their care to that of traditional "assembly line" medicine. The article "Patient Power: 'Above and Beyond Just Doctoring'" in the November 5, 2001 issue of Newsweek was a case in point. Fortunately for us, the article did not make it easy for consumers to find a nurse practitioner for their care.

Thus far nurse practitioners have rarely advertised and have been invisible. According to Dr. Keep M. Secret "NPs need to be discouraged from advertising and telling consumers where they are at all costs!" "If the word gets out about NPs there will be a dramatic shift in care favoring their practices!"

Continued vigilance is necessary to quietly, but firmly, control nurse practitioners and keep them from being listed in the phone book, in insurance directories, and at all costs they must be kept from getting listed on the Internet. Particularly problematic is the new National Nurse Practitioner Directory at www.npclinics.com where consumers can easily locate a nurse practitioner for care. So far, we are winning the battle with less than one percent of NPs in the United States participating. However, if this number creeps up, consumers will have their choice of nurse practitioners.

Some nurse practitioners are even choosing to have their own web sites at www.npclinics.com/theirname. When this occurs there is more information available to patients and it is even easier to locate the nurse practitioner's practice. Always keep in mind that once a patient sees a nurse practitioner they are no longer satisfied with traditional practice styles. This will impact our profits if patients expect us to actually spend time with them and listen to their concerns.

We must continue to keep nurse practitioners the best kept secret in health care. Your firm but subtle guidance away from advertising in the phone book, on-line in the National Nurse Practitioner Directory, in practice brochures and web sites, in the paper and in insurance directories is needed now more than ever. If we can keep the few uppity NPs from convincing the rest that they should come out of hiding we can maintain our status quo.

Fortunately NPs do not realize the power and influence they would have if they were easily found. My friend, we must continue to keep them in the dark! If you should have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

D. O. Nottell
Chairman

Updated March 25, 2002