Everyone else I talk to has only seen a doctor there. I thought I was the only one so TY for the input. My confusion comes from my Hepatologist, she is the actual doctor, the nutritionist and the therapist, who the NP handed me over to for medicine, all say I need to see the doctor because of my condition worsening rapidly and because meds are not the way to go with me. So now I sit in limbo. The NP will only do meds. Seems I have to leave. TY for sharing that with me.

I used to live in Blair, I still doctored in Rochester I never messed around with GI in Eau Claire or La Crosse. After what my mother went through I just drove the 2 hours to Rochester to see a GI specialist. I see the head
Of the dept there. I have since moved to Rochester since my bf and sister live there

I had surgery at Mayo and was set up with a NP for follow-up. But I also have a Specialist and he is really the governing doctor for future treatment. Note that Mayo is not the only place that forwards the patient to a Nurse Practitioner. I had angiogram done at local hospital and after was set up with NP for follow-up including medications. They had found a severe blockage, but I could not do stent at the time because of pending surgery. I asked some technical questions and informed them that I had lung cancer so the NP then set me up to talk with the Cardiologist since it was now tricky when I could do stent. He did take more of an interest in me because of my situation and he had trained at Mayo. It depends on the surgeon, but many do not see patients and just do the procedure. Then there are the regular specialists who still pass you to their PA or NP. These can be good people, but they do not have the clinical training that an MD does - and they cost less than an MD for the organization. It looks like the American medical system is employing increasing number of lesser qualified healthcare individual ....is it profit driven (they can push more patients through) or is there just a lack of doctors? We should be making sure that medical school is AFFORDABLE for talented individuals!
Also not to forget Urgent Care which are often staffed with PAs and not doctors