ACP position paper opposes referring to physicians as “providers.”

ACP position paper opposes referring to physicians as “providers.” The ethics committee of the American College of Physicians (ACP) has called for an end to using the term “provider” when referring to physicians. In a policy paper published in the April Annals of Internal Medicine, authors representing the ACP Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee argue that the broad use of “provider” to refer to physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and other clinicians conceals differences in education and expertise and undermines ethics and professionalism. In an interview with Medscape, Jason Goldman, president of the ACP, stated that considering the current attacks on physicians and science, “it needs to really be reinforced how offensive, dehumanizing, and deprofessionalizing the term ‘provider’ is.” The ACP recommends that physicians be referred to as physicians, and other health care professionals, which would include advanced practice nurses, should be called clinicians or health care professionals, not providers.