Physician Assistant Collaboration

Superannuated By 2020, the U.S. will face an estimated shortage of 91,000 physicians, split about evenly between primary care physicians and specialists. The impact of this shortage is likely to be more acute among Medicaid beneficiaries due to geographic misalignment between low-income communities and physician practice locations and low physician participation in Medicaid. In 1959 the US Surgeon General declared a physician shortage. After a difficult battle Eugene Stead, MD tasked himself with creating an official schooling for Physician’s Assistants and graduated the first class on October 6th, 1967. The original purpose of the Physician’s Assistant was to assist—it was founded on a concept of collaboration. But why does that collaboration have to mean that PA’s are incapable of filling the shortages in Primary Care in …show more content…
According to the Laws and Regulations Relating to the Practice of Physician Assistants issued by the Physician Assistant Board Section 1399.540 (a) of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations states: A physician assistant may only provide those medical services which he or she is competent to perform and which are consistent with the physician assistant's education, training, and experience, and which are delegated in writing by a supervising physician who is responsible for the patients cared for by that physician assistant. Being the first degree of such collaboration with physicians meant that there had to be laws and regulations to follow but being the first isn’t always the best. Section 1399.540 (a) did well until “…and which are delegated in writing by a supervising physician who is responsible for the patients cared for by that physician assistant.” If Physician Assistants are competent to perform and are consistent with the physician assistant's education, training, and experience why do they need to be supervised. Did they not prove their competencies and capabilities prior