SB 400

This bill ratifies and enters Wisconsin into the PA Licensure Compact, which

provides for the ability of a physician assistant (PA) to become eligible to practice in

other compact states. Significant provisions of the compact include the following:

1. The creation of a PA Licensure Compact Commission, which includes one

member or administrator of the licensure boards of each member state. The

commission has various powers and duties granted in the compact, including

establishing bylaws, promulgating binding rules for the compact, appointing officers

and hiring employees, and establishing and electing an executive committee. The

commission may levy on and collect an annual assessment from each member state

or impose fees on licensees who receive compact privileges to cover the cost of the

operations and activities of the commission and its staff.

2. The ability for a PA to obtain a “compact privilege,” which allows a PA who

satisfies certain criteria to practice as a PA to provide medical services and other

licensed activity to a patient located in another member state (remote state) under

the remote state's laws and regulations. The compact specifies a number of

requirements in order for a PA to exercise a compact privilege, including holding a

PA license in a member state, not having a felony or misdemeanor conviction, having

had no revocation of a license or limitation or restriction on any license currently held

due to an adverse action, and paying any fees and meeting any jurisprudence

requirements that may be imposed by a remote state, though the bill does not impose

any jurisprudence requirement. A remote state may, in accordance with that state's

laws, take adverse action against a PA's compact privilege in the remote state and

take any other necessary actions to protect the health and safety of its citizens. If

the state in which a PA is licensed (home state) takes adverse action against a PA's

license, the PA loses the compact privilege in all remote states until certain criteria

are satisfied. A member state may not impose discipline against a PA's compact

privilege or deny an application for a compact privilege in that member state for the

individual's otherwise lawful practice in another state.

3. The ability of member states to issue subpoenas that are enforceable in other

states provided, however, that subpoenas may not be issued by a member state to

gather evidence of conduct in another state that is lawful in that other state for the

purpose of taking adverse action against a compact privilege or application for a

compact privilege in that member state.

4. The creation of a coordinated data and reporting system containing

licensure, adverse action, and the reporting of the existence of significant

investigative information on PAs and applicants denied a PA license. The compact

requires all adverse actions to be reported to the administrator of the data system.

A member state must submit a uniform data set to the data system on all individuals

to whom the compact is applicable as required by the rules of the commission.

5. Provisions regarding resolutions of disputes among member states and