Plate Nº 57 · recorded October 9, 2026
Health & Medicine ResearchReported finding
Nearly 1 in 3 New Nurse Practitioners Trained at For-Profit Schools
Nearly a third of newly licensed nurse practitioners in four states were trained at for-profit programs in 2024, up from 2.4% in 2010, a new Annals of Internal Medicine study finds.
By James Calloway3 min read623 words
In brief
- Nearly one-third of newly licensed nurse practitioners in four states were educated at for-profit programs in 2024, up from 2.4% in 2010.
- The study analyzed 117,156 nurse practitioners licensed in California, Florida, Iowa and Texas from 2010 to 2024.
- For-profit-trained NPs were most prevalent among new licensees in California (40.9%), then Florida (35.1%), Texas (21.1%) and Iowa (14.8%).
- The number of for-profit nurse practitioner training programs grew 400% between 2007 and 2016.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 35% growth in nurse practitioners over 10 years, versus 3% for physicians.
Nearly one-third of newly licensed nurse practitioners in four large U.S. states earned their degrees from for-profit programs in 2024 — a dramatic rise from just 2.4% in 2010, according to a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The finding signals an outsized role for a segment of higher education with, as the researchers put it, a checkered past. And it lands at a moment when the nurse practitioner workforce itself is expanding far faster than almost any other part of health care.
"That is enormous growth, especially since nurse practitioners are such a big workforce to begin with," said senior study author Dr. Michael Barnett, a professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health.
What did the study measure?
Researchers led by Hannah T. Neprash analyzed records for 117,156 nurse practitioners licensed in California, Florida, Iowa and Texas between 2010 and 2024. The four states are large and represent different geographic regions of the country, which the researchers say gives the findings broader relevance — though they stop short of claiming the numbers describe the nation as a whole.
All four states saw the share of for-profit-trained nurse practitioners climb over the 14-year window. The 2024 figures among new licensees break down as follows:
- California: 40.9%
- Florida: 35.1%
- Texas: 21.1%
- Iowa: 14.8%
The schools themselves are multiplying too. The number of for-profit nurse practitioner training programs grew by 400% between 2007 and 2016 alone.
Why is this happening now?
Simple supply and demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the number of advanced nurse practitioners will grow by 35% over the next decade. Physician numbers, by comparison, are expected to grow by just 3% over the same period.
That gap creates a lucrative market for training programs.
"There has been an explosion in the nurse practitioner workforce that is drawing more and more schools into the fray to provide training," Barnett said. "One of the newer entrants is for-profit schools, which have a checkered past in the U.S."
Are there concerns about quality?
Yes, and the study's authors raise them carefully. The paper does not measure patient outcomes or prove that for-profit training produces worse care. But it points to prior evidence that for-profit nursing education was a significant predictor of lower pass rates on National Council Licensure Examinations — the standardized tests required to practice.
For-profit nursing programs have also attracted regulatory scrutiny, Federal Trade Commission settlements and numerous lawsuits in the past, Barnett noted.
"We don't have enough hard data yet to make decisions about the impact of for-profit nursing programs, but there isn't much transparency to judge at the moment," he said.
That lack of transparency is the study's central worry. Prospective students, employers and patients currently have limited ability to compare programs on concrete measures of quality.
What happens next?
Barnett identifies two priorities. First, all nurse training programs — regardless of ownership — should disclose licensure exam pass rates and other student statistics so the public can judge their merits. Second, researchers should examine the outcomes of patients treated by nurse practitioners with different training backgrounds, to determine whether and where meaningful differences in care quality exist.
Until that evidence arrives, the study's conclusions remain preliminary. It describes a rapid structural shift in who trains the nation's nurse practitioners; it does not yet show what that shift means for the care patients receive.
The paper, "Growth in the Share of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Educated at For-Profit Programs in Four U.S. States," was published in Annals of Internal Medicine (DOI: 10.7326/annals-26-01211).
via Medical Xpress (Source)
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