Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mental Health Access topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bill would let physician assistants serve as licensed mental health clinicians and sign emergency holds
Summary
A bill before the Joint Committee on Financial Services would expand the definition of licensed mental health professionals to include physician assistants and authorize them to execute Section 12 emergency hospitalization orders; clinicians, families and hospital representatives urged the committee to act.
A bill filed as House 11 31 and Senate 7 73 would expand the definition of licensed mental health professionals to include physician assistants and allow them to authorize Section 12 emergency holds and emergent use of restraints, supporters told the Joint Committee on Financial Services. Advocates and clinicians said the change would shorten delays in emergency settings and reduce police involvement in mental-health crises.
Supporters said the current restriction forces PAs to locate a different authorized clinician or call law enforcement when a PA believes a patient is an imminent danger to self or others. Michael Bartlett, program director for the American Academy of Physician Associates, said PAs practice across urgent care, primary care and emergency settings and receive extensive behavioral-medicine training. "When a PA believes that a patient requires emergency restraint or hospitalization ... they have to find an authorized provider," Bartlett said, adding that the delay can leave patients unsupervised and escalate involvement of police.
Jessica Brittnell, emergency-medicine executive and a Massachusetts PA, told the committee a PA generally spends 30 to 60 minutes securing a signature for a Section 12 order — time that pulls attendings away from critical patients and increases length of stay. She also shared a family tragedy: after her brother told his PA he was suicidal, police were called, he was transported to a hospital and later died of an overdose. Brittnell testified she believes allowing PAs to sign Section 12 orders would help preserve trust between patients and their clinicians and could save lives.
Several psychiatric PAs, including Jessica Spissinger, a psychiatric PA educator, described clinical experience initiating holds and said PAs are trained to evaluate and respond to mental-health emergencies across care settings. The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association signaled support for the broader H 11 31 / S 7 73 package that includes PA authorization as one provision.
Why it matters: Supporters said permitting qualified PAs to act as authorized clinicians for Section 12 orders would reduce delays in crisis care, lessen reliance on law enforcement, and let existing frontline clinicians provide timely interventions. Hospital and ED representatives also told the committee that administrative delays and inconsistent payer practices already strain emergency care.
Testimony and next steps: Committee members heard about training that PAs receive and multiple clinical examples. Advocates asked the committee to report the bill favorably so that PAs can be added to the statutory list of authorized clinicians and be explicitly permitted to sign Section 12 orders. The committee did not take a committee vote during the hearing; supporters said they would submit written testimony and follow up with technical language.
