Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Professional Licensing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sen. Tobin reintroduces bill to create pathway for physician assistant independent licensure
Summary
Senate Bill 89 would allow physician assistants who meet specified postgraduate clinical-hour requirements and other conditions to obtain independent licensure; sponsors say the change aims to expand access to primary care in Alaska.
Sen. Lukey Gail Tobin on Feb. 18 introduced Senate Bill 89 to the Senate Health and Social Services Committee, proposing a pathway for physician assistants (PAs) to obtain independent licensure after meeting defined postgraduate clinical-hour requirements and other conditions.
Tobin, sponsor of the bill, said the measure is designed to expand access to routine and preventive care in communities that struggle to find clinicians. “The bill before you allows a physician assistant with 4,000 hours of a collaborative ... to pursue a pathway to independent licensure,” Tobin said, describing the bill as a compromise reflecting stakeholder input since an earlier version was filed.
Under the bill as described to the committee, the state medical board would adopt regulations governing PA practice; PAs with fewer than 4,000 postgraduate clinical hours would continue to practice only under a written collaborating agreement. A PA who reaches the 4,000-hour threshold would notify the board and attest to eligibility; the board could require additional clinical hours (not to exceed 4,000 more) if the PA changes specialty, the staff sectional analysis said.
Tobin told senators the bill preserves oversight by the state medical board and retains prohibitions on unsupervised performance of surgery. She said the bill requires continuing education and periodic national examination requirements to remain in place and that the medical board could add specialty-specific conditions.
Senators asked several questions about technical details. Senator Hughes asked the bill’s author to confirm the hour components and the typical training pathway for PAs; Tobin’s staff explained that many applicants already bring several thousand patient-contact hours from prior work and that the statute would set the postgraduate threshold at 4,000 hours. Hughes also raised a definitional question about the term “surgery” and whether the statute should clarify whether brief wound repairs or other minor procedures fall under that term; Tobin said legal staff provided the language and the sponsor would follow up with clarifying definitions for the committee.
The bill’s sectional analysis, read by staff, indicates the legislation would: repeal and reenact physician assistant statutes; require the medical board to adopt rules governing PA practice and specialty changes; add PAs to multiple licensing and temporary-licensure statutes; allow the board to recognize out-of-state licenses; and ensure health-insurance policy requirements are not more restrictive than the statute’s collaboration and practice provisions.
Tobin said stakeholders requested changes before reintroduction and that the bill is intended to be responsive to those concerns. She said the proposal seeks to preserve patient safety while creating a path to independent practice for PAs who meet the statute’s requirements.
No committee vote was taken at the Feb. 18 hearing; members indicated they would take invited testimony at a later date and continue deliberations.
