This story looks at the growing role nurse practitioners play in addressing health care needs. NPs can perform many of the basic tasks that primary care physicians do and chances are increasing that a person will see a nurse practitioner at some point while seeking health care. Research conducted at UTMB in 2016 finding that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who received care from NPs and other advanced practice nurses were less like to visit the ER after hospitalization than those cared for by a physician was referenced in the story.