AAPA welcomes NGA’s report that highlights role of PAs in the U.S. healthcare

The American Academy of Physician Assistants welcomes a new report from the National Governors Association (NGA) that highlights the important—and rapidly growing—role of physician assistants (PAs) in the U.S. healthcare workforce. The 15-page report, titled "The Role of Physician Assistants in Health Care Delivery," is now available for download at the NGA website.  

"When PAs are allowed to practice medicine under laws and regulations that embrace their experience and rigorous education, patients have improved access to the care they need when they need it," said John McGinnity, MS, PA-C, DFAAPA, AAPA president. "We thank the NGA for helping to articulate to governors and legislators the value that PAs have to patients and the healthcare system when authorized to practice medicine at the top of their medical license."

The NGA report is released amid a two-year trend of states modernizing scope-of-practice laws and eliminating outdated regulations that impede PAs' ability to practice medicine. So far in 2014, 46 states and the District of Columbia have updated PA laws and regulations, while 43 states and the District of Columbia modernized such laws in 2013, according to AAPA.

"Modernizing outdated or prohibitive PA practice laws to reflect the needs of today's patients allow PAs to provide much-needed care in their communities," said McGinnity. "AAPA and our state and specialty organizations stand ready to work with governors and state legislators to ensure that their states have an optimal practice environment to attract and keep PAs in their states."

AAPA anticipates further improvements to PA practice laws in the second half of 2014 and early 2015. Several more states are seeking to implement one or more of the Six Key Elements of a Modern PA Practice Act—components identified by AAPA as essential to enabling PAs to practice medicine.

These include:

1. "Licensure" as the regulatory term
2. Full prescriptive authority for PAs
3. Scope of practice determined at the practice level
4. Physician on-site requirements determined at the practice level
5. Chart co-signature requirements determined at the practice level
6. No restriction on the number of PAs with whom a physician may practice

More than 100,000 certified PAs practice in all medical settings and specialties, including primary care, emergency medicine, surgery, oncology, orthopaedics, psychiatry, radiology, pediatrics and more. New research shows that the average PA will practice in two or three different specialties throughout his or her career, making the PA profession one of the most dynamic in the healthcare industry today. As part of that care, a typical PA will treat 3,500 patients in a year.