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Committee approves PA licensure rules after rejecting effort to remove exam reference; NCCPA language struck
Summary
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved the physician assistant (PA) licensure rule docket after debate about listing the certifying body. A motion to remove the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) reference passed, while a substitute motion to retain the exam wording failed on roll call.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved pending rule docket 24-3302-2401 for physician assistant licensure, and during the process the panel voted to remove the specific rule language that named the certifying organization in rule.
Nikki Chopsky, bureau chief for health professions and executive officer for the Idaho State Board of Medicine, told the committee the PA advisory committee and the Board of Medicine had proposed moving duplicative definitions into statute and updating licensure, scope and fee language. "On page 4 93, rule 10.01 definitions, the board struck its only definition, which is that for approved program as it was duplicative of Idaho code 54 18 10," Chopsky said.
Senator Lenny proposed a motion to approve the docket while striking rule 100.01 (the line that listed NCCPA and the certifying exam); he said the NCCPA materials include diversity and inclusion content and that he preferred not to codify the organization in rule. Chopsky responded that the board's intent was to list the exam required by statute and that the organization had historically been the certifying body for the exam. "That is correct ... those are the bodies that have been used, but they were not spelled out previously," Chopsky said.
Committee discussion included competing views about whether explicitly naming the certifying organization in rule was necessary to satisfy a statutory requirement to identify the acceptable examination, and whether listing the organization conferred policy content unrelated to examination requirements. Senator Wintrow moved a substitute to accept the docket as written; that substitute lost on roll call (the chair summarized the substitute result as 6 nays, 3 ayes). The committee then considered the original motion (the one that would strike the specific rule text) and approved it by voice vote.
As a result, the committee approved the pending PA licensure chapter while removing the specific sentence that referenced NCCPA in rule 100.01. Chopsky said that the exam has been used historically and would continue to be the accepted exam absent further action; removing the organizational name preserves the statutory requirement without listing the certifying body's name in rule.
Committee action: Approved docket 24-3302-2401 while striking rule 100.01 (motion by Senator Lenny; seconded; passed by voice). A substitute motion to accept the docket without change (moved by Senator Wintrow) failed on roll call (chair summarized as 6 no, 3 yes).
