SB 515

This bill makes changes with respect to the licensure, regulation, and practice

of physician assistants (PAs).

Under current law, PAs are defined as individuals who are licensed to provide

medical care with physician supervision and direction. The Medical Examining

Board licenses and regulates PAs as well as physicians and certain other professions.

The Medical Examining Board is composed of ten physicians and three public

members and is authorized to promulgate rules establishing licensing and practice

standards for PAs.

This bill transfers licensure and regulation of PAs to the newly created

Physician Assistant Examining Board. The new board is composed of seven PAs, one

member who may be either a physician or a PA, and one public member. In addition,

the bill makes various changes to the licensure, regulation, and practice of PAs,

including all of the following:

1. Instead of requiring that a PA practice under the supervision and direction

of a physician, requires, subject to certain exceptions, that a PA who provides care

to patients maintain and provide to the board upon request either 1) evidence that,

pursuant to the physician assistant's employment, there is a physician who is

primarily responsible for the overall direction and management of the physician

assistant's professional activities and for assuring that the services provided by the

physician assistant are medically appropriate or 2) a written collaborative

agreement with a physician or, if the physician assistant's practice is limited to the

practice of podiatry, a podiatrist, which must describe the PA's scope of practice and

include other information as required by the board. However, the bill provides that

a PA is individually and independently responsible for the quality of the care he or

she renders.

2. Defines a PA's practice similarly to the definition of the practice of medicine

and surgery. The bill also explicitly provides that a PA may prescribe, dispense, and

administer drugs and may serve as a primary or specialty care provider. The bill

requires a PA to limit his or her practice to the scope of his or her experience,

education, and training, and retains a number of limitations on the practice of PAs.

3. Includes a number of additional provisions with respect to the obligations

of PAs. These include a requirement that a PA have in effect malpractice liability

insurance coverage when practicing, subject to certain exceptions and other

provisions.

4. Establishes licensure requirements for PAs, which differ in a number of

respects from the requirements under current law, including that PAs submit

additional information, including an employment history, with a licensure

application. Under the bill, the board must require continuing education for PAs.

Currently, PAs are not required to complete continuing education.

5. Specifies various grounds for professional discipline of a PA by the board and