Physician assistants need signed form from doctor to practice. Bill would change that.

Fron NHPR:

This story was originally produced by the New Hampshire Bulletin, an independent local newsroom that allows NHPR and other outlets to republish its reporting.

The state’s nearly 1,340 physician assistants, the provider many patients see during a medical appointment, would no longer have to have a signed “collaborative agreement” with a physician for their entire career under a bill that is headed to the Senate over the objections of the New Hampshire Medical Society.

The bill’s sponsors said House Bill 1222, which has passed the House, is a health care workforce bill brought in response to two primary complaints from physician assistants: Some said they are being charged $1,000 a month for a document they argue does not change how they practice. Others testified they’ve lost jobs when new physicians arrive at their practice and refuse to sign agreements.

“It will make it possible for there to be more physician assistants in New Hampshire because they won’t be driven away due to a bureaucratic requirement which provides no clinical value,” said Rep. Jess Edwards, an Auburn Republican, who co-sponsored the bill.

Some physicians and the New Hampshire Medical Society have said dropping the collaborative agreement would endanger patients. Dr. Maria Boylan, president of the society, said its physicians respect the role physician assistants play but are also mindful that their training prepares them to practice collaboratively with a physician, not independently.