Board Approves Temporary Authorization for Physician Assistants to Practice Pending Board Approval of the “Application for Registration as a Supervising Physician”

At its meeting on March 21, 2013, the State Board of Medicine approved a temporary authorization for Physician Assistants to practice pending formal approval of the “Application for Registration as a Supervising Physician.”

Upon submission of the application, Board staff will review the application ONLY for completeness and issue a letter to the supervising physician providing the temporary authorization for the physician assistant to begin practice.

If the application is not “complete” (i.e., required signatures are not provided, information is missing, fee is not included, etc.), a temporary authorization for the physician assistant to begin practicing WILL NOT be issued.

The temporary authorization, when issued, will provide a period of 120 days during which the physician assistant may practice, under the terms of set forth in the written agreement as submitted to the Board. Within 120 days, the Board will notify the supervising physician of the final approval or disapproval of the application. If approved, a final approval of the written agreement will be issued to the Supervising Physician. If there are discrepancies that have not been corrected within the 120 day period, the temporary authorization to practice will expire.

Board Approves Reduction in Paperwork and Reporting Requirements
for Substitute Supervising Physicians of the Physician Assistants
The Board also approved a reduction in paperwork and reporting requirements for substitute supervising physicians. Effective immediately, the “Written Agreement Change Form” for Adding/Deleting a Substitute Supervisor will no longer be required to be filed with the Board office.
However, the “Written Agreement Change Form” is required and must be submitted to:

• Delete a Physician Assistant;
• Dissolve a Written Agreement;
• Make Changes in Protocol, including: changing the job duties of the Physician Assistant;
• Changing the Physician Assistant’s prescribing or dispensing privileges;
• Changing the practice address (only if changing a hospital practice location)

Additional Amendments to Requirements for the Supervision of Physician Assistants
The Board will issue a Statement of Policy to make additional amendments to the “Application for Registration as a Supervising Physician” which will reduce the paperwork and reporting requirements. When the Statement of Policy has been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, additional amendments will be made to the application form(s).