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Committee approves physician assistant rule rewrite but removes explicit NCCPA organization reference after debate
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Summary
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved pending rules for physician assistant licensure and practice but removed a new rule line that explicitly named the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) after a contentious floor exchange.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved pending rule chapter 24.33.02 governing physician assistant (PA) licensure and practice standards but removed a provision that explicitly named the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) in rule language.
Nikki Chopsky, representing the PA advisory committee and the Idaho Board of Medicine, said the board struck a duplicative statutory definition and relocated several sections to improve clarity. She told the committee the board added language related to the acceptable examination required by statute and made other technical relocations.
During debate, Senator Lenny proposed a motion to approve the PA docket while striking the new rule segment labeled 100.01, which the senator said explicitly named the NCCPA. Lenny said he was concerned about referencing the certifying organization's public materials and policy positions. "...when you go to NCCPA.net, there's, it's awash in DEI and diversity and things like that," he said, citing concerns about the organization's content.
Chopsky replied that the board's intent was to list the required exam in rule so the credential that licensees must hold is explicit. "The effort was to get the name of the exam in the rules," she said.
The committee considered a substitute motion to approve the docket without the strike; the substitute failed on a roll call (6 nays, 3 ayes). The original motion to approve the docket while striking rule 100.01 carried on a subsequent voice vote; the docket was approved with the NCCPA language removed.
Action and vote: the committee approved docket 24.33.02 as pending rule with deletion of the rule segment 100.01 (the explicit NCCPA organization reference). The substitute motion to accept the docket without the deletion failed 6–3 on roll call; the original substitute passed by voice and the deletion is in effect.
Chopsky said providers and the board can continue to use the designated examination as the licensing standard; she indicated the exam itself has been used previously but listing it in rule was the corrective action being addressed in the ZBR rewrite.
The committee approved the pending PA chapter with the agreed deletion.
